He and Paltrow were reunited onscreen in Running with Scissors (2006). The same year he starred in the limited-release film Luther, playing Martin Luther, and he also appeared in The Merchant of Venice, in which he portrayed Bassanio. Goodbye Bafana was filmed by director Bille August in South Africa, and released in 2007.

He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, Commisar Danilov in Enemy at the Gates, Martin Luther in Luther, Merlin in Camelot, and his portrayal of Mark Benford in the 2009 TV series FlashForward. The youngest of six siblings, his elder siblings are actor Ralph Fiennes, filmmakers Sophie Fiennes and Martha Fiennes, composer Magnus Fiennes, and conservationist Jacob Fiennes, his twin brother. His first professional stage appearance was in the West End in The Woman in Black, followed by A Month in the Country opposite Helen Mirren. His first feature film was 1996’s Stealing Beauty, co-starring Liv Tyler. in 1998, Fiennes appeared in two films that were nominated at the Academy Awards: he played Robert Dudley opposite Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth and he portrayed William Shakespeare opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The same year he starred in the limited-release film Luther, playing Martin Luther, and he also appeared in The Merchant of Venice, in which he portrayed Bassanio. Fiennes starred in the ABC science fiction series FlashForward, which debuted on 24 September 2009 and ran through 27 May 2010, as Mark Benford.

Fiennes was briefly educated in the Republic of Ireland and then at Swan School For Boys (now known as Leehurst Swan School, following a merger with another school), an independent school in Salisbury, before passing his 11+ exam and continuing to Bishop Wordsworth’s School, a voluntary-aided state day grammar school, in the Cathedral Close of the city. Fiennes portrayed James Gregory, author of the book Goodbye Bafana: Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, My Friend. Fiennes married María Dolores Diéguez, a Swiss model of Spanish (Galician) heritage born in 1982, in a Roman Catholic religious ceremony in Tuscany in August 2009.

Fiennes was briefly educated in the Republic of Ireland and then at Swan School For Boys (now known as Leehurst Swan School, following a merger with another school), an independent school in Salisbury, before passing his 11+ exam and continuing to Bishop Wordsworth’s School, a voluntary-aided state day grammar school, in the Cathedral Close of the city. He is also distantly related to Robert Dudley, the character he played in Elizabeth.