Post by sylviane on Sept 20, 2007 16:44:31 GMT -5
I already posted this on Ioanzone and the Brothers & Sisters site, but for those who missed it there.
I started this bio but had to shorten it, otherwise someone would have absolutely KILLED me. The original bio with Triva, parts of interviews, the whole blahblah... and more mentions of Ioan is still here on my computer. If you're interested PM me. It's approx 20 pages in Word and 79 KB, according to my computer.
But here is the short version:
Disclaimer: I never met Matthew Rhys, never spoke to him, don’t know him in any other way than as a great actor, who captured my attention in Heart of America. This bio is based on loads and loads of interviews I read on Matthew. Given either by him and/or Ioan Gruffudd to journalists or written about him. So, Matthew, if there is anything in here that is incorrect, let me know. (But I will not hold my breath on that.) Made not to earn money with, but just out of interest in an actor. Sylviane
Matthew Rhys
(Last name is pronounced “Reese”).
Born 4 November 1974 in the historic city of Cardiff, South Glamorgan, South Wales. Father Glyn Evans (headmaster), mother Helen Evans (teaches special needs children) and an older sister Rachel Evans, who is a BBC broadcast journalist.
He was educated in the Welsh language at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd, Whitchurch, Cardiff where he also met Ioan Gruffudd.
First movie Matthew recalls seeing was Flash Gordon(1980). He believes that his first record ever bought was Adam and the Ants – Stand and deliver – (1981) because the video was so cool! He had his first famous person crush on Daisy Duke from ‘the Dukes of Hazzard’.
Considering that his father's family were farmers, his mother's people lived near the sea, it is only natural that he wanted to be a farmer. But when he was 10 or 11 years old, he saw the movie that inspired him: ‘Look back in anger’ with Richard Burton. He than transferred to a Welsh-speaking co-ed comprehensive Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf where Ioan also went to.
His first job was a paper round, but it was short-lived, because his bike got stolen. His walls were covered with Army posters. He wanted to be in the armed forces, but fortunately he changed his mind.
He liked sport. Rugby off course, but when he decided he was not good enough he went for ice hockey, but that turned out too expensive, so he moved to street hockey instead.
Had his first kiss at age 16, first sex at age 17. First falling in love at age 18.
At seventeen, he played the lead role of Elvis Presley in a school musical, “According to himself in school he did ‘just enough to get by’. When he left school he applied to the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (RADA). and was accepted after an audition that won him the first annual free grant, the Patricia Rothermere Scholarship in 1993.
He moved in with Ioan who had been accepted at RADA the year before. During his time at RADA, 1996, Rhys made his film debut with Sian Phillips and Steven Mackintosh in House of America. He also appeared in Back-Up.
Upon his return in Cardiff he plays in his own language in the Welsh film Bydd yn Wrol (Be Brave). For this movie he won Best Actor award at the Welsh BAFTA's in 1997.
February 1997: Along comes Cardiff East. His first play. He had just graduated from RADA, when he started it. Matthew won critical acclaim for his role as the young Tommy who is enjoying a gay liaison with Neil. The play shocked audiences with its gay nude scenes.
Followed by “Grace Note” in July 1997. He continued on the stage and played Pierre in One More Wasted Year, followed by the part of Yanne in Stranger's House.
He had a small part in Elizabeth, with Cate Blanchett, Joseph Fiennes and Christopher Eccleston, but that part ended on the editing floor. Although the rumour goes that he is still somewhere to be seen in the movie.
And he was as unlucky with the following film, Heart , He got paid, but he was hardly seen on the screen. Allthough he is credited as playing Sean McCardle he's appears only in a few small scenes (on a motorcycle, in a scene on a videotape and in a scene in the hospital. Less than 5 minutes of screentime.)
In January 1998, Rhys went to New Zealand to star in Green Stone, a colonial costume drama for television, about a love story played out on a grand scale against impossible odds.
He also takes the part of Ray Smith in “Whatever happened to Harold Smith?” A small film situated in the ‘70’s in which he plays the brother of a boy who discovers that his (their) father has a special gift.
In 1999 he is in Italy for eight weeks filming with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange in a new movie called Titus, in which he and Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers played the sadistic sons of Tamora, Queen of the Goths, who was played by Jessica Lange.
Working on Titus was the most physically demanding role of Matthew Rhys's career to date - he was suspended naked upside down before his character met a gory demise. Titus received mixed reviews.
In 2000 Matthew suddenly becomes a more famous name. He is going to be on stage opposite Kathleen Turner in a new adaptation of “The Graduate”. Rhys stars as Benjamin Braddock, the role made famous in the film by Dustin Hoffmann. He has a torrid affair with Turner's character Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's employer.
He is also one of the voices in the documentary-series “A history of Britain”, where can be heard in 2 episodes: “Nations” and “King Death”.
Next is the ITV-series Metropolis, based on a group of twenty-somethings from Leeds living in London, Rhys plays a law graduate who becomes a dope-smoking drop-out.
Then comes his first leading role in Sorted, a contemporary thriller set in the London club scene.
He also plays smaller roles like that of Jonathan in the movie “The testimony of Talisien Jones”. And then, he’s the leading man again, in a movie called Peaches, this time.
In Peaches, Rhys manages to capture the character of Frank, a bit lazy, a bit ignorant at times and with the usual issues of fear of taking responsibility, settle down and get a job. It takes some time before it dawns on him that he is now a grown-up, and that he should start behaving like one.
That same year he can also be seen in Shooters. Star actors in this are Adrian Dunbar and Gerard Butler, as two criminals trying once more and than everything goes wrong. It is a rather 0violent, harsh movie. Matthew can only be seen in the first 5 minutes of the film and plays the part of Eddie, a young gun-dealer. This movie would also have a small guest role for Ioan Gruffudd as Freddy Guns. They however don’t share the screen together. The movie would not be released until 2002
The start of 2001 took Matthew to New Zealand to shoot the adventure-movie, The Lost World for the BBC. He starred alongside Bob Hoskins, James Fox, Tom Ward and Elaine Cassidy in an adventure recreating Conan Doyle’s tale of British explorers searching for an undiscovered plateau that avoided evolving and is inhabited by prehistoric beasts. As the hapless journalist/explorer Edward Malone, who joins the explorers only in an attempt to impress his girl-friend, Gladys, Rhys mostly fancied the part because it involved heroics and action.
Because he’s the journalist who writes the story down, his voice is also heard as the narrator.
He also stars in Tabloid, in which he plays the host of a sleazy television show. A satire on celebrity television. Rhys stars as Darren Daniels, a charismatic but deeply insincere talk show host (Jerry Springer kind of guy) who seeks to out the darkest secrets of his celebrity guests. But then it’s pay back time and suddenly Darren finds himself with some skeletons in his own closet. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio plays the TV producer, ex-lover to Daniel, who drives him on to further excesses, and the cast also features John Hurt, David Soul and Stephen Tompkinson.
Finally, Ioan and Matthew get a chance to appear in a movie together. They are offered the parts of Hob and Nob in ‘Very Annie Mary’, a film by the Welsh Sara Sugarman. The film, which was shot in Wales, is an uplifting account of a young woman, Annie Mary (Rachel Griffiths) and her dream to break free of her domineering father played by Jonathan Price, the local baker, a powerful figure known as "The Voice of the Valleys", a man revered for his singing. Unfortunately she’s forced to become a full-time nurse for her father after he suffers a stroke. She initially appears as a loser, catering to her father, but she has a mind of her own. Gradually we discover that she was offered a place at the Milan School of Opera, but she denied it to stay with her father. She is unable to sing anymore and the film charts her progress in rediscovering herself.
Slowly it became 2002 and by now Matthew considers giving up acting. Although HIS performance is usually highly regarded, the movies themselves fail one after the other in the eyes of the critics. But he finishes shooting opposite Billy Elliot's Jamie Bell, in a first world war film called Deathwatch . The movie is combination of a ghost-story, a horror movie and a war movie and features Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Laurence Fox.
He returned to Cardiff to act as president of the day at the Urdd Eisteddfod. And following this, he gets offered the part of Tiny in ‘The Associate’. Back to the theatre than.
In October 2002 he and Ioan Gruffudd headed a guest list at a charity ball to help people with spinal injuries. The charity, called Trust PA, was being launched at a gala ball in Cardiff in memory of a young rugby player who was paralysed in a rugby match and later died. Paul Andre Blundell - known as PA - was a former Wales rugby player who died in January five months after suffering spinal injuries while playing in a rugby game. He was 26, had been playing for Keynsham RFC at a match against Maidenhead RFC in September 2001 when the accident happened. It was the first league game he had played in following a badly broken leg which had kept him out of the game since the previous year.
He was a personal friend of Matthew’s. Matthew Rhys had known PA since the age of five when they met in primary school. He had spoken of the great shock he felt seeing his friend, who was a sports fanatic and very fit according to the actor, left paralysed by his injuries. He had been making good progress, and was very positive about the future according to his family.
But he died very suddenly five months to the day after his injury from a pulmonary embolism (blood clot) which killed him instantly . Both, Matthew and Ioan, agreed to be official patrons of the trust.
At the same time he lends his voice to the character of Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Y Mabinogi. Based on the legendary Welsh folk story Mabinogi. The film toured around the country on a limited run between November 2002 and February 2003 and received mixed reviews.
In December 2002 he teams up with Rhys Ifans and Ioan Gruffudd to lend his voice to a one-off Christmas Eve show from animation powerhouse S4C. Made by US animators Rainbow Studios, Donner follows the plight of one of Santa's reindeer as he battles to overcome his unlikely fear of flying. His fleet of reindeer is gathered in an army boot camp where strict sergeant major Blitzen (Ifans) looks to prepare them for their big night. But all does not go according to plan when Skeezer (Rhys), a mischievous elf cast aside for his naughty antics, causes havoc for poor Donner (Gruffudd).
Just prior to that Matthew joined singer Cerys Matthews, Ioan Gruffudd, Velvet Underground founder member John Cale, actress Siân Phillips, Rhys Ifans and Nia Roberts for Dal: Yma/Nawr: a film about the diversity of the Welsh literary, musical and poetic offerings.
The title translates as "Still Here Now" and it is a 73-minute documentary style film that has been filmed in a number of formats - film, video, using computer graphics - to try and add a visual depth to match the range of works. The film, commissioned by the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C took seven months to complete and was most shot in Wales, although other locations include London, New York, Los Angeles and Nashville.
In 2003 he gets his chance in Los Angeles, playing in one episode of Columbo. Columbo Likes the nightlife starring Peter Falk, and he also appears in straight-to-dvd movie “Partners and crime” (aka Violent Crime) with Jennifer Esposito.
And in episode 5 of the ITV series POW, about a POW camp during World War 2, where he plays Alfie Harris, a British spy searched by the SS for the information he has.
In October 2003 Matthew plays in Under Milk Wood co-starring Lisa Palfrey and Nia Roberts, This to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the writer's death. Following in the footsteps of screen legend Richard Burton, Matthew Rhys plays the role of First Voice. Matthew is a fan of Dylan Thomas' work because "his imagination is wonderful and he's such a wordsmith, and those two things combined make for something like Under Milk Wood.
"I'm very proud of the fact that this has become a timeless piece and people still want to come and see it 50 years on from his death.”
Under Milk Wood clings a bit to him that year as he’s also featured in a 50th anniversary BBC4 production of the play which used original recordings of screen legend Richard Burton. [recorded 1963], with newly recorded voices of not only Matthew but also Sian Phillips, Glyn Houston, John Humphrys, & other Welsh stars.
He also had the leading role in a movie called “Fakers” in which he plays Nick Edward, who owes an amount of 50.000 pounds to a crime-lord and he comes up with a plan. To sell a ‘lost’ sketch by a famous artist to five Art Galleries in the same district, within 1 hour. And to try to get away with it…
From April to October 2004 he is in the play Romeo and Juliet, playing the part of Romeo.
Early 2005 Matthew is back on the stage, this time for the part of Edmund in “King Lear” at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. Corin Redgrave stars as King Lear, Edgar is played by Pal Aron, As Edmund he schemes his way through the play, causing trouble for Edgar, going after Goneril and Regan. Allthough he dies trying to save Cordelia, his death is unmourned.
In May 2005 Matthew , read a fairy-tale for a CD produced by a group of teenagers at Blackwood Comprehensive School to help raise funds for the Noah's Ark Appeal. A quarter of the profits made from the CD would go to the fundraising efforts for the Children's Hospital for Wales.
