Ian McDiarmid Biography

Ian McDiarmid is a Scottish actor and director of stage and screen, best known for portraying Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars film series. Making his stage debut in Hamlet in 1972, McDiarmid joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974, and has since starred in a number of Shakespeare’s plays. He has received an Olivier Award for Best Actor and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his stage performances.

Ian McDiarmid Age

McDiarmid is 77 years old as of 2019, he was born on 11 August 1944 in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland. He celebrates his birthday on 11 August every year and his birth sign is Leo.

Ian McDiarmid Height and Weight

McDiarmid stands at a height of 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m), weighs 80 kg (176 lbs) and has gray hair and blue eyes. However, details regarding his actual height and other body measurements are currently not publicly available. We will update this section when the information is available.

Ian McDiarmid Education

McDiarmid attended Queen’s College, Dundee (now the University of Dundee, but then a constituent part of the University of St Andrews), where he received a Master of Arts in psychology. Soon after, he decided to pursue a career in the theatre instead and took acting training courses at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

Ian McDiarmid Family, Parents and Siblings

McDiarmid was born and raised by her parents in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland. Our efforts to find out more about his family came to no avail as no such information is publicly available. Thus, the identity of McDiarmid’s parents is still unclear. It is also not known if he has any siblings. We will update this section once this information is available.

Ian McDiarmid Husband, Wife, Dating and Children

McDiarmid has not gone public with her relationship, it is not publicly known whether he is married or in a relationship. His  partner’s information will be updated as soon as the information is available

Ian McDiarmid Salary

Details about McDiarmid’s salary are not yet disclosed. However, information about how much he  makes will be updated as soon as it is available.

Ian McDiarmid Net Worth

McDiarmid’s net worth is estimated to be between $1 million and $5 million. This includes his assets, money and income. His primary source of income is his career as a actor and director. Through his various sources of income, McDiarmid has been able to accumulate a good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.

Ian McDiarmid Measurements and Facts

Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Ian McDiarmid.

Ian McDiarmid Wiki

Ian McDiarmid Photo

• Full Names: Ian McDiarmid
• Popular As: McDiarmid
• Gender: Male
• Occupation / Profession: Actor, Director
• Nationality: Scottish
• Race / Ethnicity: White
• Religion:  Not Known
• Sexual Orientation: Not Known

Ian McDiarmid Birthday

• Age / How Old?: 77 (2021)
• Zodiac Sign: Leo
• Date of Birth: 11 August 1944
• Place of Birth: Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland
• Birthday: August 11th

Ian McDiarmid Body Measurements

• Body Measurements: Not Available
• Height / How Tall?: 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m)
• Weight: 80 kg (176 lbs)
• Eye Color: Blue
• Hair Color: Gray
• Shoe Size: Not Available
• Dress Size: Not Available
• Breast Size: Not Available
• Waist Size: Not Available
• Hip Size: Not Available

Ian McDiarmid Family and Relationship

• Father (Dad): Not Known
• Mother: Not Known
• Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): Not Known
• Marital Status: Not Known
• Wife/Spouse or Husband/Spouse: Not Available
• Dating / Girlfriend or Dating / Boyfriend: Not Available
• Children: Not Available

Ian McDiarmid Net Worth and Salary

• Net Worth: $1 million and $5 million
• Salary: Under Review
• Source of Income: Actor, Director

Ian McDiarmid Career

Theatre

McDiarmid has worked in British theatre as both an actor and a director. He has been in a number of Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet (1972), The Tempest (1974, 2000), Much Ado About Nothing (1976), Trevor Nunn’s 1976 Macbeth (television 1978), The Merchant of Venice (1984), and King Lear (1984). (2005).

In 1978, he played Ivanov in Tom Stoppard’s play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, which he performed at the Mermaid Theatre. McDiarmid and Jonathan Kent worked as creative directors of the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, beginning in 1990, enlisting the support of notable performers such as Glenda Jackson and Claire Bloom for their works.

The two men resigned in 2001, leaving the venue in good condition. Their reign was highlighted by a succession of critically acclaimed performances by actors such as Kevin Spacey and Ralph Fiennes.

McDiarmid directed plays such as Venice Preserved (1986) and Hippolytus (1988) while at the Almeida (1991). McDiarmid received the Almeida Theatre Critic’s Circle Award for Best Actor in 2002 for his performance as Teddy in a revival of Brian Friel’s Faith Healer.

Five years later, in 2006, he returned to the role in his Broadway debut. Kent directed him in the role, which he shared with Ralph Fiennes and Cherry Jones, and he received the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.

