Raised in England

Attended boarding schools; dropped out at age 15 to pursue theater studies

Asked to leave Central School of Speech and Drama in his second year due to insubordination

Moved to Milan and briefly worked as a model

Made stage debut at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre with a walk-on role in "Don Juan"

While a struggling actor in the early 1980s, worked as a male prostitute

Breakthrough stage role, playing the lead role of Guy Bennett in "Another Country"

Film debut in the short "A Shocking Accident"

Major TV debut, "Princess Daisy" (NBC)

Feature acting debut, played the lead role "Real Life"

Reprised stage role in the film version of "Another Country"

Played romantic role of Miranda Richardson's lover in "Dance With a Stranger"

Appeared as Lancelot in the CBS movie "Arthur the King" (filmed in 1982)

Cast by Orson Welles to portray Welles as a young man in a film about the staging of "The Cradle Will Rock"; project was abandoned when Welles died in 1986

Worked with his idol Julie Andrews in "Duet for One"

Starred in film adaptation of "Chronicle of a Death Foretold"

Cast as singer James Colt in "Hearts of Fire"; sang several songs on the film's soundtrack

With Natasha Richardson, played a British couple who fall in with an expatriate couple in Venice in "The Comfort of Strangers"

Made American stage acting debut in a Los Angeles production of Noel Coward's "The Vortex"

Published first novel, Hello Darling, Are You Working?

Filmed the leading role in Michele Soavi's "Cemetery Man"

Re-ignited film career with comic turns in Robert Altman's "Ready-to-Wear (Pret-a-Porter)" and Nicholas Hytner's "The Madness of King George"

Played the female lead (in drag) in Tennessee Williams' stage play "The Milk Train Doesn'r Stop Here Anymore"

Appeared in print advertisements for Opium for Men cologne

Acted in a Paris production of "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Won critical praise for his turn as Julia Roberts' gay editor in "My Best Friend's Wedding"

Made cameo appearance as playwright Christopher Marlowe in the Oscar-winning "Shakespeare in Love"

Portrayed Oberon, the king of the fairies, in Michael Hoffman's adapation of "William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Played Lord Goring in the Oliver Parker-directed film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband"

Played the villainous Dr. Claw in the live-action film "Inspector Gadget" opposite Matthew Broderick in the title role

Cast as Madonna's gay best friend in "The Next Best Thing"; also sang backup on her cover of "American Pie," which appears on the film's soundtrack

Re-teamed with director Oliver Parker for the remake of "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Cast as the lover of a murdered pop star in P. J. Hogan's "Who Shot Victor Fox?"

Lent his voice to Prince Charming in the animated feature "Shrek 2"

Cast as King Charles II in Richard Eyre's adaptation of Jeffrey Hatcher's play "Stage Beauty"

Voiced the Fox in the adaptation of C.S. Lewis' fantasy classic "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"

Cast opposite Emily Watson and Tom Wilkinson in Julian Fellowes' directorial debut "Separate Lies"

Reprised role of Prince Charming for "Shrek the Third"

Will make Broadway debut in the revival of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit"