People can’t stop talking about Joseph Fiennes and his uncanny resemblance to Gareth Southgate in the BBC’s new drama, Dear England.
The 55-year-old actor portrays England’s former manager in the four-parter, which tells the story of the team under Southgate’s reign, from the highs to the lows.
Co-starring Jodie Whittaker as psychologist Pippa Grange and Jason Watkins as former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke, the cast’s physical transformations for the roles are mightily impressive – seriously, you’ll have to do a double-take.
As well as Dear England, Bafta-winning star Fiennes has taken on roles in some of television’s most popular shows, from The Handmaid’s Tale to American Horror Story.
He’s also been in theatre since the 90s with credits in The Woman in Black, As You Like It, plus the original play of Dear England, as it started out before being adapted for screens.
Away from the bright lights of showbiz, however, he’s well settled with a family – not to mention five siblings.
Is Joseph Fiennes married, and who is his wife?
Fiennes married María Dolores Diéguez in 2009, tying the knot in Tuscany, Italy, in a Catholic ceremony.
The Swiss actress and model, 44, also has a successful entertainment career, rising to prominence as an international model in the 2000s and by competing in Miss Switzerland.
Acting-wise, she’s known for Durch die Blume (2004) and Glanz & Gloria (2005).
It’s believed that she and Fiennes met in 2005, with their relationship long-distance between Bern and London for several years.
Then, for a decade, they resided in Mallorca, Spain, before moving to London full-time, largely due to Brexit… but things didn’t get off to the smoothest start.
‘Within a week of arriving, my wife was mugged, her phone was stolen, my car was taken, the flat we bought went down by 14%, and the kids said, “Dad, what are we doing here? It’s raining every day”,’ Fiennes recalled in an interview with The Times last year.
Having grown up in ‘abject poverty’ with ‘struggling and penniless’ parents himself, though, he was keen not to shelter his children from reality.
‘It goes back to there being adversity. Yes, I want you to catch the Tube and the bus and understand how to negotiate timetables, the bad weather, a difficult city, and the cost of living,’ he explained.
‘So I won’t be put off by the high taxes or poo in the river or what I call the crime bikes — the Lime bikes whose riders go around and snatch bags — because I offset all of that against the extraordinary, diverse wonder and culture.’
Does Joseph Fiennes have children?
Fiennes and Diéguez are proud parents of two daughters named Eva and Isabel.
While living in Spain, their family was surrounded by wildlife in the hills, totally off the grid, and even used their own well.
So, when they relocated to Blighty, it’s unsurprising that there was a cultural shock.
He’s since shared that they have adjusted, though, with one of his kids studying art for GCSE, so he’s taken her to visit museums like the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A, and both now ‘love’ city life.
But while he’s a hotshot TV and film star, Fiennes is still a dad, at the end of the day, and he has firm rules for his brood – even though he reckons they make him a ‘dinosaur’.
He is especially strict when it comes to tech, insisting he doesn’t want his daughters to use their phones in their bedrooms, and he bans social media use entirely after dinner each night.
‘I’m probably thought of as a dinosaur. And I don’t get any favours at home for being very draconian about it – you don’t take it to the bedroom; you don’t use it after supper,’ he shared in 2025.
‘There are absolutely stringent rules. It is a day-to-day battle and very stressful.’
Who are Joseph Fiennes’ siblings?
The Fiennes family had a nomadic upbringing due to their father, Mark, taking on different jobs to support his family.
Over several years, they moved 14 times while the children grew up, living in parts of Suffolk, Ireland, Wiltshire, and London.
And while money was tight, with the kids remembering having to sell things to be able to pay for Christmas, their household was always filled with love.
There is absolutely no denying that the most famous of the bunch is eldest child Ralph Fiennes, 63, who has a Bafta and a Tony to his name and famously played Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise.
While his younger brother doesn’t speak much about the Schindler’s List star publicly, he has made it known that he admires him, previously joking that their family’s creativity derives from a ‘malformed gene’.
He’s also admitted that he gets mistaken for his big brother, saying in 2017 it happens ‘occasionally’ due to their physical likeness.
As for their other siblings, younger sister Sophie is a director and producer, while Martha also directs. Magnus is a composer and record producer who has worked with big-name artists like Shakira and the Spice Girls.
Jacob and foster brother Michael opted for different paths, with Jacob working as a wildlife conservationist and Michael as an archaeologist.
Speaking previously, Jacob told The Guardian that ‘[his] mother’s amazing skill was to encourage six very different individuals to express themselves in whatever way they felt suited them’.
Adding to the web, Martha, 62, is the mother of 28-year-old actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who has appeared in the After franchise and played a young Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
What’s more, he took the lead as Sherlock Holmes in the Young Sherlock series, in which his uncle co-starred, this time playing his on-screen father, Silas Holmes.
Watch Dear England on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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