Cary Elwes is the third son born to interior designer Tessa Kennedy and the late portrait painter Dominic Elwes, and is the brother of producer Cassian Elwes and artist Damian Elwes. He was born and raised in London and attended Harrow. After graduating from Harrow, he moved to the US and studied acting at Sarah Lawrence College. He left school after several years to begin his film career. Cary is well respected by colleagues and fans alike and considered by many to be one of the finest young actors working today. He is interested in history and says, "It's deliberate that a lot of my films have been period pieces". He is politically active for causes he believes in, such as protecting the environment and helping Native American peoples. He is married to Lisa Marie Kurbikoff, a stills photographer.

Became engaged in Paris to Lisa Marie Kurbikoff. [12 December 1997]

He has had cameo appearences in several movies that his brother, Cassian Elwes, produced such as The Chase (1994) and Never on Tuesday (1988).

Stepson of Elliott Kastner.

Brother of Cassian Elwes and Damian Elwes.

His recurring character on "The X Files" (1993)'s 9th season, FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer, is named after the show's creator/executive producer Chris Carter's assistant, Brad Follmer.

His great grandfather (on his father's side) was a chamberlain to the Pope.

Was chosen for the part of Westley in The Princess Bride (1987) after Rob Reiner saw him in Lady Jane (1986). He spent weeks training in fencing with both his left hand and right hand while performing acrobatics.

Last name is pronounced El-wez.

Made his film debut in Marek Kanievska's award-winning drama Another Country (1984). Based on that performance, Cary was chosen by renown Director of The Royal Shakespeare Company, Trevor Nunn, to star opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the highly acclaimed historical epic Lady Jane (1986).

Played a filmmaker 4 times: as John Houseman in Cradle Will Rock (1999), as Fritz Arno Wagner in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), as Fritz Hippler in Uprising (2001) (TV), and as Thomas H. Ince in The Cat's Meow (2001).

Having been a dramatic actor, he had never done a comedy prior to his acclaimed performance in The Princess Bride (1987).

Was a projectionist at school.

As a student in Sarah Lawrence College in 1980, he studied acting, philosophy and history. He also studied German Expressionist Film in college. Despite his parents' wealth, Elwes supplemented his income by working his way through school.

For the video game The Bard's Tale (2004) (VG), he spent at least 20 hours in Los Angeles and London recording studios to bring his title character to life. In order for his character to converse with nonplayable characters in either a 'snarky' or 'nice' tone, both leavened with comic relief, Cary had to record two responses for every interaction - a total of 1,200 lines and a lot of his own script improvising.

His very devout Catholic mother took him to meet Pope John Paul II in the Vatican when Cary was 22 years old. Cary portrayed the young pontiff in the docudrama Pope John Paul II (2005) (TV).

His paternal grandfather was the famous portrait-painter Simon Elwes.

Met his wife Lisa Marie in 1991 at a Malibu chili cook-off.

Is a distant relative of the famous Archaeologist Lord Carnarvon, and a distant nephew of Henry VIII Tudor, King of England, as well as he is a distant nephew of his third wife, Jane Seymour.

Daughter, Dominique, was born on April 24, 2007.

Raised as a Catholic. He was an altar boy at Brompton Oratory in London. His mother is a very devout Catholic. His father and paternal grandfather were also Catholics.

Cousin of Amanda Elwes.

Is an accomplished horseman.

Is the ambassador for the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. As ambassador, he traveled to Banda Aceh, Indonesia for the documentary "The Children of the Tsunami", which was filmed 90 days after the tsunami of December 2003 to document the damage and recovery efforts.

Prepares intensely for most of his acting roles. (For example, for Days of Thunder (1990), he had to rely on practical research to meet the physical demands of playing a race car driver. For his role as Air Force Colonel James Burton in The Pentagon Wars (1998) (TV), he spent a few days in Burton's home interviewing him and poring over his BFV files, and even filing boxes of Burton's Bradley documents and giving every page back to Burton.).

Played a number of villainous roles. His first role as a villain was in Leather Jackets (1992).