Rupert James Hector Everett was born in Burnham Deepdale, Norfolk, to Sara (Maclean) and Anthony Michael Everett, a Major in the British Army, who later worked in business. He is of mostly English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry.
Everett grew up in privileged circumstances, but the wry, sometimes arrogant, intellectual was a rebel from the very beginning. At the age of seven, he was placed into the care of Benedictine monks at Ampleforth College where he trained classically on the piano. He was expelled from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London for clashing with his teachers and instead apprenticed himself at the avant-garde Glasgow Citizen's Theatre in Scotland, performing in such productions as 'Don Juan' and 'Heartbreak House'.
In 1984 Everett successfully filmed a lead role in Otro país (1984), which he had performed earlier on stage and shot to international attention, becoming one of England's hottest new star. But again the wickedly sharp and suave rebel doused his own fire by clashing with the press and even with his own fans. In 1989 Everett openly declared his own homosexuality -- an announcement that could have mortally wounded his film career. Instead, over time, it seems to have had the opposite effect. His career revitalized as Julia Roberts' gay confidante in La boda de mi mejor amigo (1997), and he has continued to impress notably in the classics area with Shakespeare enamorado (1998) (as Christopher Marlowe), Un marido ideal (1999) and El sueño de una noche de verano, de William Shakespeare (1999) (as Oberon). Lately he has enhanced both films with his royal portrayals in Matar a un rey (2003) and Belleza prohibida (2004), and television with his effortlessly suave Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes y el caso de la media de seda(2004). His predilection for smug and smarmy villains of late such as the cartoonish Dr. Claw in Inspector Gadget (1999) has extended into voice animation with his "unprincely" Prince Charming character in Shrek 2 (2004).
In making his landmark decision to "come out", Rupert becomes a living testament disproving the theory that a truly talented and successful romantic leading man cannot survive the career-killing stigma of being openly gay. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
Trade Mark
Frequently appears in films based on plays by Oscar Wilde
Towering height and slender frame
Deep smooth voice
Trivia
He boarded at Farleigh House prep school in Basingstoke from the age of seven before going to Ampleforth College, the prestigious Roman Catholic public school in Yorkshire at thirteen, but dropped out at age 16.
Turned down the Daniel Day-Lewis role in Una habitación con vistas (1985).
1999 VH1 Vogue Fashion Award for most fashionable male celebrity.
At his suggestion, Madonna re-recorded Don McLean's classic "American Pie".
Was expelled from London's Central School of Speech and Drama for insubordination.
Plays the piano and violin.
Writes for "Vanity Fair".
Former, successful model in Milan.
Speaks English, French and Italian.
Lives in London, New York City, Paris and Miami.
Owns a Black Lab, named Moise.
Bought a home in Los Angeles, California for his dog's sake. His Black Lab, Moise, was suffering from painful arthritis, so the actor relocated to the city in order for his beloved pet to heal. Everett even turned down a role on the London stage, because it meant having to have his dog quarantined for six months. [May 1999]
Showed his musical talents on two remakes: singing backup on Madonna's remake of "American Pie" and by dueting with British pop star Robbie Williams on a version of the classic "They Can't Take That Away from Me".
He has become an icon in Italy since the late 1980s, mostly because Tiziano Sclavi, the author of the popular comic "Dylan Dog", chose his face for the protagonist. Mi novia es un zombie (1994) is based upon a novel by Sclavi as well, so Everett was the natural choice for the Italian audience.
He was awarded the 1981 London Critics' Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Awards) for Most Promising New Actor of 1980 for his performance in the play, "Another Country".
Attended the wedding of Joan Collins and Percy Gibson.
In Belleza prohibida (2004), plays King Charles II, the son of King Charles I, whom he played in Matar a un rey (2003). They are both his ancestors.
In the Independent on Sunday [UK] 2006 Pink LIst - a list of the most influential gay men and women - Everett came in at #71, down from #50.
He is the favorite actor of actress Amber Benson.
Works out at Crunch Fitness in New York City.
Has an older brother, Simon Anthony Cunningham Everett (b. 1956).
He is the son of Major Anthony Michael Everett, who worked in business and served in the military, and wife (married 7 May 1955) Sara MacLean (born 19 September 1934). His ancestry includes English, Scottish, Irish, and small amounts of German and Dutch. He is descended from the baronets Vyvyan of Trelowarren and the German Schmiedern Barons.
Is a descendant of Charles II Stuart, King of England and Scotland, and through him a distant relative of Rachael Stirling.
In Otro país (1984), Rupert Everett plays "Guy Bennett", a character based on the double agent Guy Burgess. However, Everett is related to another of the Cambridge Five, upper-class British diplomats who were Cambridge University men who later secretly spied for the Soviet Union for decades. Everett is the great-nephew of Donald Maclean, who escaped to the Soviet Union in 1951 on his 38th birthday. Maclean was bisexual. (Everett announced in 1989 that he was gay).
Godfather of Madonna's and Guy Ritchie's son David.
Has portrayed Kings, or future Kings, of England on three occasions in film, Charles I in Matar a un rey (2003); Charles II in Belleza prohibida (2004); and George, Prince of Wales, the Prince Regent (later George IV) in La locura del rey Jorge (1994). Everett is related by blood to all three of the Kings he has portrayed, directly descended from Charles I and Charles II, and indirectly, or more distantly, to George IV.
Filming Wild Target with Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Rupert Grint.
Starring as Charles Condomine in Noel Coward's play "Blithe Spirit" on Broadway
He turned down a role in Noche de miedo (1985).
Personal Quotes
Why would I wear pink trousers? It's hard enough being gay.
