The school in question might have been significant: Redmayne is an old Etonian, an exact contemporary of Prince Williams (the two were both members of Pop, the flamboyantly waistcoated school society). His teacher, Simon Dormandy, was an inspiring figure: "he is still the person whose advice I seek," says Redmayne.
Redmaynes background is solid, Chelsea establishment, his father, Richard, a banker, his mother, Patricia, the head of a relocation business. Eddie was the only one of his four siblings who was drawn towards the arts.
His mother has said that her son is "a performer and has been ever since he was five and he first started singing at school. I remember at his 21st birthday one of his friends gave a speech saying they were looking forward to seeing him at the Oscars."
Redmayne didnt train as an actor. After Eton he headed up to Cambridge, where he studied art history. He was part of a notable generation of young British actors at the university, making friends with Tom Hiddleston and Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens.
After his success in Twelfth Night, Redmayne continued to work on the stage. He picked up awards for his role in Edward Albees The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? in 2004, and in 2010 he was recognised with Olivier and Tony Awards for his part as Mark Rothkos (fictional) young assistant Ken in John Logans Red, which took him from North Londons Donmar Warehouse to Broadway.
Eddie Redmayne (bottom row fourth from right) at Eton,at the same time as Prince William (top row, far right)
Redmayne has never been afraid to take on difficult roles, using his almost unnerving beauty to great effect. In his first film, Like Minds (2006), he played a schoolboy suspected of murder, and in 2007s Savage Grace, he played a boy having an incestuous relationship with his mother, played by fellow Oscar-winner Julianne Moore.
Playing Hawking, though, has been his biggest challenge. Redmayne was assiduous about his research, talking to MND sufferers and their families, studying film footage of Hawking and working with a choreographer to get his physical performance absolutely right. Shooting the film out of sequence, he carried a vast scroll of paper to pinpoint Hawkings physical state at any given moment.
Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything
When I met Redmayne in December 2014, the most striking thing about his attitude to the role was his sense of responsibility. You hear it in the speeches hes given since the awards started rolling in (he won the Bafta for Best Actor, as well as the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Award).
"[The Oscar] belongs to one exceptional family: Stephen, Jane, Jonathan and the Hawking children," he said when accepting his Oscar. "And I will be its custodian."
There is a steadiness, too, in his private life: he recently got married to Hannah Bagshawe, who hes known since they were teenagers.
Where will Redmaynes career take him next? Hes currently filming The Danish Girl under the direction of Tom Hooper. In it he plays the painter Einar Wegener, who in 1930 became one of the first people to change s*x, a throwback to his Eton days, when he was often cast in female parts out of necessity. Ladbrokes are already offering odds of 12/1 that Redmayne will win the Best Actor award again next year. Quietly, almost by accident, he has taken a seat at Hollywoods top table.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/oscars/11430285/the-rise-of-Eddie-Redmayne-best-actor-oscar.html