Several traditional fairy tales including Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast were read by Matthew but also Brian Hibbard (actor and he was in the band the Flying Pickets), TV-presenter Sarra Elgan, Pobol Y Cwm actor Llinor ap Gwynedd and Boyd Clack, who starred in the BBC Wales comedy Satellite City.
Called Tiny Tales with Big Names, the double CD features stories narrated by the stars in Welsh and English and is aimed at children aged between four and five. The five celebrities did the reading for free.
In October 2005 Matthew is mentioned as starring opposite Brittany Murphy and Gwyneth Paltrow as one of the actors in Love and Other Disasters, a comedy romance about an American intern working at UK's Vogue magazine who tries to help her friends find love. Also starring in the flick are Stephanie Beacham, Orlando Bloom, , Gwyneth Paltrow Dawn French and Catherine Tate. Matthew plays a gay man, Peter, with a dysfunctional love life and a role where he can actually speak in his Welsh accent.
In 2006 he's films Virgin Territory, about a set of young Florentines regaling one another in the Italian countryside while the black plague decimates their city. He co-stars with Hayden Christensen, The OC's Mischa Barton and Tim Roth in the movie, which will be released in 2007. Matthew plays the part of Count Dzerzhinsky
Returning to America, late for pilot season, he gets asked to audition for the part of Kevin Walker in the new series called “Brothers & Sisters”, predicted to be a flop and a miss, the series is a huge success and gives Matthew recognition amongst the American audience. He is to play the part of Kevin Walker, son and brother, lawyer, and gay. He was asked after Jonathan LaPaglia's, the original Kevin, left.
But after filming the first season on Brothers & Sisters has finished Matthew returns to Wales to play the part of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas with Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Cillian Murphy. Although the title has changed several time, it now seems to stay with The Edge of Love.
He is conscious that his portrayal will, yet again, have to compete with the public's image of Thomas. It is believed The Edge of Love will be released in spring 2008.
After filming ended on The edge of Love” Matthew returned to Los Angeles for the filming of the second season of “Brothers and Sisters”
On September 14th, 2007, Matthew was the Ioan Gruffudd’s best man at his wedding.
This is the story so far……
Thanks:
To Matthew Rhys for being a great actor.
All the journalists who made all the interviews.
I started this bio but had to shorten it, otherwise someone would have absolutely KILLED me. The original bio with Triva, parts of interviews, the whole blahblah... and more mentions of Ioan is still here on my computer. If you're interested PM me. It's approx 20 pages in Word and 79 KB, according to my computer.
But here is the short version:
Disclaimer: I never met Matthew Rhys, never spoke to him, don’t know him in any other way than as a great actor, who captured my attention in Heart of America. This bio is based on loads and loads of interviews I read on Matthew. Given either by him and/or Ioan Gruffudd to journalists or written about him. So, Matthew, if there is anything in here that is incorrect, let me know. (But I will not hold my breath on that.) Made not to earn money with, but just out of interest in an actor. Sylviane
Matthew Rhys
(Last name is pronounced “Reese”).
Born 4 November 1974 in the historic city of Cardiff, South Glamorgan, South Wales. Father Glyn Evans (headmaster), mother Helen Evans (teaches special needs children) and an older sister Rachel Evans, who is a BBC broadcast journalist.
He was educated in the Welsh language at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd, Whitchurch, Cardiff where he also met Ioan Gruffudd.
First movie Matthew recalls seeing was Flash Gordon(1980). He believes that his first record ever bought was Adam and the Ants – Stand and deliver – (1981) because the video was so cool! He had his first famous person crush on Daisy Duke from ‘the Dukes of Hazzard’.
Considering that his father's family were farmers, his mother's people lived near the sea, it is only natural that he wanted to be a farmer. But when he was 10 or 11 years old, he saw the movie that inspired him: ‘Look back in anger’ with Richard Burton. He than transferred to a Welsh-speaking co-ed comprehensive Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf where Ioan also went to.
His first job was a paper round, but it was short-lived, because his bike got stolen. His walls were covered with Army posters. He wanted to be in the armed forces, but fortunately he changed his mind.
He liked sport. Rugby off course, but when he decided he was not good enough he went for ice hockey, but that turned out too expensive, so he moved to street hockey instead.
Had his first kiss at age 16, first sex at age 17. First falling in love at age 18.
