Paul Rhys Biography

Paul Rhys (born 19 December 1963) is a Welsh television, film and theatre actor.

Rhys was born in Neath, Glamorgan, and studied at RADA, leaving with the Bancroft Gold Medal in 1985. After graduating, he obtained his first major screen role, in Absolute Beginners (1986). Since then he has seldom been off the stage and screen. His first US exposure was when American film director Robert Altman cast Rhys, who was then still a student, as Theo van Gogh in Vincent and Theo opposite Tim Roth as Vincent.

Early life

Paul was born to Catholic parents. His mother, Kathryn Ivory, was Irish-Welsh and his father, Richard Charles Rhys, was Welsh. The family moved to the village of Pencoed when Paul was ten. A committed punk during his youth, Rhys was in several bands before leaving for London to study at RADA.

Career

Paul's first acting job was playing Liverpudlian judo expert Ralph in John Godber's hit play Bouncers, before he even went to RADA. In the first summer vacation from RADA, 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 then returned to RADA for two terms before leaving again, this time to play Dean Swift in Julian Temple's Absolute Beginners. Rhys completed his education at RADA by winning the William Pole prize and the Bancroft Gold Medal on graduation.

Film

His first 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 the legendary 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 Hausmann, after which he played opposite Peter O'Toole in Rebecca's Daughters. A series of films then followed including From Hell, Food of Love, Love Lies Bleeding and Hellraiser: Deader.

Television

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, Gallowglass, The Healer, Anna Karenina, The Deal, Beethoven, and more recently the television series Borgia, Luther, Spooks and Being Human (in which he played the vampire Ivan).

In 1995, he portrayed Simon Templar (aka "The Saint") for a series of three radio plays for BBC Radio 4.

In 2014, he appeared as the lead, traitor Aldrich Ames, in The Assets miniseries.

In 2015, he portrayed Vlad, the Prince of Wallachia aka Dracula in the first and third season of the television series "Da Vinci's Demons"

Theatre

Rhys is known to commit so fully to stage roles that on two occasions it has caused him to be taken to hospital, once with pneumonia and the other with mental exhaustion. In 2000 he performed in the title role of Hamlet at the Young Vic and later in Tokyo and Osaka. He received several awards for this performance. He also played Angelo in Measure for Measure for which he won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award, Houseman in The Invention of Love and Edgar in King Lear, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award; these three plays were all at the Royal National Theatre. Edmund in Long Day's Journey into Night and Leo in Design for Living at The Donmar Warehouse, this was opposite Rachel Weisz and Clive Owen. He also briefly played the title role in Howard Brenton's play Paul at the National Theatre, but was unable to continue as he had lost a considerable amount of weight from overwork, dropping from 12 stone to nine.

From 6 February to 26 March 2016 he starred in a new version of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya by Robert Icke at The Almeida Theatre alongside Tobias Menzies.

He has won several film, television and stage awards.

Real-life characters played by Rhys have included Vlad Tepes, Ludwig van Beethoven, Peter Mandelson, Paul McCartney, Thomas De Quincey, A. E. Housman, Frdric Chopin, and Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Personal life

Rhys had a relationship with the late Australian actress Arkie Whiteley, with whom he appeared in Gallowglass.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Absolute Beginners	Dean Swift
1987	Lionheart	Mayor of the Underground City
1987	Little Dorrit	Charles Stiltstalking
1989	Spirit	Douglas Rimmer
1990	Vincent & Theo	Theo van Gogh
1991	'	Chapo
1992	Rebecca's Daughters	Anthony Raine
1992	Chaplin	Sydney Chaplin
1992	Nina Takes a Lover	Photographer
1999	Love Lies Bleeding	Dr. Jonathan Stephens
1999	The Strange Case of Delphina Potocka or The Mystery of Chopin	Frdric Chopin
2001	From Hell	Dr. Ferral
2002	Food of Love	Richard Kennington
2003	Vacuum	Adam	Short film
2003	Y Mabinogi	Lord Pwyll	Voice
2003	The Deal	Peter Mandelson
2005	Hellraiser: Deader	Winter	Direct-to-video
2007	Unknown Things	Hoogstraten
2011	Eliminate: Archie Cookson	Archie Cookson	BIFFF Thriller Prize - Special Mention

