Peter Firth was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1953. His parents owned a pub and he attended local grammar school. Firth took weekend classes at the Bradford Playhouse near his Pudsey home and by his mid-teens was playing in "Camelot" at the Bradford Alhambra. Leaving school at 16, he became a major child star in television series such as The Double Deckers, which was shot at a number of film studios in the UK. He made his film debut at the age of 18 in 'Franco Zeffirelli' .
Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1977" in John Willis Screen World, Vol. 29.
Was nominated for Broadways 1975 Tony Award as Best Actor for "Equus," a role he recreated in an Oscar-nominated performance in the film version of the same title, Equus .
Twice divorced father of four children.
Replaced Tim Curry in the role of Mozart in the Broadway run of Peter Shaffer s play "Amadeus" in 1981, with Ian McKellen as Salieri.
Peter admits that he initially became interested in acting because he liked a girl who was a part of a local theater group, and joined to impress her.
He has one sister.
Firth and Simon Callow were initially considered for the lead roles in "The Romans in Britain." However, filming schedules meant that both actors were unavailable.
He was nearly cast in the title role in Caligola , but was filming Equus at the time.
Received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters for his film and television work from the University of Bradford on 17 July 2009.
Considered for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars (Source Empire Magazine).
The only actor to appear in every episode of "Spooks" , as well as the followup movie Spooks: The Greater Good .
Considered for Roger Derebridge in Lifeforce but cast as Colonel Caine in the same project instead.
I stayed with the National company to do Spring Awakening and Romeo and,Juliet but then I got the chance to play Equus on Broadway and took it.
We get scripts, but they change on a daily basis - they evolve as we go,along. (On "Spooks" (2002) ).
