Rhys Ifans

Rhys Ifans (born Rhys Evans, 22.7.1968)

Rhys Ifans is a Welsh actor.

Rhys Ifans: Childhood

Rhys Ifans was born in Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Wales, to Beti Wyn and Eurwyn Evans. Both of his parents were teachers: his mother at a nursery and his father at a primary school.

Rhys grew up with Welsh as his first language, hence using the Welsh spelling of his surname (though he states that this is simply to be difficult).

Rhys Ifans grew up in Ruthin, North Wales and attended the primary school at which his mother worked – Ysgol Pentrecelyn – and then Ysgol Maes Garmon, a Welsh language secondary school. Whilst he was at school, he also took acting classes at Theatr Clwyd in Mold.

Rhys has a brother Llyr, who is also an actor. He and his brother both appeared in Twin Town.

Rhys Ifans: Film & TV Career

In 1990, Rhys Ifans presented a children’s TV show entitled Sdwnsh (translated to ‘Mash’ in English). He presented 31 of the 15 minute programmes on the Welsh TV channel S4C.

As well as appearing in a number of television programmes, Rhys Ifans also performed onstage at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.

Rhys Ifans briefly sang lead vocals for the alternative rock group Super Furry Animals, before they rose to fame.

Ifans’ big break came in 1997, when he starred alongside his brother in Twin Town. The black comedy, set in Swansea has become a cult classic, though its success was moderate at the time of release. He then went on to play Eyeball Paul in Kevin and Perry Go Large. This film was an expansion of a Harry Enfield sketch and also starred Kathy Burke.

In 1999, he appeared in Notting Hill, the hugely successful film written by Richard Curtis and starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

2000 saw him feature as Adrian in Adam Sandler’s comedy Little Nicky. The film received a lukewarm reception at the time of release but has since gathered support.

Ifans then went on to appear in The Replacements, a film about American football, which starred Gene Hackman, Keanu Reeves and Brooke Langton. Ifans plays the role of a Welsh soccer player by the name of Nigel Gruff.

This was followed by a role in 51st State, a film that centers around a fictional drug. The film was shot on location in Liverpool and had an all-star cast, including Samuel L. Jackson, Meat Loaf, