By Paul Byrne (1/99)

Fame, or more precisely, success, was never going to be easy for Joseph Fiennes. He was, after all, the younger brother of the austere and revered Ralph, and hence had one very large shadow to try and step out of. More significantly though, in last year's Martha, Meet Daniel, Frank and Lawrence, he had made perhaps the Most Irritating Film of 1998. And that's saying something, considering his brother had also released the much-ridiculed big-screen adaptation of The Avengers.

Fiennes had played the ultra-sensitive Lawrence, the least aggressive and therefore plainly favourite would-be suitor of quirky American visitor Martha amongst three London Lads. It was the sort of movie that would make you want to punch kittens, and it didn't bode well for Fiennes' career. But then came Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth, with our touchy-feely hero playing Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the young virgin Queen's alleged lover. Suddenly, Fiennes future began to look bright after all.

His co-star in the movie, Cate Blanchett, stated at the time, "It's already clear to everyone who has worked with him that Joseph will become every bit as big a name as Ralph". The film's scripter, Peter Morgan, offered up the observation that "he's the kind of guy you'd pay to watch at the cinema even if he was just reading a book".

In his latest outing, it seems likely that an awful lot of people will pay to watch Fiennes write a play, namely the mother of all romantic tragedies, Romeo & Juliet. Taking the lead in John Madden's wonderful Shakespeare In Love, the actor plays the Bard as he falls in love with a young woman, Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), their doomed love affair inspiring his most famous work. With six Golden Globe nominations under its belt, Shakespeare In Love looks set for similar Oscar glory.

PAUL BYRNE: This is your second consecutive outing in tights; is there a fetish developing here?

JOSEPH FIENNES: "No, not yet - I'm far too conservative for such a thing [laughs]. Actually, I was a little reluctant about taking on another role straight after Elizabeth that was so similar, in visual terms. It was Tom Stoppard's script though that hooked me. I knew I'd regret it for the rest of my days if I turned this one down."

PB: Your brother Ralph was approached five years ago about playing the same role, back when it was a Julia Roberts project with Ed Zwick set to direct.

JF: "Yeah, and thankfully he turned it down, as did Daniel Day-Lewis and Rufus Sewell. It's just part of this game, that casting can go through many, many changes, and what you end up with isn't always the right cast, or crew. I think this movie is one of those lucky exceptions where everyone was just right for the job."

PB: Was there a reluctance on your part to become an actor, especially when your older brother started popping up on magazine covers and getting nominated for Oscars?

JF: "I had made up my mind to become an actor long before Ralph became famous, so it wasn't really an issue back then. There was a time when I realised his success was something I was going to have to overcome, that people would compare us, or probably view me in his shadow, but you have to try and forget such things and just do the best you can."

PB: Is there any sense of competition between you - do you hope someday to see Ralph being described as 'Joseph Fiennes' brother'?

JF: "Now that would be sweet. No, there isn't that kind of rivalry at all. Naturally we're both curious about each other's careers, but then I'm curious about all my brothers and sisters, and how they're getting on with their careers. We're not the competing kind. Or, at least, that's what I want Ralph to believe, until I pass him out!"

PB: You spent some of your childhood growing up in Ireland with your six siblings - do you come back here much?

JF: "Sure, but like anyone, not quite as much as I'd like to. I had a wonderful childhood there; all kids should be sent to Ireland to grow up. It's good for the soul."

PB: Your early years as an actor were far from glamorous...

JF: "I think as an actor, starting out you're always going to be poor. Theatre rarely pays very well, and unless you've got some other source of income, you're going to be lucky to just get by most of the time."

PB: You were lucky in those lean times to have a girlfriend, Sara Griffiths, who kept you in little luxuries like food and drink...

JF: "We pretty much looked after each other. When one of us was out of work, hopefully the other was in, so we'd get by that way. But there was a long period of time, when I was studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and later when I was working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where the money I was earning simply wasn't enough on its own to survive. Not that I want to break into song or anything, because we got by, and they were important years."

PB: Last year you seemed to come out of nowhere, making three pretty high-profile movies in a row, with Martha, Elizabeth and now this - are you just determined to strike whilst the iron is hot?

JF: "I think as an actor, if you start getting work, good work, your natural instinct is to take on as much as you can, because you never know when it might end. You could make just one movie, it becomes a huge hit, and then you're set up. But you never know if something's going to be a hit or not, so you just take on as many roles as you can. Not that I'm merely out to play as many parts as possible; the quality of those roles is what ultimately matters most. It doesn't matter how much crap you make, it would still be crap."

Sharing none of the cautious nature of his shy, even sly brother Ralph, Joseph Fiennes seems keen to tell you everything you want to know. Maybe it's just part of his character, or maybe it's just a naive rush of self-gratification, a wide-eyed thrill at being in the limelight after so many years of lurking in the shadows, unheard of and unheard. Only too happy to talk about his life outside of acting, ask Fiennes about his childhood, and he's quick to admit that he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed growing up.

"I and my twin brother Jacob were the youngest in the family," he states, "and family life just seemed more important to me than school. It was a crazy upbringing really. We travelled around quite a bit too, and that meant I went from school to school, from teacher to teacher. That can kill the learning curve pretty quick, your concentration constantly interrupted by a new learning pattern, a new set of friends, a new environment."

Not that Fiennes is looking for sympathy. Like many a failed academic who's achieved success, he views his lack of education as an inspiration to try harder in other areas of his life.

"I left school at 16 and then, like so many confused young souls, I headed off to art school. A year later I left home and moved to London, and that's really when I got involved in acting. I started off getting involved in a youth theatre and the National, working backstage. It was good to see the acting profession from that viewpoint. You quickly realised it was a far from glamorous life."

An acting grant landed him three years at the Guildhall, leaving in 1993 to work in the West End and eventually with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratord-upon-Avon. They weren't particularly happy years, Fiennes states, but he agrees he has, in a way, come full circle now.

"It's a daunting role to take on, but given the opportunity, what actor could resist," Fiennes muses. "There's so little we know about Shakespeare really. On issues of religion, sex and politics, he will always be a mystery. So I had to think: he is a young guy called Will, looking to make a packet, get his name in lights, secure the rent and make sure his family is looked after. He was my age when he wrote Romeo & Juliet, so I have a feeling for his emotions at the time. I think he was a sinister romantic."

Ask Fiennes about his life outside acting today, and he's a little bit coyer. Or embarrassed perhaps, by the lack of it.

"I'm really a very boring person in my private life," he smiles. "I don't think the tabloids are going to find much to get excited about if they ever decided to follow me around. I don't tend to hang out much with other actors, and the ones I do get together with don't tend to be the telly-out-the-window types. The extent of my bad behaviour stretches to eating a few grapes in the supermarket when I'm doing my shopping. It'd be kinda difficult to make a good headline out of that, so I'll have to start getting a little reckless really. Maybe I should get some lessons from Oliver Reed."