Kentish Express Ashford & District
Oscars glory for Bridge of Spies star Rylance
A man who was born in Ashford has won one of the top acting accolades in the world.
Mark Rylance was named Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars in Hollywood on Sunday for his role as Soviet agent Rudolf Abel in Bridge of Spies.
It was the first time Rylance had been nominated for an Academy Award, and his win saw him beat Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Mark Ruffalo and Sylvester Stallone for the coveted golden statue.
He was presented with his prize by Patricia Arquette, who won Best Supporting Actress for Boyhood in 2015.
Before making his way to the stage however, Rylance hugged his director Steven Spielberg, who was sat in the audience.
During his speech he thanked Spielberg for being such a good story teller, as well as his fellow nominees, adding that he didn’t know how the Academy had separated his talent from theirs.
Rylance, born David Mark Rylance Waters, starred alongside Tom Hanks in the Cold War thriller, for which he was also Mark Rylance in a scene from the film Bridge of Spies named best supporting actor at the Baftas earlier this year.
Although he started life in Kent, the gifted performer moved to America as a child when his parents emigrated, first to Connecticut and then Wisconsin.
He returned to the UK to study at Rada in London as a young adult, and went on to have a successful stage career that has ranged from artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe to staring in Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and Leonardo.
He has also worked in TV and film, playing Thomas Cromwell in the BBC drama Wolf Hall, and appearing in movie The Other Boleyn Girl as Thomas Boleyn.
He married composer and playwright Claire van Kampen in 1989, becoming stepfather to her two children, Juliet and Nataasha.
Sadly, Nataasha died of a suspected brain haemorrhage on a flight from New York in July 2012 at the age of 28.
Rylance will next appear in the upcoming big screen adaptation of Roald Dahl’s BFG in the titular role.