I have nothing to complain about... except maybe people wondering if a queen like me can butch-it-up enough to play a convincing straight man.
I'm a sex machine to both genders. It's all very exhausting. I need a lot of sleep.
I don't understand what he's got against her because this is the second time he's stuck into her a bit. That seems really unfair to me. Listen, any singer who dances all the time, you don't have the breath to sing all the time. Everyone knows that. It's unfair to make it a point. If you do a heavy dance routine, at some point you're going to do a bit of lip-synch. But everybody does that. Madonna sings everything she can sing but, if she goes into a dance routine, she's got to dance; you can't breathe and dance and sing at the same time. She doesn't lip-synch her whole performance. I bet Elton has lip-synched moments of his performance, even though he's at a piano all the time. He's very bossy these days, I think. I mean he's lovely but he's a bit bossy and he does seem a bit cranky.
I think Elton has lost it completely. He loves to tell you how he overcame addictions - drugs, bulimia... He did not overcome addictions. He went from one to another... All these shopping sprees, and not controlling his mouth.
English actors are treated like immigrants - they're a gypsy race. They go where the work is and there's never been much work in England. They're treated very badly.
One of the great things about getting older is that unemployment becomes more and more fun.
[on Americans] Now they are whiny victims whose language is entirely taken from two TV shows - Friends (1994) and Sexo en Nueva York (1998) - and there's nothing sexy about them any more.
One of the first memories in my life is of having four records at home when I was a baby. One was My Fair Lady, the musical version of Pygmalion. But the film, I think, is one of the great overrated films. It's constipated, static. I don't like the designer, Cecil Beaton's costumes. And I don't like Audrey Hepburn. I prefer Julie Andrews, who was in the stage version. I mean, Audrey was a pretty girl, but she was a useless actress, poor thing.
If I had to choose between being successful as a singer and successful as an actor, I know I would choose singing. (Speaking in 1987)
A really funny chat can get me out of it. If I can have a laugh, I'm fine. Maybe I'm just too superficial to be properly depressed.
I've spent years getting it together, half getting it together, nearly getting it together, and it falling apart. I don't think people thought I was a good actor, probably.
People are always saying I'm self-destructive. I don't see what that means. Does it mean you see a situation, and think, 'This is an opportunity for me to really destroy myself?'... I'll always come a cropper at some point. I'm just not in kilter. Maybe the job I'm trying to do is too mainstream for me. Being an actor nowadays is about as bohemian as being a country vicar.
I can't think of anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads... For me, personally, the last thing I would like in the entire world would be to go through cocktailing my sperm with my boyfriend and finding some grim couple in Ohio who are gluten-free and who you pay $75,000 to have your baby. [But] I'm not having a go at gay couples who do. I think if Elton and David [Elton John, David Furnish] want to have babies, that's wonderful.
[on settling down] Thank God. I always thought I'd be found, aged 70, in a tie-dyed T-shirt haunting a toilet or at some rave in Miami. I didn't see myself ever stopping that kind of lifestyle, because I loved it so much. I can't think of anything worse than going out now..."I had so much sex all the way through my life that by not having it, I now have much more energy for other things. I would really like to do more work - proper work, not just slagging around trying to get jobs in family-viewing fairy tales in Hollywood.
If you're going to one of those endless meetings with ghastly executives in some hideous TV company while hungover from a night on crystal meth, you're probably not going to make the most coherent argument.
[on working in Europe after the mid-1980s] There was very much a Brat Pack thing going on. There was really no place for me. I went to live in Europe because I thought with 1992 coming and the unification of Europe, I would be a frontiersman English actor. I thought the language was bound to become English in films, so I should go there. I did about nine films. Three are really good. One was called Crónica de una muerte anunciada(1987), based on the Gabriel García Márquez novel - it's a beautiful, beautiful film. I did a film called The Man With the Golden Spectacles (El hombre de las gafas de oro (1987)), which was a huge European hit. The thing is, none of these films were exported out of Europe. England doesn't recognise Europe. America doesn't even know about Europe. So, in those terms, I disappeared.
[on Otro país (1984) and Bailar con un extraño (1985)] My first two movies were classics. I should probably have died in a crash if I had been at all serious about my career.
[on Otro país (1984)] The best-made film of my career.
There's a whole side of my business now which clicks its fingers for world peace and equal rights. But actually, in their own backyard, they really don't accept that any of these things is happening. So people mostly say to me, "Oh, but you've been so difficult, and you've blown everything for yourself, you've sabotaged your own career". To a certain extent it's true, but to a certain extent it isn't. There's only a certain mileage you can make, as a young pretender, as a leading man, as a homosexual. There isn't very far you can go.
On Michelle Pfeiffer: Michelle is like a star from the '20s, distant and ethereal, like a beautiful, flickering image. In a way, she's too perfect for now. She starts work 10 hours before everyone else because she's on the bike or the Stairmaster at 3 A.M. She has such discipline. She's very serious about getting the job done.
Corazones de fuego (1987) was the full-on, no-survivors crash of my career.
[on Amor sin condiciones (2002)] One of the best movies I have ever done.
I feel really sad that Europe is slipping through our fingers. It's another thing I feel really pissed off with the English about. We've been so back-seaty and passive-aggressive all the way through Europe. Now everyone's saying, "It's obviously not going to work." But if we'd taken part from the beginning we could have been so much more proactively involved in structuring the European Union. I mean, what are we going to do in 100 years if we're not European? We'll just be squeezed between China and the States. Are we always going to be the slave of the United States? I think it's gross.
Salary
Unconditional Love (2002) $4.000.000
Rupert Everett (photos)
