Hero Fiennes Tiffin

Fiennes Tiffin in 2011, photo by www.prphotos.com

Birth Name: Hero Beauregard Faulkner Fiennes Tiffin

Place of Birth: Lambeth, London, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 6 November, 1997

Ethnicity: English, along with Northern Irish, Irish, Anglo-Irish, Scottish, and 1/128th Italian, distant Cornish, German, French, and Welsh

Hero Fiennes Tiffin, also spelled Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, is an English actor, model, and film producer. He is known for starring in the five After films, as well as for his roles in Bigga than Ben, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Private Peaceful, The Silencing (2020), First Love (2022), The Loneliest Boy in the World, The Woman King, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and Picture This (2025); and on the series Safe, Cleaning Up, and Young Sherlock.

He is the son of Martha Fiennes, a director, writer, and producer, and George Tiffin, a director, novelist, writer, and cameraman. He is a nephew of actor, film producer, and director Ralph Fiennes; film director and producer Sophie Fiennes; composer, record producer, and songwriter Magnus Fiennes; and actor Joseph Fiennes. Hero’s third cousin, twice removed, is explorer and endurance record holder Ranulph Fiennes. Many of his maternal forebears had been born in India, during the time of British colonialism there.

Hero’s paternal grandfather was John Tiffin, a television producer for 60 Minutes (John Alan Gower Tiffin, the son of George Charles Tiffin and Doris Vera Gower). John was born in Bromley, Kent, England. George was the son of George Ernest Tiffin and Florence Jane Mary Austing. Hero’s great-grandmother Doris was the daughter of Arthur Gower and Laura.

Hero’s paternal grandmother was Wendy Ewer, an advertising copywriter (born Elaine S. E. Ewer; the daughter of Edward Maynard Ewer and Emelyn Fiorenza McClellan Story). Hero’s grandmother Wendy was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., and later moved to England. Hero’s great-grandfather Edward was the son of Chester Joseph/Jesse Ewer and Hattie/Hallie Adelaide Fuller. Hero’s great-grandmother Emelyn was born in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, the daughter of Julian Russell Story and Elaine Margaret Sartori. Julian’s grandfather, Hero’s great-great-great-great-grandfather Joseph Story, was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts, from May 23, 1808 to March 3, 1809, and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, from February 3, 1812 to September 10, 1845. Elaine Sartori’s grandfather was of Italian and French descent. Hero’s fifth times great-grandfather was Giovanni Battista Sartori, an early Italian immigrant to the U.S.

Hero’s maternal grandfather was Mark Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (the son of Maurice Alberic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes and Sylvia Joan Finlay). Mark was born at Castle Ward, Northumberland, England, and was a farmer and photographer. Maurice was born in Brentford, Middlesex, England, and was a prominent industrialist. He was the son of Alberic Arthur Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes and Gertrude Theodosia Colley. Through Alberic, Hero is a great-great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Benjamin Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 16th Baron Saye and Sele, who was Archdeacon of Hereford, from 1863 to 1887; and a five times great-grandson of nobleman and landowner Richard Wingfield, 4th Viscount Powerscourt; Henry Cunningham/Conyngham Montgomery, 1st baronet of the Hall, County Donegal; and John Pomeroy, 4th Viscount Harberton. Hero’s great-grandmother Sylvia was born in Madras, India, to English parents, David Finlay, from London, Middlesex; and Lady Mabel Vivian Prideaux Temperley, from Gosforth, Northumberland. Her own mother was of Cornish descent.

Hero’s maternal grandmother was Jennifer Anne Mary Alleyne Lash (the daughter of Henry Alleyne Lash and Joan/Joanna Mary Moore). Jennifer was born in Chichester, Sussex, England, and was a writer and painter. Hero’s great-grandfather Henry was born in Bengal, India, and was a colonial officer. His father, Nicholas Alleyne Lash, was born in India, to Irish-born parents, with recent ancestors born in England on Jamaica. Henry’s mother, Hero’s great-great-grandmother Violet Maud Keely, was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. Hero’s great-grandmother Joan was born in Madras, India, the daughter of Pierce Langrishe Moore, who was born in Trichinopoly, Madras, the great-grandson of writer Henry Joseph Monck Mason; and of Muriel Strange, who was born in London, England.

Hero’s matrilineal line can be traced to Sibella/Sybilla Dickson, who was born, c. 1742, in Somerset, England, and to her mother, Anne Carteret Dickson.

Through Hero’s paternal grandmother, Hero is a descendant of William Brewster (c. 1566-1644), a Mayflower passenger and noted Pilgrim. Among many of William’s other descendants are actors Jordana Brewster, Paget Brewster, Austin Butler, Chevy Chase, Taylor Lautner, Seth MacFarlane, and Elisabeth Shue, actors and models Noah Mills and Brandon Routh, director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer Zack Snyder, singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, soccer player Clint Dempsey, novelists Margaret Atwood and Thomas Pynchon, Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of Arkansas Winthrop Rockefeller, and soldier, civil engineer, and politician George B. McClellan.

Among Hero’s many prominent maternal ancestors were Irish evangelical, Church of Ireland cleric, hymn writer and founder of the Kellyites, Thomas Kelly (1769-1855); Nova Scotia chief justice Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange (1756-1841); playwright and satirist Richard Tickell (1751-1793); Thomas Twisleton, 13th Baron Saye and Sele (c. 1735-1788); Sir Hercules Langrishe, 1st Baronet (1729-1811); Charles Yorke (1722-1770), who was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain; Sir Edward Turner, 2nd Baronet (1719-1766); Sir William Fownes, 2nd Baronet (1709-1778); Theodosia Bligh, 10th Baroness Clifton (1695-1722); Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough (1679-1758); Anglo-Irish politician and writer Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth (1656-1725); aristocrat and politician Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (1638-1709); Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, James Margetson (1600-1678); military officer and politician John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper (1600-1660), who was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Master of the Rolls; and Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (1572-1638).

Sources: Genealogy of Hero Fiennes Tiffin – https://www.geni.com

Obituaries of Hero’s paternal grandfather, John Tiffin – https://www.theguardian.com
https://www.cbsnews.com

Marriage record of Hero’s paternal great-grandparents, George Charles Tiffin and Doris Vera Gower – https://www.familysearch.org

Marriage record of Hero’s paternal great-great-grandparents, Chester Joseph Ewer and Hattie Adelaide Fuller – https://www.familysearch.org

Genealogy of the Fiennes family – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com

Genealogy of Hero’s mother (through her brother Ralph Fiennes) – https://famouskin.com

Genealogies of Hero’s maternal grandparents, Mark Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes and Jennifer Anne Mary Alleyne Lash – https://www.familysearch.org