Geraint Wyn Davies Biography

Geraint Wyn Davies (, b. April 20, 1957, Swansea, Wales United Kingdom) is a stage, film and television actor and a director. Born in Wales and educated in Canada, he has worked in Britain, Canada and the United States of America. Possibly his most famous role was that of Nick Knight (vampire turned police-detective) in the Canadian television series, Forever Knight.

Early life and training

Geraint Wyn Davies was born on the 20th April 1957 in Swansea, Wales. He was the son of a Congregationalist Christian preacher. At the age of seven he moved with his family from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire to Canada. There he attended Upper Canada College. He was twelve when he was first bitten by the acting bug - appearing in a school production of Lord of the Flies. He went on to study at the University of Western Ontario, where he studied economics before dropping out to pursue an acting career.

His professional stage debut was made in 1976 in Quebec City, when at 19 he appeared in The Fantasticks, Red Emma and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Stage career

After Quebec Geraint moved to London's Centre Stage theatre company, and then played the lead in The Last Englishman with the British Actors Theatre Company. He then spent two seasons with Theatr Clwyd, touring Britain in Enemy of the People and Hamlet (for which he received the Regional Theatre Best Actor award), and a season with the Chichester Festival, in Henry VIII.

In Canada he appeared over several seasons with the Shaw Festival and Stratford Festival of Canada. He gained a reputation for his performances in The Music Cure, Candida, Cyrano de Bergereac, The Vortex, Goodnight Disgrace, Henry V, and The Three Musketeers. He even sang his way through the Rogers and Hart musical, The Boys from Syracuse. Other performances include My Fat Friend in Los Angeles and Sleuth with Patrick Macnee in Toronto. In 2004 he appeared in Washington, D.C. in the title roles of both Cyrano de Bergerac and Richard III.

In April 1996 Geraint appeared as Petruchio in Shakespeare's The Taming of The Shrew, directed by Patrick Tucker of the Original Shakespeare Company. This three-performance run was presented as Shakespeare's own players may have done - with sparse rehearsal, eclectic costuming, and rotating roles.

In Spring 1998 Geraint appeared in the Moises Kaufmann production, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Gross Indecency earned the Garland Award for "Best Ensemble Cast from Backstage West" that year.

In August 1999 Geraint starred in Leon Pownall's one-man show, An Evening with Dylan Thomas, at the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Nova Scotia, Canada. The following summer he returned to the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Pownall's Dylan Thomas and Shakespeare: In the Envy Of Some Greatness. August 2001 saw the completion of Pownall's Dylan Thomas trilogy with Stranger in Paradise.

The summer of 2002 Geraint returned to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theatre's main stage in My Fair Lady, as Henry Higgins, a role he shared with his friend Colm Feore. He also reprised his role of Dylan Thomas at the Festival's Studio Theatre.

Geraint returned to the Atlantic Theatre Festival in August 2003 to perform a one-act play Hughie by Eugene O'Neill. The evening was topped off by a presentation of The Sermon by David Mamet.

2004 saw Geraint appear at the Lincoln in New York as Edmund to Christopher Plummer's King Lear. Following Lear he starred in the title role of Cyrano at The Shakespeare Theatre, in Washington, D.C., almost every performance of which ended with a standing ovation, and for which Geraint won the prestigious "Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Play".

In 2005 Geraint was Dylan Thomas for seven weeks in Do Not Go Gentle at the Arclight Theatre in New York City. While there he also did a reading of Tennessee Williams' letters at the New York Public Library, and performed in a reading of Eugene O'Neill's Days Without End.

In September he joined in a reading of R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island in Washington, D.C., and in October took part in a staged reading of a new play by Austin Pendleton entitled H6R3, which blends Shakespeare's plays Henry VI and Richard III.

In 2006 Geraint returned to The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. to perform Don Armado in Michael Kahn's 60's version of Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost. Following the American run the play moved to Stratford-Upon-Avon in Britain for a limited run. He was nominated but did not win The Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor, Resident Play for Don Armado. While in D.C. he also participated in a reading of London Assurance by Dion Boucicault.

Early in 2007 Geraint headlined as Richard III by Shakespeare at The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. He, along with friend Brent Carver, are opening in Toronto's CanStage production of The Elephant Man in mid-October.

2008 saw Geraint's return to Ontario's Stratford Shakespeare Festival to appear in Hamlet (as Polonius) and Fuente Ovejuna (as the King). He followed the Stratford season playing the Duke in Red Bull Theater's production of Women Beware Women in New York City.

