Richard E. Grant
| Richard E. Grant | |
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Grant at the British Academy Television Awards 2007 ceremony
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| Born |
Richard Grant Esterhuysen 5 May 1957 Mbabane, Swaziland |
| Residence | London, England |
| Nationality | British and Swazi |
| Other names | Richard Grant |
| Occupation | Actor, screenwriter, director |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Spouse(s) | Joan Washington (1986–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | www |
Richard E. Grant (born Richard Grant Esterhuysen; 5 May 1957) is a Swazi-English actor, screenwriter, director and perfumier. He came to public attention in 1987 for playing Withnail in the film Withnail and I, and achieved recognition as John Seward in 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Grant was born Richard Grant Esterhuysen in Mbabane, Swaziland. His father, Henrik Esterhuysen, was head of education for the British government administration in the British Protectorate of Swaziland. His father had English and Dutch/Afrikaner ancestry and his mother was of English and German descent.
As a boy, Grant went to primary school at St Mark's, a local government school in Mbabane that had only recently become racially integrated. When Grant was ten years old, he witnessed his mother commit adultery on the back seat of a car with his father's best friend, which subsequently led to his parents' divorce. This event inspired Grant to keep a daily diary, which he has continued to do ever since. Grant wears a watch on each wrist, one given to him by his dying father, permanently set on Swaziland time. He is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Swaziland.
Grant attended secondary school at Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa (UWCSA), an independent school just outside Mbabane, where he was a day scholar. Grant studied English and drama at the University of Cape Town. He adopted his stage name when he moved to Britain as an adult and registered with Equity.
Grant was a member of the Space Theatre Company in Cape Town before moving to London in 1982. He later stated, "I grew up in Swaziland when it was mired in a 1960s sensibility. The kind of English spoken where I grew up was a period English sound and when I came to England people said, 'how strange'. Charles Sturridge, who directed Brideshead Revisited for TV, said, 'you speak English like someone from the 1950s'."
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