Primary-school plays might have launched the careers of many a budding star, but for Joseph Fiennes memories of his first stage appearance are cause for a wry smile. Having landed the plum role of his namesake Joseph in the musical, he wasn't allowed to sing any of the songs - 'I had to do lots of coat acting instead." Luckily the experience left him with nothing more than a bruised ego.

His talent was never in any doubt. Even before he had left drama school - the Guildhall - Fiennes was cast in a West End production of Susan Hill's Woman in Black, followed by A Month in the Country with John Hurt and Helen Mirren. 'Every now and again I'd be saying a line and suddenly catch myself thinking, "Oh my god, you're saying that to John Hurt," which was quite unnerving.' No longer intimidated by 'big-name' casts, Fiennes is returning to the West End in David Thacker's production of Miller's A View From The Bridge, transferring from Bristol and Birmingham - 'It's an incredibly unnatural regime, eight shows a week for three months. But I still love it.'

At 24, Fiennes is the youngest of seven brothers and sisters, a family currently bearing the added weight of Ralph's explosion into the public eye. Far from being overwhelmed by Ralph's success, Joe is quietly forging his own reputation. Earlier this month he starred alongside Tara Fitzgerald in The Vacillations of Poppy Carew on LWT, and numerous stage and screen projects are in the pipeline, but he refuses to be drawn: 'It's too early to speak in definite terms. I don't want to jinx myself.' His philosophy is a relaxed one: 'I can't consciously make out anything. I believe in fate; whatever that deals, I'll go along with it.'