At seventeen, he played the lead role of Elvis Presley in a school musical, “According to himself in school he did ‘just enough to get by’. When he left school he applied to the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (RADA). and was accepted after an audition that won him the first annual free grant, the Patricia Rothermere Scholarship in 1993.
He moved in with Ioan who had been accepted at RADA the year before. During his time at RADA, 1996, Rhys made his film debut with Sian Phillips and Steven Mackintosh in House of America. He also appeared in Back-Up.
Upon his return in Cardiff he plays in his own language in the Welsh film Bydd yn Wrol (Be Brave). For this movie he won Best Actor award at the Welsh BAFTA's in 1997.
February 1997: Along comes Cardiff East. His first play. He had just graduated from RADA, when he started it. Matthew won critical acclaim for his role as the young Tommy who is enjoying a gay liaison with Neil. The play shocked audiences with its gay nude scenes.
Followed by “Grace Note” in July 1997. He continued on the stage and played Pierre in One More Wasted Year, followed by the part of Yanne in Stranger's House.
He had a small part in Elizabeth, with Cate Blanchett, Joseph Fiennes and Christopher Eccleston, but that part ended on the editing floor. Although the rumour goes that he is still somewhere to be seen in the movie.
And he was as unlucky with the following film, Heart , He got paid, but he was hardly seen on the screen. Allthough he is credited as playing Sean McCardle he's appears only in a few small scenes (on a motorcycle, in a scene on a videotape and in a scene in the hospital. Less than 5 minutes of screentime.)
In January 1998, Rhys went to New Zealand to star in Green Stone, a colonial costume drama for television, about a love story played out on a grand scale against impossible odds.
He also takes the part of Ray Smith in “Whatever happened to Harold Smith?” A small film situated in the ‘70’s in which he plays the brother of a boy who discovers that his (their) father has a special gift.
In 1999 he is in Italy for eight weeks filming with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange in a new movie called Titus, in which he and Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers played the sadistic sons of Tamora, Queen of the Goths, who was played by Jessica Lange.
Working on Titus was the most physically demanding role of Matthew Rhys's career to date - he was suspended naked upside down before his character met a gory demise. Titus received mixed reviews.
In 2000 Matthew suddenly becomes a more famous name. He is going to be on stage opposite Kathleen Turner in a new adaptation of “The Graduate”. Rhys stars as Benjamin Braddock, the role made famous in the film by Dustin Hoffmann. He has a torrid affair with Turner's character Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's employer.
He is also one of the voices in the documentary-series “A history of Britain”, where can be heard in 2 episodes: “Nations” and “King Death”.
Next is the ITV-series Metropolis, based on a group of twenty-somethings from Leeds living in London, Rhys plays a law graduate who becomes a dope-smoking drop-out.
Then comes his first leading role in Sorted, a contemporary thriller set in the London club scene.
He also plays smaller roles like that of Jonathan in the movie “The testimony of Talisien Jones”. And then, he’s the leading man again, in a movie called Peaches, this time.
In Peaches, Rhys manages to capture the character of Frank, a bit lazy, a bit ignorant at times and with the usual issues of fear of taking responsibility, settle down and get a job. It takes some time before it dawns on him that he is now a grown-up, and that he should start behaving like one.
That same year he can also be seen in Shooters. Star actors in this are Adrian Dunbar and Gerard Butler, as two criminals trying once more and than everything goes wrong. It is a rather 0violent, harsh movie. Matthew can only be seen in the first 5 minutes of the film and plays the part of Eddie, a young gun-dealer. This movie would also have a small guest role for Ioan Gruffudd as Freddy Guns. They however don’t share the screen together. The movie would not be released until 2002
The start of 2001 took Matthew to New Zealand to shoot the adventure-movie, The Lost World for the BBC. He starred alongside Bob Hoskins, James Fox, Tom Ward and Elaine Cassidy in an adventure recreating Conan Doyle’s tale of British explorers searching for an undiscovered plateau that avoided evolving and is inhabited by prehistoric beasts. As the hapless journalist/explorer Edward Malone, who joins the explorers only in an attempt to impress his girl-friend, Gladys, Rhys mostly fancied the part because it involved heroics and action.
Because he’s the journalist who writes the story down, his voice is also heard as the narrator.