He was the title character in Timon of Athens at Chicago Shakespeare Theater from April to June 2012. In Sam Shepard’s play Seduced, he played Harry Hackamore. McDiarmid compared Hackamore to a Howard Hughes persona.

He was dressed in prosthetics for the role, including a false beard and long fingernails. McDiarmid was just 37 years old at the time, and this convinced George Lucas and Richard Marquand that he could play a much older character effectively in extreme cinematic close-up, which helped him land the role of Palpatine.

Television and radio

In The Professionals for London Weekend Television, McDiarmid played Mickey Hamilton, a killer out to avenge the loss of his wife and child. In 1990, he played the psychotic con artist Hugo DeVries in the episode “Masonic Mysteries” of the Central Independent Television series Inspector Morse.

McDiarmid portrayed the antagonist, Ronald Hinks, in the Touching Evil two-part episode “Through the Clouds/The Lost Boys” in 1997. In the BBC’s 2002 production of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, he played police detective Porfiry Petrovich. McDiarmid portrayed Stuart statesman Edward Hyde in the BBC series Charles II: The Power and The Passion in 2003.

He played Satan in the 41-part BBC Radio 4 drama based on John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which was later re-broadcast on BBC 7. He recently portrayed Henry Fielding, a pioneer of policing, in the Channel 4 historical drama series City of Vice, and Denis Thatcher in 2009’s Margaret. In a BBC Radio dramatization of John le Carré’s The Looking Glass War in 2009, McDiarmid portrayed intelligence chief LeClerc.

In 2014, he starred as British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey in the BBC television drama 37 Days, which depicted the diplomatic crisis preceding World War I. He also had a recurring role as Anton in the second season of Utopia.

In September 2016, McDiarmid starred in the audio podcast drama series Akiha Den Den. He played Cuttings, a ham radio buff who picks up a mysterious voice (Joy McAvoy) coming from an abandoned amusement park and Prospero in a BBC Radio 3 “new, environmentally-inflected production of The Tempest to coincide with COP26 in Glasgow”, 7 Nov. 2021.

Ian McDiarmid Movies and TV Shows

Stage appearances

• Hamlet, Open Space Theatre, London, 1972
• And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers, Open Space Theatre, London, 1973
• In the Jungle of Cities, Place Theatre, London, 1973
• Macbeth, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, England, 1973, then Bankside Globe Theatre, London, 1973
• Measure for Measure, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1974
• Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1975
• Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1976
• Destiny, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976
• Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976
• Schweyk in the Second World War, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976, then Warehouse Theatre, London, 1977
• Much Ado About Nothing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, 1976, then Aldwych Theatre, 1977
• That Good Between Us, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977
• Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977
• The Days of the Commune, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1977
• Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1978
• Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Mermaid Theatre, London, 1978
• Peer Gyntby Henrik Ibsen, Oxford Playhouse, 1980
• Mephisto, adapted by Gordon McDougallfrom the book by Klaus
• Mann, Oxford Playhouse Company, The Roundhouse Theatre, London, 1981
• The Worlds, New Half Moon Theatre, London, 1981
• Ezra, New Half Moon Theatre, 1981
• Insignificance, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1982
• Tales from Hollywood, National Theatre, 1983
• The Wild Duckby Henrik Ibsen, the Royal Exchange, Manchester, 1983
• The Merchant of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1984
• The Party, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit(Barbican Centre), London, 1985
• Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, London, 1985 (Chorus)
• The War Plays, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
• Crimes in Hot Countries, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
• The Castle, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
• Downchild, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
• Edward II, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1986
• The Saxon Shore, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
• Creditors, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
• The Danton Affair, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, 1986
• The King Goes Forth to France, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, 1987 (Froissart)[29]
• Don Carlos, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1987 (King Philip)
• The Black Prince, Aldwych Theatre, 1989
• Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
• Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
• The School for Wives, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1993
• Hated Nightfall, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1995
• Tartuffe, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1996
• The Government Inspector, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1997
• The Doctor’s Dilemma, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1998
• The Jew of Malta, Almeida Theatre, 1999
• The Tempest, Almeida Theatre, 2000–01
• Faith Healer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2001
• Faith Healer, Gate Theatrein Dublin, 2001–2002
• The Embalmer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2002
• Henry IV, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 2004
• Lear, Sheffield Crucible, 2005
• Faith Healer, Booth Theatre, 2006
• John Gabriel Borkman, Donmar Warehouse, 2007
• Jonah and Otto, Manchester Royal Exchange, 2008
• Be Near Me, National Theatre of Scotlandand Donmar Warehouse, 2009
• Six Characters in Search of an Author, Headlong Theatre, 2008–2010
• The Prince of Homburg, Donmar Warehouse, 2010
• Emperor and Galilean, National Theatre, 2011
• The Faith Machine, Royal Court Theatre, 2011
• Timon of Athens, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 2012
• Life of Galileo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford, 2013
• Merchant of Venice, Almeida, London, 2014
• What Shadows, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham, 2016
• The Lemon Table, Salisbury Playhouse, Wiltshire Creative, Sheffield
• Crucible, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, HOME
• Manchester, Malvern Theatres, 2021