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	My Family and Other Animals	George
1988	Tumbledown	Hugh MacKessac	Television film
1988	The Heroes	Ivan Lyon
1990	Screen Two	Amable Massis	Series 7, Episode 5: "102 Boulevard Haussmann"
1990	Opium Eaters	Thomas De Quincey	Television film
1992	Chillers	Adam Marshall	Series 1, Episode 9: "A Bird Poised to Fly"
1993	Gallowglass	Sandor
1994	The Healer	Dr. John Lassiter	Television film; BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actor
1994	A Summer's Day Dream	Christopher	Television film
1995	Ghosts	Captain Peter Buckle	Series 1, Episode 2: "Blood and Water"
1995	'	Edward Goffe	Television film
1996	Kavanagh QC	Sam Wicks	Series 2, Episode 6: "Job Satisfaction"
1997	A Dance to the Music of Time	Charles Stringham
1998	Performance	Edgar	King Lear
2000	Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)	Douglas Milton	Series 1, Episode 4: "Paranoia"
2000	I Saw You	Ben Walters	Television film
2000	Anna Karenina	Nikolai
2001	The Innocent	David Pastorov	Television film
2001	The Cazalets	Rupert Cazalet
2002	I Saw You	Ben Walters
2002	The Lives of Animals	John	Television film
2003	Murder in Mind	Matthew Hopkins	Series 3, Episode 1: "Echoes"
2005	Timewatch	Cicero	Episode: "Murder in Rome"
2005	Beethoven	Ludwig van Beethoven
2006	The Ten Commandments	Ramesses II
2008	Bonekickers	Edward Laygass	Series 1, Episode 1: "Army of God"
2008	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Robin Upward	Series 11, Episode 1: "Mrs McGinty's Dead"
2008	Spooks	Alexis Meynell	Series 7, Episode 5
2009	The Queen	Prince Charles	Series 1, Episode 4: "The Enemy Within"
2010	Being Human	Ivan	5 episodes
2010	Luther	Lucien Burgess	Series 1, Episode 3
2010	New Tricks	Sebastian Carter	Series 7, Episode 1: "Dead Man Talking"
2010	When Harvey Met Bob	Paul McCartney	Television film
2010	Agatha Christie's Marple	Lewis Pritchard	Series 5, Episode 3: "The Blue Geranium"
2011	Murdoch Mysteries	Dr. Llewllyn Francis	3 episodes
2011	Moving On	Andy	Series 3, Episode 4: "Donor"
2011	Great Expectations	Compeyson/Denby
2013-14	Borgia	Leonardo da Vinci	6 episodes
2013-15	Da Vinci's Demons	Vlad the Impaler	4 episodes
2014	The Assets	Aldrich Ames
2015	TURN	George III	2 episodes
2015	Casanova	Count of St. Germain	Television film
2016	Victoria	Sir John Conroy

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Bouncers	Ralph	Yorkshire Actors
1984	A Woman of No Importance	Gerald Arbuthnot	Glasgow Citizens Theatre
1985	La Vie parisienne	Milord	Glasgow Citizens Theatre
1986	The Orphan	Polydore	Greenwich Theatre
1986	The Merchant of Venice	Lorenzo	Royal Shakespeare Company
1986	Much Ado About Nothing	Claudio	Royal Shakespeare Company
1987	Ghetto	Solomon	Riverside Studios
1988	The Government Inspector	Khlestakov	Compass Theatre
1990	Bent	Rudy	Royal National Theatre
1994	Design for Living	Leo	Donmar Warehouse
1995-96	Long Day's Journey Into Night	Edmund	Young Vic
1997	King Lear	Edgar	Royal National Theatre; Nominated "? Laurence Olivier Award
1997	The Invention of Love	Houseman	Royal National Theatre
1999-2000	Hamlet	Hamlet	Young Vic; Barclays Theatre Award
2004	Measure for Measure	Angelo	Royal National Theatre; Critics' Circle Theatre Award
2005	Paul	Paul	Royal National Theatre
2012	The Master and Margarita	Woland/The Master	Barbican Theatre
2016	Uncle Vanya	Uncle Vanya	Almeida Theatre