His sexy turn in Shakespeare in Love sent pulses racing around the world and renewed interest in the Bard's plays but Joseph Fiennes refuses to be labelled "the next best thing."

For any aspiring British actor, beating a string of A-list Hollywood performers to the leading role in an Oscar-winning film would be the fulfilment of a dream.

As fame and fortune followed-complete with a flood of publicity,job offers and new admirers-it would be enough to go to anyones head. But Joseph Fiennes, the star of Shakespeare in Love and younger brother of fellow heart-throb Ralph, remains resolutely down-to-earth. He's determined not to be changed by his new celebrity status.

"I just learned my lines and hit the mark.I don't believe in the next big deal.I don't believe in new hot things," says the 28-year-old, whose next film, Rancid Aluminium, about the Russian mafia, is released later this year. "So many people are labelled and bandied around in that way that it's lost it's potentcy."

"I mean, there's another guy out there who's the next hot thing and another one who has been that for a while-there's a whole corridor full of us."

Joseph prefers not to talk about himself but instead about his family, all of whom display a wealth of talent in different areas, "Within my family there are other members who're equally prolific and dynamic, who, because they're not actors,don't get that kind of exposure," he explains. "There's my sister Martha, who's directing, my brother Magnus, who's a musician, my sister Sophie, who's a producer, my twin Jake, who's a gamekeeper - all doing their own kind of thing. Another's an archaeologist."

The family's artistic ablities don't end there. Joseph's father,Mark,is a photographer, while his mother, Jennifer, who died from breast cancer 6 years ago,was anovelist and painter.

"We were all brought up to enjoy arts and literature and to be creative," he adds. "Our mother was the inspiration for us to invest time in what we want to do-whatever it is."

Joseph is also grateful to Ralph(36) for supporting him since his first day at acting school. When Joseph started out in the business, the star of The English Patient, with an almost clairvoyant foresight, presented him with the complete works of William Shakespeare.

In the 1992 TV film, A Dangerous Man: Lawerence After Arabia, Ralph played the title role and ensured Joseph was given a cameo role as Arnold Lawerence. Nobody remembers the part-but it was a beginning." It helps having a brother who's and actor," says Joseph who's reported to be dating Braveheart actress Catherine McCormack. "He's helped on speeches or when I'm looking for work itself. But after that you're on your own- no one is going to give out a job on the strength of a name."

These days the Fiennes family doesn't get the chance to get together often but, when they do, the last subject they want to discuss is acting. "We usually talk domestics. I'm doing a bit of DIY on my flat in London at the moment,so we talk about that."

While he may be enjoying stardom in the film world,Joseph says it's the theatre where he feels most at home. "In the theatre, it's easier to get parts where you age up or down. There doesn't seem to be that much pressure or typecasting," he explains. "In film, I think you have to prove other things. I like to respond to material, wherever it is, but film wasn't on my agenda.

"I made a choice to concentrate on theatre and there were times-believe me, because theatre pays so badly- when I was in debt and I would lust for a TV job or something to pay the bills.But I stuck with theatre." finis