He also stars in Tabloid, in which he plays the host of a sleazy television show. A satire on celebrity television. Rhys stars as Darren Daniels, a charismatic but deeply insincere talk show host (Jerry Springer kind of guy) who seeks to out the darkest secrets of his celebrity guests. But then it’s pay back time and suddenly Darren finds himself with some skeletons in his own closet. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio plays the TV producer, ex-lover to Daniel, who drives him on to further excesses, and the cast also features John Hurt, David Soul and Stephen Tompkinson.
Finally, Ioan and Matthew get a chance to appear in a movie together. They are offered the parts of Hob and Nob in ‘Very Annie Mary’, a film by the Welsh Sara Sugarman. The film, which was shot in Wales, is an uplifting account of a young woman, Annie Mary (Rachel Griffiths) and her dream to break free of her domineering father played by Jonathan Price, the local baker, a powerful figure known as "The Voice of the Valleys", a man revered for his singing. Unfortunately she’s forced to become a full-time nurse for her father after he suffers a stroke. She initially appears as a loser, catering to her father, but she has a mind of her own. Gradually we discover that she was offered a place at the Milan School of Opera, but she denied it to stay with her father. She is unable to sing anymore and the film charts her progress in rediscovering herself.
Slowly it became 2002 and by now Matthew considers giving up acting. Although HIS performance is usually highly regarded, the movies themselves fail one after the other in the eyes of the critics. But he finishes shooting opposite Billy Elliot's Jamie Bell, in a first world war film called Deathwatch . The movie is combination of a ghost-story, a horror movie and a war movie and features Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Laurence Fox.
He returned to Cardiff to act as president of the day at the Urdd Eisteddfod. And following this, he gets offered the part of Tiny in ‘The Associate’. Back to the theatre than.
In October 2002 he and Ioan Gruffudd headed a guest list at a charity ball to help people with spinal injuries. The charity, called Trust PA, was being launched at a gala ball in Cardiff in memory of a young rugby player who was paralysed in a rugby match and later died. Paul Andre Blundell - known as PA - was a former Wales rugby player who died in January five months after suffering spinal injuries while playing in a rugby game. He was 26, had been playing for Keynsham RFC at a match against Maidenhead RFC in September 2001 when the accident happened. It was the first league game he had played in following a badly broken leg which had kept him out of the game since the previous year.
He was a personal friend of Matthew’s. Matthew Rhys had known PA since the age of five when they met in primary school. He had spoken of the great shock he felt seeing his friend, who was a sports fanatic and very fit according to the actor, left paralysed by his injuries. He had been making good progress, and was very positive about the future according to his family.
But he died very suddenly five months to the day after his injury from a pulmonary embolism (blood clot) which killed him instantly . Both, Matthew and Ioan, agreed to be official patrons of the trust.
At the same time he lends his voice to the character of Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Y Mabinogi. Based on the legendary Welsh folk story Mabinogi. The film toured around the country on a limited run between November 2002 and February 2003 and received mixed reviews.
In December 2002 he teams up with Rhys Ifans and Ioan Gruffudd to lend his voice to a one-off Christmas Eve show from animation powerhouse S4C. Made by US animators Rainbow Studios, Donner follows the plight of one of Santa's reindeer as he battles to overcome his unlikely fear of flying. His fleet of reindeer is gathered in an army boot camp where strict sergeant major Blitzen (Ifans) looks to prepare them for their big night. But all does not go according to plan when Skeezer (Rhys), a mischievous elf cast aside for his naughty antics, causes havoc for poor Donner (Gruffudd).
Just prior to that Matthew joined singer Cerys Matthews, Ioan Gruffudd, Velvet Underground founder member John Cale, actress Siân Phillips, Rhys Ifans and Nia Roberts for Dal: Yma/Nawr: a film about the diversity of the Welsh literary, musical and poetic offerings.
The title translates as "Still Here Now" and it is a 73-minute documentary style film that has been filmed in a number of formats - film, video, using computer graphics - to try and add a visual depth to match the range of works. The film, commissioned by the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C took seven months to complete and was most shot in Wales, although other locations include London, New York, Los Angeles and Nashville.
