Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English stage and screen actor most recognized for his role as the creepy Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films. His other notable roles include Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest, and Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility.

Rickman was born on February 21, 1946, in Hammersmith, London, . He is the second of four children, and when he was eight years old his father died. As a child Rickman had a speech disability caused by a very tight lower jaw, making his spoken words indistinctive and muffled. After speech therapy this disability is now a slight speech impediment that gives his voice a distinctive drawl. It is this distinctive drawl that has gained him the reputation for having a unique voice and the ability to effectively deliver lines.

Even though Rickman enjoyed acting, he did not always dream of becoming an actor. After high school he attended the Chelsea College of Art to become a graphic artist. He's been quoted as saying, Drama school wasn't considered the sensible thing to do at eighteen.

After Art School , Rickman worked for in the design field and, with friends, he formed his own design company, Graphiti, while acting in a couple of amateur troupes on the side. When he was twenty-six he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) after delivering a speech from Richard III at his audition.

From 1972 to 1974 he studied at the school and performed many Shakespeare plays. While there he won the Emile Litter Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Metal.

Rickman went on to appear in several plays and other acting jobs. He performed farce and light comedy with the Library Theatre Company in Manchester , and also starred in several musicals. In addition, Rickman appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival.

In 1978 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where he starred in As You Like It and Les Liaisons Dangereuses. He followed Les Liaisons Dangereuses to Broadway and earned a Tony Award nomination for his role as the elegant and heartless seducer.

Alan Rickman starred in several films throughout the 1990s, including Die Hard: With a Vengence, the final film in the Die Hard Tirlogy where Jeremy Irons played Simon Gruber, the revenge-seeking brother of Hans Gruber played by Alan Rickman in the first Die Hard film. The third film also starred Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, and Graham Greene. More roles in American films followed where he usually played villains, completely the opposite of the romantic leads he most often played in British films.

While Rickman has made a name for himself as a highly talented film actor, theater is his first love. He has frequently passed up film offers to return to the theater.

Rickman has been in a long-term romantic relationship with Rima Horton, whom he met at Chelsea Art College . The two are not married and have no children.