Jonathan Rhys Meyers Biography

Jonathan Rhys Meyers (born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe; 27 July 1977) is an Irish actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Velvet Goldmine (1998), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Match Point (2005), Mission: Impossible III (2006) and his television roles as Elvis Presley in the biographical miniseries Elvis (2005), which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film, and as King Henry VIII in the historical drama The Tudors (2007-10). He has been the face model for several Hugo Boss fragrances advertising campaigns.

In 2013, Meyers appeared as the villain Valentine Morgenstern in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, based on Cassandra Clare's novel, City of Bones. He also starred in the NBC drama series Dracula (2013-14) as the title character. Meyers appeared in the 2015 film Stonewall, directed by Roland Emmerich.

Early life

Meyers was born 27 July 1977 in Dublin, Ireland, to Geraldine (ne Myers; 1957-2007) and folk musician John O'Keeffe, and brought up in County Cork, possibly in the city of Cork (sources are unclear). His family is Roman Catholic. His three brothers are all professional musicians. He attended North Monastery Christian Brothers School.

Career

After being expelled from North Monastery at 14 for truancy, he spent much of his time working and socialising in pool halls. Casting agents looking for Irish boys to appear in War of the Buttons spotted him at a Cork pool hall, the Victoria Sporting Club, and invited him to audition. Although passed over for War of the Buttons, the casting agents encouraged him to pursue a career in acting. His first film role came in A Man of No Importance (1994). In 1996, he appeared in Michael Collins, as the title character's ambusher. In 1999, he appeared in Ride with the Devil as psychopathic guerrilla fighter Pitt Mackeson.

Meyers has starred in television series including Gormenghast (2000) and in the CBS 4-hour mini-series Elvis (2005) as Elvis Presley alongside Randy Quaid as Colonel Tom Parker, but didn't sing for his role in the miniseries. The latter earned him an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe win. He starred in the CBC/Showtime co-production The Tudors (2007) as Henry VIII. He was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Drama in 2007 for the role.

He played a David Bowie-inspired glam rock star in Velvet Goldmine (1998), a dedicated girls' football coach in Bend It Like Beckham (2002), in Vanity Fair (2004) opposite Reese Witherspoon. He co-starred in 2004 in Oliver Stone's epic Alexander. The following year he starred in Woody Allen's drama Match Point (2005), for which he received a Chopard Trophy at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, he appeared in Mission: Impossible III. Subsequent projects include August Rush (2007) and The Children of Huang Shi (2008), Shelter and From Paris with Love (2010)

In 2011, he starred in Belle du Seigneur (an English language film adaptation of Albert Cohen's novel) as Solal des Solal. The film was released in Russia on 29 November 2012 and in France on 19 June 2013 after premiering at the Champs Elysees Film Festival. A self-taught singer and guitarist, he has appeared in a number of musical roles. His first such role was as "Brian Slade" in Velvet Goldmine; two of the songs he sang ("Baby's on Fire" and "Tumbling Down") are on the film's soundtrack. He sang briefly in the TV miniseries version of The Magnificent Ambersons, performed in studio scenes of the miniseries Elvis and played the flute in Gormenghast.

In the 2007 music drama August Rush, he performed on-screen as singer-songwriter Louis Connelly and is credited for four songs on the soundtrack - "Break", "Moondance", "Something Inside" and "This Time". Of the four, "This Time" and "Break" were considered in the Best Original Song category of the 80th Academy Awards. "This Time" was not released as a single but peaked at number 84 in the Canadian Hot 100.

Besides acting, Jonathan has also modelled for several clothing companies. He modelled for Club Monaco in 2001 and was chosen as the face for the Versace men's collection of Autumn/Winter 2006 and Spring 2007, and he was the face of the Hugo Boss men's fragrance range from 2006 until he was replaced with Jared Leto in 2011. He is signed to Independent Models in London. In February 2008, he became a celebrity ambassador for the Cork-based charitable organisation The Hope Foundation. On 5 October 2008, Rhys Meyers received an Honorary Patronage from the Trinity College Philosophical Society in Dublin.

In 2013, Meyers was cast as Dracula, in NBC's television series Dracula alongside Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jessica De Gouw. It was also announced in May 2013 that Jonathan was to participate in the recording of his brothers' album entitled "Blossom" which was released on 21 April 2014.

On 23 October 2014, he received The Irish Post Legend Award at the London Hilton on Park Lane in recognition of his remarkable achievements in Film & Television over the previous twenty years.

In February 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Meyers had begun filming the spy thriller, Damascus Cover, based on the novel by Howard Kaplan, in Morocco alongside John Hurt, Olivia Thirlby and Jurgen Prochnow, with Meyers in the lead role as Ari Ben Sion.

Meyers will portray Patrick Pearse, a political activist and one of the leaders of the bloody 1916 Irish Easter Rising, in the centennial commemoration biopic film The Rising, written and produced by Kevin McCann.

Personal life

From 2004 until 2012, Meyers was in a relationship with Reena Hammer, daughter of makeup artist Ruby Hammer.

