Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was an English actor and director known for playing a variety of roles on stage and screen. Rickman trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing in modern and classical theatre productions. His first big television part came in 1982, but his big break was as the Vicomte de Valmont in the stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Rickman gained wider notice for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series.

Rickman was born in Acton, London, to a workingclass family, the son of Margaret Doreen Rose , a housewife, and Bernard Rickman, a factory worker. His ancestry was English, Irish and Welsh his father was Catholic and his mother a Methodist. His family included an older brother, David , a graphic designer a younger brother, Michael , a tennis coach and a younger sister, Sheila .

Source: Wikipedia