Rise to Fame
In the 1980s, two men and some cardboard props performed the entire history of civilization at the Edinburgh Fringe. That was the National Theatre of Brent, which he co-founded with Patrick Barlow. The theater circuit and a string of Mike Leigh films built the reputation. But 2001 was the actual inflection: Bridget Jones's Diary, Moulin Rouge! (two and a half hours daily in a fat suit), and Iris in a single year. Iris won him the Supporting Actor Oscar. His own mother had died of Alzheimer's six years earlier, so the John Bayley role wasn't purely craft.
In the Spotlight
Declining an OBE the same year he won the Oscar wasn't a PR stunt. It was the whole premise. He keeps working on his own terms: in 2005, he walked up to Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg at the BAFTAs and asked to be in their next film. That's how Hot Fuzz happened. Now past 75, he's reprising roles (Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, 2025) and appearing in Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly alongside George Clooney and Adam Sandler. The establishment still can't fully categorize him.
Side Notes
His parents were both sculptors who co-founded a local theater troupe, and his father cast him in A Doll's House at age four. Expelled reportedly at 16 for frequenting pubs, he washed dishes at the Bank of England canteen to supplement his early acting income. He's also the only surviving twin. The wood carving collection he exhibited at the Royal Festival Hall in 2015 fits the pattern: he's always been someone who makes things rather than just performs them.