Sir David Mark Rylance Waters born 18 January 1960 in Ashford Kent England is an English actor theatre director and playwright He was the first artistic director of Shakespeares Globe in London between 1995 and 2005 His film appearances include Prosperos Books 1991 Angels and Insects 1995 Institute Benjamenta 1996 and Intimacy 2001 Rylance won the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Rudolf Abel in Bridge of Spies 2015 Rylance played the title role in Steven Spielbergs The BFG 2016 a liveaction film adaptation of the childrens book by Roald Dahl and appeared in Christopher Nolans Dunkirk 2017 based on the British evacuation in World War II He appeared as James Halliday in Spielbergs 2018 film Ready Player One based on the novel of the same name