Mark Rylance - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1992 he married Claire van Kampen whom he met while working at the National Theatre. His stepdaughter is actress Juliet Rylance, who is married to actor Christian Camargo. His younger stepdaughter, filmmaker Nataasha Van Kampen, died in July 2012 at the age of twenty-eight, as a result of which Rylance withdrew from his planned participation in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

Mark Rylance has been a supporter of the indigenous rights organisation Survival International for many years. He is the creator and director of "We Are One, a celebration of tribal peoples", a fundraising to take place at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue on Sunday 18 April 2010. The evening was a performance of tribal prose and poetry from some of the UK and Hollywood’s leading actors and musicians. About the event he has said: ”As a child, I was enriched and inspired by the lives and stories of the world's tribal peoples. As an adult, I have also been inspired by the ceaseless work of the organisation Survival International, and their movement to protect these tribes – from the rainforest of the Amazon to the icy reaches of the Arctic...To celebrate 40 years of Survival's work and enjoy the beauty of the spoken word from such rich oral cultures, I am gathering my friends from the theatre on the set of Jerusalem for a wonderful spring afternoon of eloquent recitals and stunning images from 'We are One’."

He is also patron of The Outside Edge Theatre Company. Edge works from the perspective of creating theatre and drama with people affected by substance misuse. It provides theatre interventions in drug and alcohol treatment and general community facilities throughout London and the UK as well as producing professional public theatre productions that take place in theatres, studio theatres and art centres. Mark is "a great admirer of the company's work" believing it to be "proper initiatory old style theatre".