In 2007, Meyers' representative, Meredith O'Sullivan, confirmed that, "After a non-stop succession of filming, Jonathan Rhys Meyers has entered an alcohol-treatment programme." His representative confirmed Meyers was again receiving treatment in 2010. In November 2011, Meyers was ordered by a French court to pay a restitution of 1,000 and was given a judgment of a suspended sentence for public intoxication 24 months earlier.

On 20 November 2007, his mother, Mary Geraldine "Geri" O'Keeffe, died at Mercy University Hospital, Cork, aged 51, following a short, undisclosed illness.

Rhys Meyers started dating Mara Lane in 2014 and they were married in 2016. The couple have a son, Wolf Rhys Meyers, born in December 2016.

After a miscarriage in September 2017, Lane addressed her husband's renewed problems with depression and alcoholism in a lengthy Instagram post, adding: "He has been able to turn any ugliness and hurt in his life into art and is the strongest person I know."

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1994	A Man of No Importance	First Young Man
1996	The Killer Tongue	Rudolph
1996	'	Finbar Flynn
1996	Michael Collins	Collins's ambusher
1997	'	Josh Minnell
1997	Telling Lies in America	Kevin Boyle
1998	Velvet Goldmine	Brian Slade	Nominated"?London Critics Circle Film Award for British Newcomer of the Year
1998	The Governess	Henry Cavendish
1998	B. Monkey	Bruno
1998	'	Adam
1999	'	Young Nic
1999	Ride with the Devil	Pitt Mackeson
1999	Titus	Chiron
2001	Prozac Nation	Noah
2001	Tangled	Alan Hammond
2001	Happy Now	Mark Wraith
2002	Bend It Like Beckham	Joe
2003	'	Sean
2003	Octane	The Father
2003	I'll Sleep When I'm Dead	Davey Graham
2003	The Emperor's Wife	Chamberlain
2004	Vanity Fair	Captain George Osborne
2004	Alexander	Cassander
2005	Match Point	Chris Wilton
2006	Mission: Impossible III	Declan Gormley
2007	August Rush	Louis Connelly
2008	'	George Hogg
2008	A Film with Me in It	Pierce 2	Cameo
2010	Shelter	Adam / David / Wesley / Charles / Christian	Re-released in 2013 under the title 6 Souls.
2010	From Paris with Love	James Reese
2011	Albert Nobbs	Viscount Yarrell
2012	Belle du Seigneur	Solal
2013	The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones	Valentine Morgenstern
2014	Another Me	John Moffatt
2015	Stonewall	Trevor
2015	Damascus Cover	Ari	Screened at 2015 Cannes Film Festival
2016	The Rising	Padraig Pearse	Post-production
2016	London Town	Joe Strummer
2016	The Shadow Effect	Reese
2017	Black Butterfly	Jack
2017	12th Man	Kurt Stage	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Samson and Delilah	Young Samson	Television film
2000	Gormenghast	Steerpike	4 episodes
2002	The Magnificent Ambersons	George Amberson Minafer	Television film
2003	The Lion in Winter	King Philip II	Television film
2005	Elvis	Elvis Presley	Television film Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Satellite Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
2007-2010	The Tudors	King Henry VIII	38 episodes Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor on Television Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama (2008-09) Nominated"?Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2009-11) Nominated"?Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor on Television (2009-11)
2013-2014	Dracula	Dracula / Alexander Grayson	10 episodes Nominated"?People's Choice Award for Favorite Actor in a New TV Series
2016	Roots	Tom Lea	3 episodes
2017	Vikings	Heahmund

Awards and nominations

Year	Group	Award	Result	Notes
1999	London Critics Circle Film Awards	British Newcomer of the Year		Velvet Goldmine
2002	Venice Film Festival	Canal Grande Award for the Best Young Promising Actor		The Magnificent Ambersons
2005	Satellite Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television		Elvis
2005	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie		Elvis
2005	Cannes Film Festival	Outstanding Newcomer		Match Point
2006	GQ UK	Men of the Year Awards / Lab Series Man of the Year
2006	Golden Globes Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television		Elvis
2008	Monte-Carlo Television Festival	Outstanding Actor - Drama Series		The Tudors
2008	Irish Film and Television Awards	Best Actor in a Lead Role in Television		The Tudors
2008	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama		The Tudors
2009	Monte-Carlo Television Festival	Outstanding Actor - Drama Series		The Tudors
2009	Irish Film and Television Awards	Best Actor in a Lead Role in Television		The Tudors
2009	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama		The Tudors
2010	Irish Film and Television Awards	Best Actor in a Lead Role in Television		The Tudors
2010	Monte-Carlo Television Festival	Outstanding Actor - Drama Series		The Tudors
2011	Monte-Carlo Television Festival	Outstanding Actor - Drama Series		The Tudors
2011	Irish Film and Television Awards	Best Actor in a Lead Role in Television		The Tudors
2014	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Actor in a New TV Series		Dracula
2014	The Irish Post Awards	Legend Award