Stage director

• Venice Preserv’d, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
• Dom Juan, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1988
• The Possibilities, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1988
• Scenes from an Execution, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
• Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
• A Hard Heart, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1992
• Venice Preserv’d, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1995

Film

• 1976 The Likely Lads
• 1980 Sir Henry at Rawlinson End
  Richard’s Things
  The Awakening
• 1981 Dragonslayer
• 1983 Star Wars Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
  Gorky Park
• 1988 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
• 1995 Restoration
• 1999 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
  Sleepy Hollow
• 2002 Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
• 2004 Star Wars Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back DVD Special Edition
• 2005 Star Wars: A Musical Journey
  Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
• 2009 The Odds
• 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• 2016 The Lost City of Z
• 2019 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Television

• 1976 Red Letter Day
• 1979 Macbeth
• The Professionals
• 1981 ITV Playhouse
• 1983 The Nation’s Health
• 1985 Pity in History
• 1988 The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
• 1990 Inspector Morse
• 1991 Chernobyl: The Final Warning
• 1993 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
  Heart of Darkness
  Selected Exits
• 1995 Annie: A Royal Adventure!
• 1996 Karaoke
  Cold Lazarus
  Hillsborough
• 1997 An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
  Rebecca
  Touching Evil
• 1999 Great Expectations
  All the King’s Men
• 2002 Crime and Punishment
• 2003 Charles II: The Power and The Passion
• 2004 Spooks
• 2005 Our Hidden Lives
  Elizabeth I
• 2008 City of Vice
• 2009 Margaret
• 2014 37 Days
  Utopia
• 2018 Britannia
  Star Wars Rebels
• 2020 Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• 2021 Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Ian McDiarmid Awards and Achievements

• 1968 Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Gold Medal
• 1982 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a New Play
• 1985 Time Out Comedy Awards for Directing
• 1990 Time Out Comedy Awards for Directing
• 1991 Observer Awards for Outstanding Achievement for Ten Years of Presenting Irish Drama (nominated)
• 1995 Manchester Evening News Award for Best Actor
• 1998 Special Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Achievement of the Year (shared with Jonathan Kent)
• 2001 Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best Theatre Actor
• 2002 Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actor
• 2004 Manchester Evening News Award for Best Actor
• 2004 Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Actor
• 2005 Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Actor
• 2005 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
• 2005 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain
• 2006 Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance
• 2006 Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
• 2006 Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance
• 2006 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
• 2021 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor

Frequently Asked Questions About Ian McDiarmid

Who is Ian McDiarmid?

McDiarmid is a Scottish actor and director on stage and screen, best known for portraying Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars film series. Making his stage debut in Hamlet in 1972, McDiarmid joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974 and has since starred in a number of Shakespeare’s plays. He has received an Olivier Award for Best Actor and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his stage performances.

How old is Ian McDiarmid?

McDiarmid is an American national born on 11 August 1944, in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland.

How tall is Ian McDiarmid?

McDiarmid stands at a height of 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m).

Is Ian McDiarmid married?

Details about McDiarmid’s love life are still under review. We will let you know when he gets in a relationship or when we discover helpful information about his love life.

How much is Ian McDiarmid worth?

McDiarmid has an approximate net worth of $1 million and $5 million. This amount has been accrued from his leading roles in the film industry. McDiarmid has not yet revealed his net worth. We will update this section when we get and verify information about the wealth and properties under his name.

How much does Ian McDiarmid make?

Details about McDiarmid’s salary are not yet disclosed. However, information about how much he makes will be updated as soon as it is available.

Where does McDiarmid live?

Because of security reasons, McDiarmid has not shared his precise location of residence. We will update this information if we get the location and images of his house.

Is McDiarmid dead or alive?

McDiarmid is alive and in good health. There have been no reports of him being sick or having any health-related issues.

Where is McDiarmid Now?

McDiarmid is pursuing his career in film. He is working as a actor and director.

Ian McDiarmid Contacts

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