Sir Mark Rylance

It is an honour and a privilege for The Actor’s Lounge to have the prestigious actor, playwright, and theatre director Sir Mark Rylance as our Patron.

Just like The Actor’s Lounge, Sir Mark  Rylance was born in Kent. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London and at the Chrysalis Theatre School. He gained his first professional work at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre, then performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Stratford-upon-Avon and London.

Mark was the first artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, from 1995 to 2005. He won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for Much Ado About Nothing in 1994 and Jerusalem in 2010, and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for Boeing Boeing in 2008 and Jerusalem in 2011. He won a third Tony Award in 2014 for Twelfth Night. On television, he won the BAFTA TV Award for best Actor for his role as David Kelly in the 2005 Channel 4 drama The Government Inspector and was nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA TV Award for playing Thomas Cromwell in the 2015 BBC Two miniseries Wolf Hall.

Mark co-starred in the film Bridge of Spies, released in October 2015, directed by Spielberg, and starring Tom Hanks. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role and received unanimous universal acclaim with many critics claiming it as the best performance of 2015.

For us, Mark represents everything that TAL stands for. He is an actor who is generous, supportive and kind towards his fellow actors, colleagues and crew and he also has a strong work ethic, committed to the craft and with a determination to always grow and progress.