Mark Rylance was born in England in 1960 and emigrated with his family to America in 1962. He lived in Connecticut until 1969 and then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he lived until returning to London in 1978.  Mark trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1978-1980) under Hugh Cruttwell, and The Glasgow Citizens Theatre gave him his first job in 1980, a year in repertoire, a trip to the Carnivale in Venice with Goldoni, and an Equity card.

In the 1980’s he played for many theatres including The RSC where he played Hamlet, Romeo and a number of other roles. He founded his own cooperative theatre company, Phoebus Cart, and toured sacred sites such as The Rollright Stones. Other theatres include The National Theatre; The Bush; The Tricycle; Shared Experience; TFANA (New York), A.R.T. (Boston), The Guthrie (Minneapolis). Throughout his career, he has acted in more than 50 productions by Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Mark Rylance was the Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe from 1995-2005. He is a trustee of The Shakespearean Authorship Trust and friend of The Francis Bacon Research Trust.

In 2007, Rylance wrote his first play, “I Am Shakespeare”. Since leaving the Globe he has primarily been interested in creating new drama. “Farinelli and the King,” written by Claire van Kampen.  “Nice Fish” which he co-wrote with Louis Jenkins, and most recently, “Dr Semmelweis”, co-written with Stephen Brown and Tom Morris.

Additional popular theater roles include: Countess Olivia in “Twelfth Night”; “Richard III”; and Johnny “Rooster” Byron in “Jerusalem”; Valere in “La Bête” and Robert in “Boeing-Boeing.” Most of his theatre work, since leaving Shakespeare’s Globe, has been with Sonia Friedman Productions.

Mark Rylance’s film work includes three films with Steven Spielberg,  Bridge of Spies, The BFG , and Ready Player One. Ciro Guerra’s film Waiting for the Barbarians, Dunkirk, Trial of the Chicago 7, The Institute Benjamenta,  Don’t Look Up, The Phantom of the Open and The Outfit.

His television appearances include three series with Peter Kosminsky; The Government Inspector, The Undeclared War and Wolf Hall.

Rylance is an honourary bencher of Middle Temple Hall in London, Trustee of Intermission Youth Theatre, Patron of Survival, the International movement for Tribal Peoples. He is also a founding patron of the London-based charity Peace Direct, which supports peace-builders in areas of conflict. Lately his work has focused on Intermission Youth Theatre and The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. He will always be an active member of STOP THE WAR.

In 2017 he was knighted for services to the Theatre.