The family moved many times, from Billericay to Brentwood, Essex, and then to St. Louis, Missouri (USA) for a year when Jonathan was five.
[1] Firth studied at Central School of Speech and Drama and Peter Symonds College in Winchester.
[2] After graduation, he toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he made his debut at the age of twenty-seven as Henry VI (1994).
[3] In addition to his roles in the theatre, Firth has acted in cinematic films and radio dramas,[4] narrated audiobooks, and has also made notable television appearances, such as Linton Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1992); Fred Vincy in Middlemarch (1994); Lord Byron in Highlander: The Series (1997); Sergeant Troy in Far from the Madding Crowd, for which he received a nomination for best actor;[3] Lord Arthur Goring in An Ideal Husband (2000); and Prince Albert in Victoria & Albert (2001).
[3] He has also guest-starred in Van der Valk (1991), Inspector Morse (1992); Covington Cross (1992); Cadfael (1994); Agatha Christie's Poirot: Hickory Dickory Dock (1995); Tales from the Crypt (1996); Midsomer Murders The Killings at Badger's Drift (1997); Kangaroo Palace (1998), an Australian drama set in the 1960s; The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999); The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2002); Sparkling Cyanide (2003); and Jericho (2005).