Editing Colin Firth (section)

=== 1983–1995: Early work and breakthrough ===
Firth played [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]] in the Drama Centre end-of-year production, and in 1984, Firth made his film debut as Tommy Judd, Guy Bennett's [[Heterosexuality|straight]], [[Marxist]] school friend in the [[Another Country (1984 film)|screen adaptation of the play Another Country]] (with [[Rupert Everett]] as Guy Bennett).<ref>{{cite web|title=Another Country|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b69a34447|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713182053/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b69a34447|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 July 2012|work=BFI Film|publisher=BFI|access-date=27 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=How we met: Colin Firth & Julian Mitchell|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-colin-firth--julian-mitchell--rupert-everett-was-a-complete-bd-to-me-9202649.html|access-date=14 April 2014 | work=The Independent|first=Adam|last=Jacques|date=23 March 2014}}</ref> It was the start of a longstanding public feud between Firth and Everett, which was eventually resolved.<ref name=Heraldsun2008>{{cite news|last=Fenton|first=Andrew|title=Colin Firth has ended his feud with Rupert Everett|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/movies/firth-class-bully/story-e6frf9h6-1111115901547|access-date=27 January 2013|newspaper=Herald Sun|date=27 March 2008|quote="Everett publicly branded Firth 'boring' and classified him as 'a ghastly guitar-playing redbrick socialist who was going to give his first half-million away to charity'. 'We didn't get along very well the first time we worked together,' Firth says simply. 'I think he was probably terribly threatened because I was an awful lot better than him.'" There is some truth to this because in Everett's 2006 autobiography, the gay actor admits he fancied, and felt threatened by, Firth at the time.}}</ref> He starred with Sir [[Laurence Olivier]] in ''[[Lost Empires]]'' (1986), a TV adaptation of [[J. B. Priestley]]'s novel.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2011/10/lose-yourself-with-colin-firth-in-lost-empires|title=Lose Yourself With Colin Firth in 'Lost Empires' {{!}} BBC America|work=BBC America|access-date=17 April 2018}}</ref>

In 1987, Firth and other up-and-coming British actors such as [[Tim Roth]], [[Bruce Payne]] and [[Paul McGann]] were dubbed the '[[Brit Pack (actors)|Brit Pack]]'.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Van Poznak|first=Elissa|title=The Brit Pack|magazine=The Face|date=January 1987|issue=81|pages=36–39|url=http://www.agwlbp.com/facejan.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007181058/http://www.agwlbp.com/facejan.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=7 October 2011|access-date=10 November 2019}}</ref> That year, he appeared with [[Kenneth Branagh]] in the film version of [[J. L. Carr]]'s ''[[A Month in the Country (film)|A Month in the Country]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/27/movies/film-festival-month-in-the-country-from-director-of-cal.html|title=Film Festival; 'Month in the Country,' From Director of 'Cal'|work=[[The New York Times]]|last=Maslin|first=Janet|date=27 September 1987 |access-date=17 April 2018}}</ref> Sheila Johnston observed a theme in his early work of playing those traumatised by war.<ref name="ShuaibBFI" /> He portrayed real-life British soldier [[Robert Lawrence (British Army officer)|Robert Lawrence]] [[Military Cross|MC]] in the 1988 BBC dramatisation ''[[Tumbledown]]''. Lawrence was severely injured at the [[Battle of Mount Tumbledown]] during the [[Falklands War]], and the film details his struggles to adjust to his disability whilst confronted with indifference from the government and public. It attracted controversy at the time, with criticism coming from left and right sides of the political spectrum.<ref name="ShuaibBFI">{{cite web|last=Shuaib|first=Keith|title=Tumbledown (1988)|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/727545/index.html|work=BFI Screenonline|publisher=BFI|access-date=30 January 2013}}</ref> Despite this, the performance brought Firth a Royal TV Society Best Actor Award, and a nomination for the 1989 [[BAFTA]] [[British Academy Television Awards|Television Award]].<ref name="BAFTA Television | Actor in 1989">{{cite web|title=Television Actor in 1989|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1989/television/actor|work=BAFTA Awards|publisher=BAFTA|access-date=30 January 2013}}</ref> In 1989, he played the title role in [[Miloš Forman]]'s ''[[Valmont (film)|Valmont]]'', based on ''[[Les Liaisons dangereuses]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Szabo|first=Julia|title=Going Firth Class|magazine=[[Mademoiselle (magazine)|Mademoiselle]]|date=November 1989|url=http://www.firth.com/articles/89_11mademoiselle.html|access-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> Released just a year after ''[[Dangerous Liaisons]]'', it did not make a big impact in comparison. That year he also played a paranoid, socially awkward character in the [[Argentinian]] psychological thriller ''[[Apartment Zero]]''.<ref name="Andrew-zero">{{cite web|last=Andrew|first=Geoff|title=Apartment Zero|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/apartment-zero|work=[[Time Out London]]|date=10 September 2012 |access-date=30 January 2013}}</ref>

Firth finally became a British household name through his role as the aloof, haughty aristocrat [[Mr. Darcy]] in the 1995 [[BBC]] television adaptation of [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV series)|Pride and Prejudice]]''. Producer Sue Birtwistle's first choice for the part, he was eventually persuaded to take it despite his unfamiliarity with Austen's writing.<ref name="nyt 01141996">{{cite news|last=Grimes|first=William|title=An Austen Tale of Sex and Money in Which Girls Kick Up Their Heels|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/14/tv/cover-story-an-austen-tale-of-sex-and-money-in-which-girls-kick-up-their-heels.html|access-date=22 January 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=14 January 1996}}</ref> He and co-star [[Jennifer Ehle]] began a romantic relationship during the filming, which received media attention only after their separation.<ref name=twice_shy>{{cite news |last=Steiner |first=Susie |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/mar/31/features.weekend |title=Twice Shy |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=31 March 2001 |access-date=20 May 2008}}</ref> Sheila Johnston wrote that Firth's approach to the part "lent Darcy complex shades of coldness, even caddishness, in the early episodes".<ref name=ShuaibBFI/> The series was an international success and unexpectedly elevated Firth to stardom<ref name=twice_shy />{{mdash}}in some part due to a scene not from the novel, where he emerges from a lake swim in a wet shirt.<ref name="Me Sexy? only to that crazy Bridget Jones">{{cite web|url=http://www.firth.com/articles/03vanfair_italy_oct.html|title=Vanity Fair (Italy), Oct 16, 2003, article on Colin Firth|last=Karen|website=www.firth.com|access-date=6 July 2012|archive-date=4 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204134416/http://www.firth.com/articles/03vanfair_italy_oct.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although he did not mind being recognised as "a romantic idol as a Darcy with smouldering sex appeal"<ref name=nyt_sexy>{{cite news |last=James |first=Caryn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/movies/29jame.html |title=Austen Powers: Making Jane Sexy |work=The New York Times|date=29 July 2007 |access-date=17 May 2007}}</ref> in a role that "officially turned him into a heart-throb",<ref name=renaissance>{{cite news |last=Ryan |first=Tom |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/03/1078295440766.html |title=Renaissance man |work=[[The Age]] |date=6 March 2004 |access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref> he expressed the wish not to be associated with ''Pride and Prejudice'' forever.<ref name=ae_magazine>{{cite magazine |last=Passero |first=Kathy |title=Pride, Prejudice and a Little Persuasion |magazine=[[A&E Network|A&E]] Monthly |date=December 1996}}</ref> He was, therefore, reluctant to accept similar roles and risk becoming [[typecast]].<ref name="Colin Firth" />