In 2003 he gets his chance in Los Angeles, playing in one episode of Columbo. Columbo Likes the nightlife starring Peter Falk, and he also appears in straight-to-dvd movie “Partners and crime” (aka Violent Crime) with Jennifer Esposito.
And in episode 5 of the ITV series POW, about a POW camp during World War 2, where he plays Alfie Harris, a British spy searched by the SS for the information he has.
In October 2003 Matthew plays in Under Milk Wood co-starring Lisa Palfrey and Nia Roberts, This to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the writer's death. Following in the footsteps of screen legend Richard Burton, Matthew Rhys plays the role of First Voice. Matthew is a fan of Dylan Thomas' work because "his imagination is wonderful and he's such a wordsmith, and those two things combined make for something like Under Milk Wood.
"I'm very proud of the fact that this has become a timeless piece and people still want to come and see it 50 years on from his death.”
Under Milk Wood clings a bit to him that year as he’s also featured in a 50th anniversary BBC4 production of the play which used original recordings of screen legend Richard Burton. [recorded 1963], with newly recorded voices of not only Matthew but also Sian Phillips, Glyn Houston, John Humphrys, & other Welsh stars.
He also had the leading role in a movie called “Fakers” in which he plays Nick Edward, who owes an amount of 50.000 pounds to a crime-lord and he comes up with a plan. To sell a ‘lost’ sketch by a famous artist to five Art Galleries in the same district, within 1 hour. And to try to get away with it…
From April to October 2004 he is in the play Romeo and Juliet, playing the part of Romeo.
Early 2005 Matthew is back on the stage, this time for the part of Edmund in “King Lear” at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. Corin Redgrave stars as King Lear, Edgar is played by Pal Aron, As Edmund he schemes his way through the play, causing trouble for Edgar, going after Goneril and Regan. Allthough he dies trying to save Cordelia, his death is unmourned.
In May 2005 Matthew , read a fairy-tale for a CD produced by a group of teenagers at Blackwood Comprehensive School to help raise funds for the Noah's Ark Appeal. A quarter of the profits made from the CD would go to the fundraising efforts for the Children's Hospital for Wales.
Several traditional fairy tales including Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast were read by Matthew but also Brian Hibbard (actor and he was in the band the Flying Pickets), TV-presenter Sarra Elgan, Pobol Y Cwm actor Llinor ap Gwynedd and Boyd Clack, who starred in the BBC Wales comedy Satellite City.
Called Tiny Tales with Big Names, the double CD features stories narrated by the stars in Welsh and English and is aimed at children aged between four and five. The five celebrities did the reading for free.
In October 2005 Matthew is mentioned as starring opposite Brittany Murphy and Gwyneth Paltrow as one of the actors in Love and Other Disasters, a comedy romance about an American intern working at UK's Vogue magazine who tries to help her friends find love. Also starring in the flick are Stephanie Beacham, Orlando Bloom, , Gwyneth Paltrow Dawn French and Catherine Tate. Matthew plays a gay man, Peter, with a dysfunctional love life and a role where he can actually speak in his Welsh accent.
In 2006 he's films Virgin Territory, about a set of young Florentines regaling one another in the Italian countryside while the black plague decimates their city. He co-stars with Hayden Christensen, The OC's Mischa Barton and Tim Roth in the movie, which will be released in 2007. Matthew plays the part of Count Dzerzhinsky
Returning to America, late for pilot season, he gets asked to audition for the part of Kevin Walker in the new series called “Brothers & Sisters”, predicted to be a flop and a miss, the series is a huge success and gives Matthew recognition amongst the American audience. He is to play the part of Kevin Walker, son and brother, lawyer, and gay. He was asked after Jonathan LaPaglia's, the original Kevin, left.
But after filming the first season on Brothers & Sisters has finished Matthew returns to Wales to play the part of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas with Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Cillian Murphy. Although the title has changed several time, it now seems to stay with The Edge of Love.
He is conscious that his portrayal will, yet again, have to compete with the public's image of Thomas. It is believed The Edge of Love will be released in spring 2008.
After filming ended on The edge of Love” Matthew returned to Los Angeles for the filming of the second season of “Brothers and Sisters”
On September 14th, 2007, Matthew was the Ioan Gruffudd’s best man at his wedding.
This is the story so far……
Thanks:
To Matthew Rhys for being a great actor.
All the journalists who made all the interviews.