His mother was an actress and trained drama teacher.
Self-confessed John Le-Carre-style spy buff.
Has a younger brother called Jamie.
Graduated from RADA in 1995.
Attended Oakham School in Rutland, Leicestershire; drama scholar from 1990 to 1992.
Expecting his first child with "Spooks" (2002) co-star Keeley Hawes in December 2004.
Became an Associate Member of RADA.
His first child a daughter Maggie was born 2004 with Keeley Hawes
Matthew MacFadyen Detailed Biography
Matthew Macfadyen (born 1974) is a British theatre and film actor, best known for his role as MI5 agent Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks.
After having studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts from 1992 to 1995, Macfadyen quickly became a well-known actor on the British stage, due primarily to his work with the stage company Cheek by Jowl, for whom he played Antonio in The Duchess of Malfi, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. His Benedick was particularly memorable, played as an officer-class buffoon with a moustache and a braying laugh. In 2005, he played to further great acclaim the part of Prince Hal in Henry IV, Parts One and Two at the Royal National Theatre, with Michael Gambon in the lead.
Macfadyen's major TV breakthrough came when he co-starred in a television adaptation of Emily Brontė's novel Wuthering Heights, screened on the ITV network in 1998. Further television drama work followed, including starring roles in the dramas Warriors (1999) and The Way We Live Now (2001), both for the BBC. Also in 2001, he earned much critical acclaim for his starring role in the prestige BBC Two drama serial Perfect Strangers, which was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. In 2002 he starred in The Project, a BBC drama charting New Labour's rise to power.
Also in 2002, he took his highest-profile role to date, when he was picked to star in Spooks, which went on to become a huge popular and critical success when screened on BBC One. A longer second season was screened in 2003, and a third season was broadcast in the autumn of 2004, with Macfayden leaving the series in the second episode. The series has also found a following on cable television in the United States, where it airs as MI-5 on the A&E Network.
Macfadyen has also appeared in several films, most notably Enigma (released in 2001), in which he was oddly cast as a battle-scarred submarine commander. He has the starring role as Mr Darcy in a new film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, released in the UK in September 2005.
In 2003, he began a liaison with his Spooks co-star Keeley Hawes, and they had their first child, a girl named Maggie, in December, 2004. They had married a month earlier.
