Paul Rhys

Rhys was born in Neath to working-class Catholic parents, Kathryn Ivory and Richard Charles Rhys, a labourer. He is of part-Irish descent on his mother's side.{{Cite web|title=Trivia - Paul Rhys|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0722631/trivia/|access-date=2024-12-02|website=Internet Movie Database|language=en}} From the age of ten, he bred and trained horses, becoming a highly accomplished rider. A committed punk during his youth, Rhys sang in several bands.{{Cite web|title=Wales ~ Land Of My Fathers|url=https://waleslandofmyfathers.tumblr.com/post/59772020487/welsh-actors-paul-rhys-paul-rhys-born-19|access-date=2021-07-12|website=Wales ~ Land Of My Fathers|language=en}} His first acting job was playing Liverpudlian judo expert Ralph in John Godber's hit play Bouncers, before leaving for London, where he qualified for his Equity card by singing jazz standards at lunchtime for Peter Boizot's Pizza Express and Kettners.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

Rhys received a Bernard Shaw Scholarship to study at RADA. In the first term he was spotted by Philip Prowse and was invited to perform in Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, playing the illegitimate son, Gerald. He also appeared as Dean Swift in Julian Temple's film Absolute Beginners.{{cite book|title=Vanity Fair|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGgTAQAAMAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Condé Nast Publications|page=61}} Rhys completed his education at RADA by winning the William Pole prize and the Bancroft Gold Medal.

His next film role was in Franklin J. Schaffner's Lionheart. After a brief spell at the Royal Shakespeare Company he played opposite Colin Firth in Richard Eyre's award-winning film Tumbledown. Soon after this, he appeared in Vincent & Theo, directed by American film director Robert Altman, as Vincent van Gogh's younger brother Theo van Gogh. Continuing the theme of famous brothers, Paul then played Sydney Chaplin opposite Robert Downey Jr.'s Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough's Chaplin. He went on to play Massis in Alan Bennett's 102 Boulevard Haussmann. He then appeared opposite Peter O'Toole in Rebecca's Daughters. A series of films then followed including From Hell, Food of Love, Love Lies Bleeding, Becoming Colette and Hellraiser: Deader. He appears as Talleyrand in Ridley Scott's 2023 epic Napoleon, and as Duncan in Emerald Fennell's Saltburn.

Running parallel to Rhys's film work has been a diverse and notable television career, working in leading roles with directors such as Mike Hodges, Stephen Frears, Sir Richard Eyre, Philip Martin, Christopher Morahan, Tom Vaughan, Edward Hall, Harry Bradbeer in productions including Tumbledown, A Dance to the Music of Time, The Heroes, Ghosts, Gallowglass, The Healer, Anna Karenina, The Deal, Beethoven, The Ten Commandments, Borgia, Luther and Spooks.

In 2008 Rhys appeared in the series Agatha Christie's Poirot. In 2014, he played the lead as traitor Aldrich Ames, in The Assets miniseries, then as King George III in Turn: Washington's Spies and as Sir John Conroy in Victoria. He has made a minor industry out of playing vampires: Being Human (as Ivan);[http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/showbiz/2011/11/12/actor-paul-rhys-on-the-day-he-mud-wrestled-ray-winstone-91466-29754573/ Wales Online: "Actor Paul Rhys on the day he mud wrestled Ray Winstone", 12 November 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2013] as Vlad, the Prince of Wallachia aka Dracula in seasons 1–3 of the 2015 series Da Vinci's Demons; and as Andrew Hubbard in two seasons of the 2020–2021 hit, A Discovery of Witches. In 2023, he appears as Tommy in the BBC film, Men Up.

