Recently, Grant was seen in the ensemble film Love Actually, Richard Curtis' directorial debut; he starred in the romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice with Sandra Bullock, and the critically acclaimed About a Boy, for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination. Grant's other recent film credits include Bridget Jones's Diary, the highest grossing movie in British film history at the time of release, which also starred Ren饠Zellweger and Colin Firth, and Woody Allen's comedy Small Time Crooks with Tracey Ullman, Jon Lovitz and Allen. In 1999, Grant starred in the box office hit Notting Hill with Julia Roberts, for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination. Later the same year, Grant appeared alongside Jeanne Tripplehorn and James Cann in Mickey Blue Eyes. The romantic comedy was the second feature film from Simian Films, the company he set up with Elizabeth Hurley. Grant also starred in Extreme Measures with Gene Hackman, the first feature film from Simian Films.

In 1994, Grant became an international star when he appeared in Four Weddings and a Funeral, directed by Mike Newell and co-starring Andie MacDowell, for which Grant won both a Golden Globe and a British Academy Award. In the same year he also starred in Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon opposite Kristin Scott Thomas, as well as in Sirens, directed by John Duigan.

Grant first came to notice in 1982 while at Oxford University when he made the movie Privileged. But it was in the 1987 Merchant-Ivory production of Maurice, E.M. Forster's account of a young man at the turn of the century confronting his homosexuality, that Grant first received international acclaim, as well as a best actor award at the Venice Film Festival.

This led to a succession of roles including The Dawning with Anthony Hopkins, Ken Russell's The Lair of the White Worm, The Big Man opposite Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and the role of Chopin in James Lapine's Impromptu. Grant was reunited with director James Ivory in 1993 for his pivotal role as a journalist in The Remains of the Day, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

In 1995, Grant appeared as Edward Ferrars in the Oscar-winning adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, as a nervous father-to-be in Chris Columbus' Nine Months with Julianne Moore and Robin Williams, and in the critically acclaimed The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, written and directed by Christopher Monger. He was also seen in the British comedy An Awfully Big Adventure, directed by Mike Newell, and had a cameo role in the 17th century romp Restoration.

Among Grant's other film credits are White Mischief, Bengali Nights and Rowing in the Wind.