Matthew Rhys Biography

Matthew Rhys Evans (born on 4 November 1974), known professionally as Matthew Rhys, is a Welsh actor, best known as Kevin Walker in the ABC family drama Brothers & Sisters, and as Dylan Thomas in The Edge of Love. He stars as Philip Jennings in the FX drama series The Americans.

Early life

Rhys was born in Cardiff, Wales, the son of Glyn, a headmaster, and Helen Evans, a teacher. He grew up in Cardiff, and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. along with his older sister, Rachel, now a BBC broadcast journalist. Matthew Rhys was educated via the Welsh-medium schools, Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd (in Whitchurch, Cardiff) and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf (in Llandaff North, Cardiff). Aged 17, after playing Elvis Presley in a school musical, he applied and was accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Shortly thereafter, in 1993, he was awarded the Patricia Rothermere Scholarship.

During his time at RADA, Rhys appeared in the BBC police series Back-Up as well as in House of America. He returned to Cardiff to act in his own language in the Welsh film, Bydd yn Wrol (Be Brave), for which he won Best Actor at the Bafta Cymru (Welsh BAFTAs).

Career

In January 1998, Rhys went to New Zealand to star in Greenstone, a colonial costume drama for television. He then landed a role in Titus, Julie Taymor's adaptation of Titus Andronicus, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. Next he played Ray in Peter Hewitt's film comedy, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? After returning to Wales, he did two consecutive films with Jonathan Pryce: The Testimony of Taliesin Jones, a film about a dysfunctional single-parent family in which he played the elder son, and Sara Sugarman's comedy Very Annie Mary, in which he played the role of Nob. Rhys would later reunite with Very Annie Mary star Rachel Griffiths on Brothers & Sisters.

In 2000, Rhys played the lead role in Metropolis, a drama series for Granada TV about the lives of six twenty-somethings living in London. Next he starred in Peaches, the film of the play written and directed by Nick Grosso. Rhys starred as Benjamin in the 2000 world premiere of the stage adaptation of The Graduate, alongside Kathleen Turner at The Gielgud Theatre in London's West End.

Rhys traveled to Ireland to star in the 18th century swashbuckling adventure, The Abduction Club. He played the lead role of Darren Daniels in Tabloid, and then returned to New Zealand to shoot the epic drama Lost World for the BBC. His other film credits include the independent horror film Deathwatch in Prague and Fakers, a comic crime caper. He appeared opposite Brittany Murphy in the independent feature Love and Other Disasters, in Virgin Territory opposite Hayden Christensen, Tim Roth and Mischa Barton, and playing poet Dylan Thomas in the love quadrangle biopic The Edge of Love.

He moved to Santa Monica after being cast in ABC's show Brothers & Sisters, as lawyer Kevin Walker. The show had a five-season run, coming to an end in 2011.

In January 2012, Rhys appeared in a BBC Two two-part drama adaptation of Charles Dickens' last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, left unfinished at his death in 1870. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) aired it in the US as one feature-length episode on 15 April 2012.

In 2012 Rhys was scheduled to reprise Sir Alec Guinness's 1959 double role of John Barratt/Jacques De Gu in a new adaptation of The Scapegoat. That same year, Rhys was cast as "Jimmy" in the Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of John Osborne's play, Look Back in Anger, at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. The production played a limited engagement through April 8, 2012.

He stars opposite Keri Russell in FX's series The Americans, a 1980s Cold War drama about KGB sleeper agents. The series premiered in January 2013.

Personal life

Rhys was housematers for nearly 10 years with fellow Welshman and actor Ioan Gruffudd, and served as best man at Gruffudd's wedding. Both are patrons of Trust PA, a UK spinal injuries charity.

On 15 July 2008, Rhys was honoured by Aberystwyth University as a Fellow. On 8 August 2008, he was honoured at the Welsh National Eisteddfod by being accepted as a member to the druidic order of the Gorsedd of the Bards, for his contributions to the Welsh language and Wales. His bardic name in the Gorsedd is Matthew Tf. In August 2009, Rhys took to the stage with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales as part of the National Eisteddfod.

