Before The King’s Speech made him royalty in Hollywood, Colin Firth nearly walked away from acting. In the late '90s, after Pride and Prejudice, he was typecast as the “English gentleman” and quietly frustrated. What most people don’t know? Firth almost gave it up entirely—until a little indie film called A Single Man reignited his passion. That role, as a grieving professor, earned him his first Oscar nomination and changed everything. Suddenly, he wasn’t just “Mr. Darcy” anymore—he was a serio