David Mark Rylance Waters is an English actor, playwright, and theater director. Considered as one of the greatest stage actors of his generation, Rylance served as the first director of the reconstructed Globe Theater, Shakespeare's Globe, from 1995 to 2005. He is not only known for his portrayal of female and male roles in the works of William Shakespeare but also for his incredible acts of portraying contemporary characters. Rylance is the patron of the London International Festival of Theater and has received several Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations. He won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2015 for his gripping performance as Rudolf Abel in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies (2015).
Early Life
Born in Ashford, Kent, to Anne and David Waters, who were English teachers, Rylance has two siblings; a brother and a sister. His brother, Jonathan, works as a sommelier, and sister Susannah is an opera singer and an author. One of Rylance's grandmothers was Irish and both his grandfathers were Japanese POWs during WWII. Rylance's family moved to the United States in 1962. They first settled in Connecticut and then moved to Wisconsin in 1969, where David Waters taught English at the University School of Wisconsin. Rylance studied at the same school and also was part of the school plays, working with the director Date Gutzman. He also played the lead in Hamlet, and Romeo in the school production of Romeo and Juliet.
Personal Life
In 1987, while working on the production of The Wandering Jew, Rylance started dating the composer, director, and playwright, Claire van Kampen. After a courtship of two years, the couple married on 21st December 1989. Rylance then became the step-father of the two children Claire had from her previous marriage: Juliet Rylance, an actress and Natasha van Kampen, who died in 2012 at the age of 28.
Theater Career
Rylance had to take up the stage name of Mark Rylance as the name Mark Waters was already registered with Equity – the trade union for British actors, models, and stage managers. He made his professional acting debut with the Citizens Theater in 1980 after he completed his training from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. Later, in 1982 and 1983, Rylance performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

In 1988, Rylance was a part of Ron Daniel's production, Hamlet, with the RSC. Rylance played the lead in Hamlet and toured Britain and Ireland for a year before the play toured the United States for a couple of years. In 1990, Rylance along with Claire van Campen, whom he later married, started a theater company, Phoebus Cart. The theater soon produced their first play, The Tempest, in 1991. A couple of years later, he appeared in Much Ado About Nothing at the Queen's theater, portraying the character of Benedick. The following year he won the Oliver Award for Best Actor for his role as Benedick.

From 1995 to 2005, Rylance served as the director of the Shakespeare's Globe Theater. He was the first director of the theater and directed and acted in every season. While he held the position of the director there were many new plays introduced in the theater. The first play to be introduced was Augustine's Oak by Peter Oswald, performed in the year 1999. This was followed by another play by Oswald, The Golden Ass or the Curios Man, in 2002.

In 2005, Rylance ventured into television and starred in the lead role as David Kelly in Peter Kominsky's The Government Inspector, a British television series. He also won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his role of David Kelly. Later, in 2009, he also won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role as Johnny Byron in the play Jerusalem. In 2007, Rylance, together with his wife Claire van Kampen – Director of Music, and Jenny Tiramani – Director of Costume Design, received the Sam Wanamaker Award for his contribution and founding work during the first decade at Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

Further, Rylance continued working in plays and won another Oliver Award for Best Actor for the role of Johnny Byron in Jerusalem at the Apollo Theater in 2010. Continuing to deliver outstanding performances, Rylance won his second Tony Award for the same role in a Broadway production in 2011.
Movie Career
Rylance appeared in a couple of films before making his lead debut in 1991 with the movie The Grass Arena and also won the Radio Times award for Best Newcomer for his performance. He went on to star in movies such as Prospero's Books (1991), Angels and Insects (1995), Intimacy (2001), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), and Days and Nights (2014).

In 2015, Rylance starred in the British television serial Wolf Hall, portraying the role of Thomas Cromwell. He was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for the same role. In the same year, Mark Rylance starred in two movies, The Gunman directed by Pierre Morel, and Bridge of Spies directed by Steven Spielberg. The Gunman bombed at the box-office but Rylance's performance in the latter turned out to be one of his best roles in his career. He played the role of Rudolf Abel in the biographical drama Bridge of Spies, which also starred Tom Hanks, Alan Alda, and Amy Ryan. The movie is inspired by a true incident and depicts the arrest and conviction of the Soviet Spy, Rudolf Abel, and his exchange for Gary Powers, a U-2 pilot. Rylance's performance as Abel was termed as the best performance in 2015 by many critics. Further, Rylance won his first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as well. St. Lois Post-Depatch quoted: “As the deeply principled Donovan, Hanks deftly balances earnestness and humor. And Rylance’s spirited performance is almost certain to yield an Oscar nomination”. Not just the Academy Award but Rylance went on to win the New York Film Critics Circle Award and BAFTA award in supporting categories.

Rylance will be next seen in another Spielberg movie The BFG, which is an adaptation of the children's book by Roald Dahl, released in 2016. His 2017 release includes Christopher Nolan's war-thriller, titled Dunkirk, scheduled to release in 2017. The movie also stars Tom Hardy, Harry Styles, and Kenneth Branagh.