British actor Colin Firth is perhaps best loved for his roles as Mr. Darcy- in
                BJD and the BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s P&P.

                He loses the name (and the period clothes) in WAGW and trades in his horse for
                a motorcycle.

                “I had one lesson on the motorbike, and thought that was good enough,” Firth
                says of the scene where he whisks his daughter (played by Amanda Bynes) away on
                a bike.

                “When the time came, several weeks had elapsed. I rode the bike for a few
                minutes feeling rather brilliant. There was this rather steep hill I had to go
                up. I did it thinking there wasn’t that much to it and promptly ran into a
                ditch and fell off.”

                Based on the 1958 movie, “The Reluctant Debutante,” with Rex Harrison and
                Sandra Dee, the comedy tells the story of an American teenager raised in New
                York who travels to London to find her British father.

                “I enjoyed it because I play a father..and also, I didn’t have to leave
                England,” says Mr. Firth, who plays Lord Henry Dashwood. “I was home each night
                with my wife and young son.”

                Moviegoers will be seeing a lot of Firth this year. In addition to WAGW, he has
                three movies: “Hope Springs” with Minnie Driver; “Love Actually” with Hugh
                Grant and Emma Thompson; and “Girl With A Pearl Earring” with Tom Wilkinson and
                Scarlett Johansson.

                For WAGW, director Dennie Gordon was so set on Firth portraying Dashwood that
                she personally financed her trip to London to convince him.

                “He was my first and only choice for the part,” Ms. Gordon explains. “Colin has
                depth and restraint, yet just the right amount of sexiness that the role
                required.”

                Born in Grayshot, Hampshire, in England, Firth and his family didn’t settle in
                one place for too long, traveling from Nigeria to St. Louis.

                His professional career got kickstarted while he was still studying acting.
                “When I went to drama school and did “Hamlet” (in 1982), that started
                everything for me. That same year, I did “Another Country,” first on the stage
                and then in the film. It was an absolutely dizzying experience,” he says

                While he says that the 1995 “P&P” was obviously important to his career, for
                him, the TV role that most resonates is the British soldier he played in the
                1989 drama “Tumbledown.”

                “I played an actual person, who was my age, and was injured in the Falkland
                (Islands) War, he explains. “I came to know the chap very closely. He was on
                the set every day, and we became twins in a way. It’s probably the most lasting
                impression that has stayed with me.”

                When Firth isn’t working, one can find him reading. That is, unless he is with
                his Italian-born wife, vacationing in Italy.

                “I love to travel to Rome. I really enjoy visiting the little villages near
                there,” Firth says. “One of the things important to me is to try my hand at
                cooking their specialties. 

                “Don’t ask my wife about my cooking. She’ll agree the food is quite wonderful
                but after I’m finished, the kitchen is far from tidy.”

@ Christian Science Monitor 2003
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