Richard E. Grant (born May 5, 1957) is a British actor known for portraying the world-weary, drug-crazed alcoholic Withnail in Withnail and I. Grant was born Richard Grant Esterhuysen in Mbabane, Swaziland, the son of Henrik Esterhuysen, who was the Minister of Education for the British Ministry in South Africa, and a mother who worked as a teacher.Grant was educated in Waterford Kamhlaba School. At the age of nine, he witnessed an adulterous relationship between his mother and another man, which subsequently led to the break-up of his parents' marriage. At this moment, he started keeping a diary and has done so ever since. He wears a watch on each wrist, one given to him by his dying father, permanently set on Swaziland time. He studied English and Drama at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and moved to London in 1982 Grant married Joan Washington in 1986 and has one daughter with her, Olivia, and a step-son, Tom. Grant is a teetotaler. After casting him as the alcoholic Withnail, director Bruce Robinson made Grant drink a bottle of champagne in one sitting so that he had experience of the sensation.

On December 1st 2006 Richard E Grant turned real life investigator when with the help of the BBC Newsnight programme he exposed a $98 million scam to sell a bogus AIDS cure.