London, Sept. 24: Colin Firth, one of Britain's best known and loved actors who is famed for playing the quintessential Englishman such as Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones's Diary, is so worried about how Brexit might disrupt his family life that he has applied for and been granted Italian nationality.

He thus becomes a dual national since he retains his British passport.

Meanwhile, his Italian wife, Livia Giuggioli, to whom he has been married for 20 years, has applied for a British passport to add to her existing Italian citizenship.

"We never really thought much about our different passports," said Firth. "But now, with some of the uncertainty around, we thought it sensible that we should all get the same."

The news was announced by the Italian interior ministry, one of the few countries in Europe to allow dual citizenship. "The very famous actor, who won an Oscar for the film The King's Speech, is married to a citizen from our country and has often declared his love for our land," it said.

It was reported in May that the 57-year-old actor had made an application for Italian citizenship in response to the vote to leave the EU. Last year Firth was said to have described Brexit as "a disaster of unexpected proportions".

Aware that he is now likely to be savaged by Brexit-supporting tabloid newspapers, Firth issued a carefully worded statement.

Firth said: "My wife and I are both extremely proud of our own countries. We feel that we've made a gift of that to each other."

"Our children have been dual citizens since the beginning," he added, referring to his sons, Luca, 16, and Matteo, 13, who were both born in Rome.

Firth and his 47-year-old wife, a film producer and director whom he married in Italy in 1997, have homes in London and in Umbria.

He continued: "I will always be extremely British - you only have to look at or listen to me. Britain is our home and we love it here. Despite the enticements of my profession to relocate to more remunerative climes I've always chosen to base my career out of the UK and pay my taxes here. That hasn't changed."

He quipped: "I married into Italy - and anyone will tell you when you marry an Italian you don't just marry one person; you marry a family and perhaps an entire country... Like almost everybody I have a passionate love of Italy and joining my wife and kids in being dual citizens will be a huge privilege."

The announcement from the Italian interior ministry came shortly after British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit speech in Florence in which she had sought to reassure EU citizens resident in the UK that they did not face the threat of expulsion.