Geraint returned to Stratford for their 2009 season playing Duncan in Macbeth, Caesar in Julius Caesar and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

For the 2010 Stratford Shakespeare Festival season, Geraint portrayed king Arthur in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot and Falstaff in Merry Wives of Windsor. The 2011 season featured him again in a singing role as King Arthur.

For the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's 60th season in 2013, Geraint portrayed Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure and the Earl of Leicester in Mary Stuart.

Wyn Davies has voiced two audio books, Great American Suspense: Five Unabridged Classics and Great Classic Hauntings: Six Unabridged Stories.

Filmography

Geraint made his film debut in Deadly Harvest in 1977, and has since appeared in many films, among them RoboCop: Prime Directives (2000). In 2007 Geraint appeared in a cameo in Nancy Drew and filmed a made-for-TV movie titled Post Mortem for Lifetime.

• Pavane (2008) - Phil
• I Know What I Saw (2007) - Detective Morgan
• Some Things That Stay (2004) - Mr. Murphy
• The Wild Dogs (2002) - Colin
• Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) - Simon Grady
• American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002) - Daniels
• Trudeau (2002) - Premier William G. Davis
• One of the Hollywood Ten (2000) - Michael Wilson
• Trilogy of Terror II (1996) - Ben
• The Conspiracy of Fear (1996) - Timothy Straker
• Dancing in the Dark (1995) - Dr. Lambert
• Ghost Mom (1993) - Martin Mallory
• Other Women's Children (1993) - Matt Stewart
• Hush Little Baby (1993) - Dr.Martin Nolan
• Terror Stalks the Class Reunion (1992) - Anton/Tony
• Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989) - Allan Devlin
• The Taming of the Shrew (1988) - Hortensio
• Daughters of the Country (1987) - Angus
• Learning to Fly (1986) - Young pilot
• The Boys from Syracuse (1986) - Antipholus of Syracuse
• A Paid Vacation (1979) - Rick Jarrell
• D.O.A. (1978) - Jon
• Deadly Harvest (1977) - Michael Franklin

Television

Geraint has been busy on television. He was a regular in the cast of To Serve and Protect. Since Forever Knight he has appeared in several series. He has guest-starred in episodes of Katts and Dog, Highlander: The Series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, The Outer Limits, RoboCop: The Series, The Hidden Room, Matrix, Diamonds, Sweating Bullets, 1-800-Missing, and many more.

• Murdoch Mysteries (2008) & (2013) as Arthur Conan Doyle (3 episodes)
• ReGenesis (2007"2008) as Carleton Riddlemeyer (18 episodes)
• 24 (2006) as James Nathanson (6 episodes)
• Slings and Arrows (2005) as Henry Breedlove (5 episodes)
• Tracker (2001"2002) as Zin (12 episodes)
• The Outer Limits (1996"2001) as David / Sheriff Grady Markham (2 episodes)
• Black Harbour (1996"1999) as Nick Haskell (34 episodes)
• Forever Knight (1992"1996) as Det. Nicholas 'Nick' Knight / Nicholas de Brabant (70 episodes)
• Dracula: The Series (1990"1991) as Klaus Helsing (5 episodes)
• Airwolf (1987) as Major Mike Rivers (24 episodes)
• The Judge (1986) as Allan Pearson (6 episodes)
• The Littlest Hobo (1982"1983) as Adam Coulter / David Barrington (3 episodes)
• Hangin' In (1982) as Drake / Jonathan (2 episodes)

Directing

Geraint has directed many episodes of Forever Knight, Black Harbour, Pit Pony, Power Play and North of 60.

In June 2000 he took on the challenge of directing Oliver Mayer's Joy of the Desolate in Highland Park, IL. A "back-burner" project for Geraint is Horatio Salt, a collection of four short films that he is producing and directing.

Music

In Forever Knight Geraint played the piano in the loft and co-wrote a song for the "Baby Baby" episode; he was featured in one of the selections on the first Forever Knight CD.

He has appeared in several musicals, notably as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady in Stratford, Ontario.

He is a self-taught musician, who produced a CD of his own works, Bar Talk, which is sold through his fan club with the proceeds going to a variety of charities such as Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, Children's Hospital Foundation in Washington D.C., the Atlantic Theatre Festival of Wolfville and The Stratford Festival's Shakespeare School (Stratford, Ontario).

Personal life

Geraint Wyn Davies was married to Canadian artist Alana Guinn from 1985 to 2006; with whom he has two children, daughter Pyper and son Galen.

In August 2011 he married actress Claire Lautier.

Citizenship

On 13 June 2006 Davies became an American citizen, having been sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Davies said of the experience: "It was wonderful."