WATCH: Interview with Oscar Nominee Colin Firth

Colin Firth

Colin Firth‘s performance as George VI in The King’s Speech won him top best actor honors at two major Hollywood ceremonies recently: the Critics Choice Movie Awards and the Golden Globes. Today, the 50-year-old star received his second straight Academy Award nomination. For what it’s worth I think he’s delivered the very best performance of his career and deserves all the accolades he’s getting.

When I met him Firth made it clear that taking the leading role in The King’s Speech was an opportunity he just couldn’t resist. For years he was best known for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, a role which made him an international heartthrob. But his two well-received recent performances — as the stammering British monarch in The King’s Speech and as a bereaved college professor in A Single Man — have redefined his career. Watch my interview with him: