Colin Andrew Firth (born September, 10 1960) is an English film, television, and stage actor. Firth first gained wide public attention, especially in England, for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the highly acclaimed 1995 television adaption of Pride and Prejudice. He subsequently achieved film stardom with the international box-office success of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), where he co-starred with Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant.

Firth was born in Grayshott, Hampshire, England, the son of Shirley Jean (née Rolles), a comparative religion lecturer, and David Norman Lewis Firth, a history lecturer and education officer for the Nigerian Government. Firth has a sister, Kate, and a younger brother, Jonathan, who is now also an actor. Firth's parents were born and raised in India, because his maternal grandparents, Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather, an Anglican priest, performed missionary work abroad. Firth spent part of his childhood in Nigeria, where his father was teaching. He lived in St. Louis, Missouri when he was 11. He later attended the Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School, a state comprehensive school in Winchester, Hampshire, and then Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh, Hampshire. His acting training took place at the Drama Centre London.

The classically trained British actor spent four of his childhood years in Nigeria. His parents were missionaries and academics who preached the word and educated people of rural Jos. The Emmy nominee and star of Mamma Mia, The English Patient, and Conspiracy has been quoted as “feeling a natural kinship when he meets Nigerians and hears the music or the language”. He is also a life long supporter of Arsenal.