Two successful films were enough to leave seven year older brother far behind: Since Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love there are definitely more posters of Joseph Fiennes hanging above teenager beds than of brother Ralph. Okay, Fiennes the Younger (29) has preferred to wear sexy tights in his films so far while Ralph, the English Patient, hasn't been looking that fresh anymore in his bandages. But there is still more: Ralph is famous for his lost in reverie icy stare, Joseph carries the fire of the dare-devil in his eyes. No wonder that he won women's hearts by storm through his portrait of a lovesick poet. He also has a twin brother, but this one has preferred the silence of the forrest and has become a gamekeeper.

That's a pity, but there are still more siblings belonging to the Fiennes Clan: Michael is working as an archaeologist, Martha as a director, Magnus composes film music, and Sophie is a producer. They owe this striking urge to the film business to their parents - the photographer Mark Fiennes and the late writer and painter Jennifer Lash. But this feeling for art was not the only reason: The family moved 14 times, the kids constantly had to adjust to new school classes. That would make you a good entertainer, Joseph once said.

Like his elder brother, he first landed in London at the National Theater, though first behind the scenes: While Ralph stood in the footlights, the little one took care of the costumes. But 1996 he finally entered the footsteps of his brother in the renowned Royal Shakespeare Company: Like Ralph - five years before him - Joseph convinced in the role of Troilus. Last spring he celebrated his biggest triumph up to now in the role of William Shakespeare in the cinema - and swore afterwards not to take a role again for the time being which would have him wear tights.

BRIGITTE met Joseph Fiennes for an interview in New York.

BRIGITTE: Your twin brother Jacob is the only Fiennes not in the arts. Are you identical twins?

JOSEPH FIENNES: No. We differ considerably. Jake is taller, with blue eyes, blond hair. The Arian in the family, so to speak. But nevertheless we were always labelled as "the twins" no matter where we appeared. It took us both a lot of strength to find our individuality.

BR: You didn't have what one would describe as a settled childhood. Your father moved the family at least once a year, always in search for work as an estate tenant and photographer. The press has made a romantic Bohemian story out of it. How have you experienced it?

JF: It was not the slightest a romantic artistic life. Don't forget, we were seven children, there was a lot of dirt and much noise. The dream of an idyllic life with a big family on the countryside failed because of the reality of having to provide seven children with food and clothing. That was the reason why we moved all the time, not a restless artists soul.

BR: When you left school with 16, you got away to Tuscany to restore a 12th century Villa there. Why?

JF: At that time it was immensely important for me to be alone, away from the family in order to clear my head. I had to find out why I was so absolutetly determined to become an actor. Why I had the feeling that somebody I could not resist against grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and wanted to throw me into that box titled "actor". Working this six month on my own has helped me very much to find out about.

BR: Was it rather an advantage or a hindrance having a famous brother?

JF: It depends. It can open doors for you, but at the end of the day you are on your own and have to stand on your own feet. But it always means an increased pressure, higher expectations than with other beginners in the acting profession. Luckily, I had already begun acting seven years ago. Back then Ralph hadn't been that famous, so there were no comparisons.

BR: But Ralph has at least offered you some advice or help?

JF: Of course, he has encouraged me very much during my time in drama school. But after that everybody has to look after himself. Nobody gives you a job just because of the strength of a name. You are reduced to yourself, your personality, your individuality.

BR: When you two meet nowadays, what do you talk about?

JF: Not about work. More about my new domesticitiy. I am just trying my hand at brightening up my London flat.

BR: What does the success of your latest films mean to you?

JF: That I was able to buy this house in Notting Hill. That I can spend hours just thinking about which colours I should paint the walls in or which kinds of floor coverings I want to have.

BR: Nothing more? No other effects of fame?

JF: I am rather afraid of the prospect of being a public person. The loss of my privacy - as my brother had to experience during the last years - is nothing I am keen on. I haven't lost touch with the real world, I am very grounded. I know that I only have this level of fame due to my work. I still ride the subway every day. Occasionallly people recognize me and stare at me - well, let them.

BR: And the big fuss about Shakespeare in Love? After all, you have been traded as the next big thing in the film business.

JF: I only learnt my lines and interpreted them well. I don't believe in something like "the next hot thing". This term is used inflationary, there is no strength behind it anymore. Somewhere out there long since someone new is being labelled as "the next hot thing"- and behind him the next. There is a whole corridor full of them.

BR: But aren't you flattered somehow that so many girls have a crush on you?

JF: I can only giggle about that. You have to be pretty shallow to suck some honey from it for yourself. In a year at the latest all this will be forgotten anyway. Even the teenagers who maybe have a poster of me hanging above their bed, will soon outgrow this nonsense.

BR: Before you became famous with Shakespeare in Love, you had been standing on the stage yourself with a lot of Shakespeare plays. Do you intend to perform in one of them soon again?

JF: No, in no case. I simply can't stand it anymore, going onstage, knowing that half of the audience knows the play better than I do, mumbling every line of it. I would prefer to have a part in a play which nobody has seen before. We should all let Shakespeare rest for a while.

BR: In Shakespeare in Love you have some pretty steamy love scenes with Gwyneth Paltrow. Her boyfriend at that time, Ben Affleck, was part of the crew. Any animosity?

JF: I wouldn't know of any. But if there were any, I wouldn't tell you about it. I am somehow shy. It is never easy for me having to shoot love scenes in front of a lot of people, regardless whether one of them is the boyfriend of the actress I am doing them with. Give me a sword fight any day.

BR: Were you really naked?

JF: Um, I can't remember.

BR: The movie has grabbed pretty many awards at last year's Academy Awards. Do you intend to move to Hollywood?

JF: I don't see any necessity in living there. I am a true European with all my heart. Actors are nomads by trade, but here's my home and my base. I have been to Los Angeles a few times. Englishmen find this city very foreign, everything here is only about business. This has its advantages: If you have an idea, somebody will listen to it, without any cynicism. Well, it could be THE idea. But I don't find myself stimulated by that. I don't want to live there. Everything is about film business, but I still have other interests. Only film - my neurosis would thrive.

BR: What other interests are those?

JF: I love to explore other countries, and that all on my own. Loneliness is a essential part of my desire to travel. There lies great freedom in it.

BR: You guard your private life as strictly as your brother Ralph. It already verges on high treason when the press writes that you have been seen often together with the actress Catherine McCormack recently.

JF: I am absolutely not interested in discussing my private life or my inner thoughts. And I am aware that this will make people even more curious when I don't say anything at all. But honestly: I don't care at all. Just because suddenly the whole world wants to write about celebrities, I do not have to participate here. With all due respect to those who do this work: For me all that is rubbish. As far as I was concerned, all I read bored me to death. My life is no more interesting than that of the people reading this stuff. My job begins when somebody calls "Action". That's what I will talk about, the rest is silence.