Rhys's early stage work included performances at Glasgow Citizen's Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Riverside Studios, Compass Theatre and Young Vic. His first appearance at the Royal National Theatre was opposite Ian McKellen in Bent,{{Cite web|title=BENT (1990) with Ian McKellen|url=https://www.mckellen.com/stage/00095c.htm|access-date=2021-07-12|website=mckellen.com}} subsequently playing Angelo in Simon McBurney's Measure for Measure for which he won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award; Housman in The Invention of Love; and Edgar in King Lear, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He appeared as Edmund in Long Day's Journey into Night and as Leo in Design for Living at The Donmar Warehouse, performing opposite Rachel Weisz and Clive Owen. In 2000 he played the title role in Hamlet at the Young Vic and later in Tokyo and Osaka. He received several awards for this performance.{{cite web|last=Gibbons|first=Fiachra|date=8 November 1999|title=Award victory for play denied West End run|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/08/fiachragibbons1|access-date=11 September 2016|website=The Guardian}} Rhys continued his collaboration with Simon McBurney in Vanishing Points and The Dark is Rising, and played The Master in Master and Margarita. The show opened at the Barbican in 2010 and continued on international tour, returning to the Barbican for a second sell-out season in 2012.{{Cite web |last=Billington |first=Michael |date=2012-03-22 |title=The Master and Margarita - review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2012/mar/22/the-master-and-margarita-review |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Liber |first=Vera |title=Theatre review: The Master and Margarita at Barbican Theatre |url=https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-master-and-barbican-theatr-8403 |access-date=2021-06-30 |website=British Theatre Guide |language=en-GB}} In 2016, he starred in a new version of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya by Robert Icke at The Almeida Theatre alongside Tobias Menzies, Jessica Brown-Findlay and Vanessa Kirby.

Real-life characters played by Rhys have included Vlad Tepes, Ludwig van Beethoven,[http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/05_may/04/beethoven.shtml BBC Press Office] Peter Mandelson,{{Cite news |last=White |first=Michael |date=2003-09-16 |title=Real people, strange ambitions in The Deal that never was |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/sep/16/uk.channel4 |access-date=2025-01-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Paul McCartney, Thomas De Quincey, A. E. Housman, Frédéric Chopin, Marcus Tullius Cicero and Charles Talleyrand.

On two occasions, Rhys was taken to hospital while working on a stage production, once with pneumonia and, on the other occasion, with exhaustion.{{cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/actor-paul-rhys-day-mud-1795505|title=Actor Paul Rhys on the day he mud wrestled Ray Winstone|website=WalesOnline|date=12 November 2011|access-date=26 June 2017}} In the title role in Howard Brenton's play Paul at the Royal National Theatre, he was unable to continue as he had lost an unhealthy amount of weight, dropping from {{convert|76|to|57|kg}}.

Rhys has acted in over one hundred BBC Radio dramas. His roles include: Simon Templar in Leslie Charteris's The Saint (1995),{{cite web |title=Leslie Charteris - The Saint|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00bfnhv |access-date=April 26, 2023|work=BBC Radio}} Prince Myshkin in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot (2002),{{cite web |title=Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ss2yw |access-date=April 26, 2023|work=BBC Radio}} Charles Lamb in Carlo Gébler's Charles and Mary (2011),{{cite web |title=Charles and Mary|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xbhdw |access-date=April 26, 2023|work=BBC Radio}} and Jacques Futrelle's Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen in The Rivals (2011–2013).{{cite web |title=The Rivals|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03brxht/episodes/guide |access-date=April 26, 2023|work=BBC Radio}}

Rhys was in a relationship with the late Australian actress Arkie Whiteley,{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-will-to-win-20021214-gdfysf.html|title=The will to win|date=14 December 2002|website=Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=20 June 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Shortly+after+my+girlfriend+died+I+felt+her+shouting+for+help...+it...-a096805240|title=Shortly after my girlfriend died I felt her shouting for help...|date=24 January 2003|website=Free Library|access-date=20 June 2021}} with whom he appeared in Gallowglass. When Whiteley was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of 36, he nursed her until her death.

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• {{IMDb name|id=0722631|name=Paul Rhys}}

{{Trewin Award for Best Shakespearean Performance}}

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Category:1963 births

Category:20th-century Welsh male actors

Category:21st-century Welsh male actors

Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Category:Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners

Category:Living people

Category:Actors from Neath

Category:Welsh Roman Catholics

Category:Welsh male stage actors

Category:Welsh male film actors

Category:Welsh male television actors

Category:Welsh people of Irish descent