Hugh Grant

Grant was born on September 9, 1960 in Hammersmith Hospital, the second son of Fynvola Susan MacLean and Captain James Murray Grant. His grandfather, Colonel James Murray Grant, DSO, was decorated for bravery and leadership at Saint-Valery-en-Caux during World War II. Genealogist Anthony Adolph has described Grant's family history as "a colourful Anglo-Scottish tapestry of warriors, empire-builders, and aristocracy." His ancestors include Sir Walter Raleigh; William Drummond, 4th Viscount Strathallan; James Stewart; John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl; Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham; Sir Evan Nepean; and a sister of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.

Grant's father was an officer in the Seaforth Highlanders for eight years in Malaya and Germany. He ran a carpet business and pursued hobbies such as golf and watercolor painting; he raised his family in Chiswick, West London, where the Grants lived next to Arlington Park Mansions on Sutton Lane. In September 2006, a collection of Capt. Grant's paintings was hosted by the John Martin Gallery in a charity exhibition, organized by his son, called "James Grant: 30 Years of Watercolours". Hugh's mother worked as a schoolteacher and taught Latin, French, and music for more than 30 years in the state schools of West London. She died at 67 of pancreatic cancer.

On Inside the Actors Studio in 2002, Grant credited his mother with "any acting genes that [he] might have." Both his parents were children of military families, but despite that background, he has said, his family was not always affluent as he grew up. He spent many of his childhood summers hunting and fishing with his grandfather in Scotland. Grant has an older brother, James "Jamie" Grant, a New York-based investment banker.

Grant started his education at Hogarth Primary School in Chiswick, then moved to St Peter's Primary School in Hammersmith, followed by Wetherby School, an independent preparatory school in Notting Hill. From 1969 to 1978, he attended Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, at the time a direct grant grammar school. He was educated on a scholarship and played 1st XV rugby, cricket, and football. He also represented Latymer Upper on the quiz show Top of the Form, an academic competition between two teams of four secondary school students each.

In 1979, he won the Galsworthy scholarship to New College, Oxford, where he studied English literature and graduated with a 2.1 grade. Then viewing acting as nothing more than a creative outlet, he joined the Oxford University Dramatic Society and played Fabian in a production of Twelfth Night. He also starred in his first film, Privileged (1982), produced by the Oxford University Film Foundation. He turned down an offer from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, to pursue a PhD in art history because he failed to secure a grant.