Affiliations

• Patron, Hijinx Theatre, based at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay
• Charity Champion, The Noah's Ark Appeal, a charity which raises funds for the development of the Children's Hospital of Wales.
• Patron, Iris Prize, Cardiff's International Gay and Lesbian Short Film Prize.
• Ambassador, Bobath Children's Therapy Centre Wales, a charity that treats children who have cerebral palsy from all over Wales.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Film/TV	Notes
2013	Death Comes to Pemberley	Mr Darcy	BBC TV miniseries (3 episodes) Novel adaptation
2013-present	The Americans	Philip Jennings	Nominated - Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Actor (2013) Nominated - TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2013)
2012	The Scapegoat	John Standing/Johnny Spence	Novel adaptation
2012	The Mystery of Edwin Drood	John Jasper	BBC TV miniseries (2 episodes)
2011	Everything Carries Me To You	Damien	Short by Emma Holly Jones - see external link below
2010	Patagonia	Mateo	Not short-listed - Academy Award for best foreign language film
2009	The Think Tank	Marc	Short by Peter Calloway - see external link below
2008	The Edge of Love	Dylan Thomas
2007	Virgin Territory	Count Dzerzhinsky
2006	Love and Other Disasters	Peter Simon
2006	Beau Brummell: This Charming Man	Lord Byron
2006-2011	Brothers & Sisters	Kevin Walker	(TV series; 109 episodes); directed four episodes
2004	Fakers	Nick Edwards
2003	P.O.W	Alfie Harris
2003	Columbo Likes the Nightlife	Justin Price
2003	Y Mabinogi	Lleu Llaw Gyffes	(Voice role)
2002	Deathwatch	Cpl. Doc Fairweather
2002	The Abduction Club	James Strang
2002	Shooters	Eddie
2001	The Lost World	Edward Malone
2001	Very Annie Mary	Nob
2000	A History of Britain		(Voice role; TV series)
1999	Titus	Demetrius
1999	Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?	Ray Smith

Theatre

Year	Play	Role	Writer/Director	Venue or Company
2012	Look Back in Anger	Jimmy	John Osborne/Sam Gold	Roundabout Theatre Company
2004	MacBeth	MacDuff	William Shakespeare/Bill Alexander (director)	The Young Vic
2004	King Lear	Edmund	William Shakespeare/Bill Alexander (director)	Royal Shakespeare Company
2004	Romeo and Juliet	Romeo	William Shakespeare/Peter Gill (playwright)	Royal Shakespeare Company
2003	Under Milk Wood	Mog Edwards	Dylan Thomas/Michael Bogdanov	New Theatre (Cardiff)
2002	The Associate	Tiny	Simon Bent	Royal National Theatre
2000	The Graduate	Benjamin Braddock	Charles Webb (author)/Terry Johnson (dramatist)	Gielgud Theatre
1997	Stranger's House (Fremdes Haus)	Yanne	Dea Loher/Mary Peate	Royal Court Theatre
1997	One More Wasted Year	Pierre	Christophe Pellet/Mary Peate	Royal Court Theatre
1997	Grace Note	Nick	Samuel Adamson/Dominic Dromgoole	The Old Vic
1997	Cardiff East	Tommy	Peter Gill (playwright)	Royal National Theatre

Other projects, contributions

• Produced television documentary, Mr Hollywood, for S4C-TV (2010), about the life of Griffith J. Griffith, Welsh-American industrialist and philanthropist after whom Griffith Park is named.
• Wrote Patagonia: Crossing the Plain (2010) - a photographic account of his month-long journey on horseback while filming a documentary on Patagonia, and the Welsh settlers who made it their home having journeyed from Wales in the late 19th century.
• Set up his own production company, Patagonia (2011), which has two projects in development. One of them involves the adaptation of a book called Operation Julie, written by Lyn Ebenezer, about the biggest LSD drugs bust (in Wales's history); Rhys bought the film rights in December 2010.