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Curated playlist

Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

  • Vivien LeighWhen Vivien Leigh died in 1967, every central London theater went dark for an hour.
  • John GielgudJohn Gielgud was arrested months after being knighted. Backstage in Liverpool, he feared he could not face an audience.
  • Peter O'ToolePeter O'Toole asked the Academy to wait when it offered him an honorary Oscar. He hoped to win the award outright.
  • Anthony HopkinsAnthony Hopkins once delivered a seven-page courtroom speech in a single take on the set of Steven Spielberg's Amistad. The crew was astonished. Spielberg was so overawed that he could not bring himself to call the actor Tony, and he…
  • Tom HiddlestonTom Hiddleston is a British actor who once played Hamlet in a theatre of just 160 seats, with tickets given out by lottery to raise money for RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The run lasted three weeks in September 2017. Millions…
  • Kenneth BranaghKenneth Branagh won an Oscar for a film about the Belfast he fled at age nine. He won Best Original Screenplay in 2022.
  • Jonathan PryceA drama school tutor said Jonathan Pryce would only play villains on Z-Cars. He was knighted in 2021.
  • Ralph FiennesRalph Fiennes has played a Nazi camp commandant, a dark wizard, a British spymaster and a flirtatious hotel concierge, and audiences have believed every one of them. Born in 1962, the English actor and director carries the full name Ralph…
  • Alan RickmanAlan Rickman almost turned down Die Hard. He took the villain role of Hans Gruber anyway.
  • Taron EgertonTaron Egerton learned to play the piano for his role as Elton John in the 2019 film Rocketman. He also sang live in every take, rather than miming to a recording. That is a demanding brief for any actor. Egerton, a Welsh performer born in…
  • Jessie BuckleyJessie Buckley, an Irish actress and singer born on the 28th of December 1989, became the first Irish winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress. She won it in 2026 for playing Agnes Shakespeare in the period drama Hamnet. The win closed…
  • Maya HawkeMaya Ray Thurman Hawke was born on the 8th of July 1998 in New York City, and her story starts on a film set before she existed. Her parents, the actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, met while making Gattaca in 1997. They married in May…
  • Matthew RhysFrom the 16th to the 28th of November 2025, Matthew Rhys stood alone on a Welsh stage and played Richard Burton. The one-man play was called Playing Burton. It marked the 100th anniversary of Burton's birth. For an actor best known to many…
  • Brian EpsteinBrian Epstein never signed the contract that made him the Beatles' manager. He said they could tear it up.
  • Cynthia ErivoCynthia Erivo, whose surname is pronounced uh-REE-voh, belongs to a very small group. She has been nominated for an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. She has won every one of them except the Oscar. That set of four honors is known…

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