Colin Firth: The Thinking Ladies' Leading Man

Girl with a Pearl Earring
In this dark, fictionalized period piece, Firth plays Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The art-house film paints a portrait of a 17th century artist who scandalizes his family by using his maid as a muse for the painting A Girl with a Pearl Earring. Since much is unknown about the enigmatic painter, Firth used the master's paintings as a means to interpreting his character. Ever the intellectual, he has noted, "The benefit of having artists like Vermeer in the world is that he saw the world in a way that no one else did. He clearly and truly did ... and the way he treated depth and texture was unique. And you know, because we've got these paintings, we can see like he sees."

• 2011 TIME 100: Colin Firth