Brief bio of Rylance

Mark Rylance was born in England in 1960 and brought up in the U. S. ( primarily Wisconsin), 1962- 78. He returned to England to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

His early work was with the Royal Shakespeare Company, with success as Hamlet, a role he reprised in the U. S. in a 1991 production by t he Pittsburgh Public Theater and American Repertory Theater. He played Peer Gynt in Minneapolis and scored in London in modern plays by Sam Shepard and Yasmina Reza.

He and Claire van Kampen ( later his wife) started a touring company, Phoebus’ Cart ( the title is from “Hamlet”). That may have helped his selection in 1995, at just 35, as the first artistic director of London’s Globe Theatre, a reconstruction of the open- air theater for which Shakespeare wrote 400 years before.

His 10 Globe years were a huge success, winning over even the scoffers who expected no more than a tourist theme park. Much of the work used “original practices,” including all- male casts, as in the “Twelfth Night” ( with Rylance as Countess Olivia) and “Measure for Measure” ( the Duke) he brought to Pittsburgh in 2003 and 2005.

He later expanded his work in London’s West End and on Broadway, where he won his first Tony with “Boeing Boeing” in 2008. He won the 2011 Tony in “Jerusalem." He returned to the Globe to reprise his Olivia and add Richard III, both of which then came to Broadway in alternating repertory, winning him another Tony in 2014. He has twice won the Olivier Award ( London’s Tony).

An agnostic on the Shakespeare authorship controversy, he wrote and toured his own play, “I Am Shakespeare” ( 2007). He co- authored “Nice Fish” ( 2016).

His movies include “Prospero’s Books,” “Bridge of Spies” ( Oscar for supporting actor), “The BFG” and the upcoming “Dunkirk.” His many TV appearances in England have included Thomas Cromwell in the BBC’s 2015 “Wolf Hall.”

For some PG coverage of Mr. Rylance back to 2003, visit post- gazette. com.