''He has this great softness and sweetness, [but] one day he looked up at me with his bright green eyes and he suddenly looked demonic. That he can go from shy and self-effacing to that opposite is most extraordinary.'' -- PATRICK MACNEE, STAR OF TV'S AVENGERS

He's one of our most valuable British imports, seducing with angelic looks and barely contained gentleness, and then slowly revealing pain, torment, even cruelty. As a fool for love in The English Patient, Fiennes, 35, pined with an unsettling, uncompromising passion. In Schindler's List, his carefully calibrated performance underscored the monstrous side of man's nature.

DON'T MISS: Schindler's List (1993), Quiz Show (1994), The English Patient (1996)

NEXT: The Avengers (Aug. 14); Onegin with Liv Tyler; Hungarian director Istvan Szabo's The Taste of Sunshine (in production)


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