Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born February 21, 1946) is an Emmy-, Golden Globe-, BAFTA- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning English film, television and stage actor. He is perhaps best known to film audiences for his roles as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films and Hans Gruber in Die Hard. He also featured prominently as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 blockbuster, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. More recently, Rickman portrayed Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
He was born to Irish and Welsh parents in 1946. He attended the Royal College of Art; he wanted to be a graphic artist. At age 26 he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he spent 3 years. Started out in the theatrical version of "Dangerous Liaisons" His first major film was Die Hard (1988) where he was cast as Hans Gruber.
