At 63, Ralph Fiennes is looking back at the artists who shaped him most. Six actors, in his view, are more than favorites, they are part of his creative DNA. Ranging from politically defiant rebels to masters of technical precision, these figures have guided his work for decades. Vanessa Redgrave holds the deepest place in his heart.
Long before they worked together, Fiennes studied her performances in awe, watching her tackle Shakespeare with raw intensity. As a student at RADA, he would sit in dark theaters watching her perform with fearless abandon. He once said she was not just acting, she was surviving out loud. Her performances were marked by political defiance, often making her unpopular.
She spoke out against war and oppression. That courage struck a chord with Fiennes, who has long believed acting can intersect with activism. He once said, “Vanessa taught me that art is never neutral. It has to choose a side.
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In 2011, decades after first admiring her, Fiennes got the chance to work with her directly. In his directorial debut, a modern adaptation of Coriolanus, he starred as the title character while Redgrave played his mother. Their scenes were described as electric, and Fiennes had to balance the pressure of directing with acting beside someone he had revered his entire adult life. He later reflected on the collaboration, saying she gave him more than a performance, she gave him her trust.
Critics noted the tension and artistic intimacy between them in every frame, comparing it to a master and disciple performing the same ritual. Redgrave’s influence extended beyond technique into her willingness to live inside her convictions, something Fiennes has carried into every role since. Meryl Streep gave Fiennes something entirely different: craft, precision. He once described her as untouchable, like a magician who refuses to show her tricks.
Ironically, they have never shared a scene together, though they nearly did in the 1990s. During pre-production of The English Patient, Streep was considered for the role that Juliette Binoche eventually played. Fiennes admitted the thought of working opposite her made him nervous, joking, “I wasn’t sure I could keep up. ” What impressed him most was her ability to transform completely, vanishing inside the psychology of each character.
From Sophie’s Choice to The Iron Lady, she never repeated herself. He also admired how she carried herself in the business. Streep never chased celebrity, preferring to stay private and focused. In an industry that rewards noise, she chose the quiet lane and still became a global icon.
Fiennes has often said the best actors are the ones who listen, and to him, Streep is the ultimate listener. Watching her taught him that emotional weight does not need to be shouted, it can be whispered. Anthony Hopkins taught Fiennes the power of stillness. Long before they both became iconic film villains, Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter and Fiennes as Lord Voldemort, Fiennes was a fan.
As a young actor, he was captivated by Hopkins’s haunting performances in The Elephant Man and The Remains of the Day. He said Hopkins does not perform, he invites you in. They never shared the screen directly, but their careers ran parallel. Both brought deep humanity to dark characters, villains who were eerie, elegant, and internal.
Hopkins gave Lecter a quiet dignity that terrified audiences more than any outburst could. One of the biggest lessons Fiennes took from him was the art of doing less. Hopkins also taught him how to age with grace in an industry that often discards older actors. In his later work, especially The Father, for which he won an Oscar at 83, Hopkins leaned deeper into vulnerability, proving age is an advantage in art.
Fiennes also respected that Hopkins never turned his back on theater, returning to the stage throughout his career despite global fame. Perhaps the most powerful thing Fiennes learned from Hopkins was presence. The way Hopkins enters a scene like he has lived in it for years, trusting the moment and the audience. In Hopkins, Fiennes said he saw not just talent but wisdom.
Kristin Scott Thomas may be the actor Fiennes has worked with most intimately. Their on-screen chemistry in The English Patient was so palpable people still discuss it decades later. Fiennes has called her the most fearless scene partner he has ever had. In The English Patient, she brought fierce internal fire to the role of Catherine, a woman torn between duty and desire.
Fiennes, as the wounded Almasy, had to match her intensity without overpowering it. He described working with her as instinctive, saying, “You don’t act, you respond. It’s like jazz. ”
Their bond continued beyond that film.
Over the years, they reunited on multiple projects, both on screen and stage. The trust was instant each time, and he credits her with shaping his understanding of romance on screen. Before working with her, he had done intense dramatic roles, but never one that captured love in all its contradictions: passion, guilt, longing, regret. During a brutally heavy shoot day, Scott Thomas reportedly broke down after a scene, and Fiennes stayed beside her, holding her hand in silence.
Their partnership was built on trust, something Fiennes says does not fade. Daniel Day-Lewis stands as a phantom figure in Fiennes’s mind. They have never worked together on screen, but the admiration runs deep. Fiennes watched My Left Foot for the first time and was absolutely floored, calling it spirit-breaking.
He realized this was not just acting, it was something holy. What Fiennes admired was the sacrifice behind the commitment. Day-Lewis would live as his characters for months, sometimes years, refusing to break accent and staying in costume off camera. To Fiennes, that level of immersion proved acting could still be sacred, untouched by fame.
He said Day-Lewis reminds you that acting is about telling the hardest truth you can bear to say out loud. Day-Lewis retired in 2017 after Phantom Thread, choosing silence over spectacle. Fiennes deeply respected that decision to step away at the top to protect his relationship with the work. In Day-Lewis, he saw a reflection of his own pull between creation and burnout.
Fiennes studies his performances like scripture, not to imitate them but to understand the power of restraint. Juliette Binoche is another actor tied to The English Patient era. Their work together created an emotional time capsule in cinematic history. Fiennes described her as magnetic and unknowable, saying, “You never feel like you’ve fully reached her, and that’s what makes her so real.
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Binoche challenged him with her instinctual, unpredictable choices, forcing him out of his comfort zone. A classically trained actor who leaned on structure, Fiennes found himself reacting to something fluid and completely in the moment. Critics wondered if there was something real between them behind the scenes, but nothing was ever confirmed. The emotional intimacy on screen remained unmistakable.
Binoche came from a European cinema tradition that valued emotional texture over plot. Working with her opened Fiennes’s eyes to new territory, and he soon began pursuing more international projects, working with directors like Fernando Meirelles and Luca Guadagnino. He learned from her that you do not need to push, you just need to be present. The thread connecting all these actors, in Fiennes’s view, is Shakespeare.
He calls them his Shakespeare kin. Redgrave made him believe Shakespeare could be radical, attacking it with passion and politics. Hopkins taught him that the greatest Shakespeare performances come from clarity, not embellishment. With Kristin Scott Thomas, the connection was telepathic, a rhythm built on years of classical training.
Coriolanus in 2011 was one of Fiennes’s most personal projects. It starred him as the title character and Redgrave as his mother, serving as a love letter to the actors who shaped him and a bridge between generations of Shakespearean performers. Fiennes has said Shakespeare reveals your essence, that you cannot fake it. The actors he loves most are willing to be stripped down and challenged by the language.
He has described returning to Shakespeare as coming home, with those who share that language forming an instant connection that feels almost spiritual. In naming these six actors, Fiennes was revealing himself. Each one left a fingerprint on his journey, shaping the man behind the roles.
As he looks back, their influence remains quiet, powerful, and permanent.
