He starred in Spooks, which became a success when screened on BBC One. In 2002, he starred in The Project, a BBC drama charting New Labour's rise to power. Also in 2001, he earned acclaim for his starring role in the BBC Two drama serial Perfect Strangers, which was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. Further television drama work followed, including starring roles in the dramas Warriors (1999) and The Way We Live Now (2001), both for the BBC. In 2007, he returned to the stage, portraying an American, Clay, a stay-at-home father with a liberal attitude in the play The Pain and the Itch.Ī TV breakthrough came when he appeared as Hareton Earnshaw in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, screened on the ITV network in 1998. In 2005, he played Prince Hal in Henry IV, Parts One and Two at the Royal National Theatre, with Michael Gambon in the role of Falstaff.

His Benedick was played as an officer-class buffoon with a moustache and a braying laugh. Career Īfter having studied at the RADA from 1992 to 1995, Macfadyen became known in British theatre primarily for his work with the stage company Cheek by Jowl, for which he played Antonio in The Duchess of Malfi, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. As a student, he was inspired by Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, which he thought was 'n example to follow – an example of people acting with each other.', and 'eatured just the most extraordinary acting I'd ever seen'. He attended schools in England (including in Louth, Lincolnshire), Scotland and Indonesia, and went to Oakham School in Rutland, before being accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at 17. Macfadyen was brought up in a number of places, including Jakarta, Indonesia, as a result of his father's occupation. His paternal grandparents were Scottish and his maternal grandparents were Welsh.

Macfadyen was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Meinir (née Owen), a drama teacher and former actress, and Martin Macfadyen, an oil engineer.

Matthew macfadyen a pocket full of rye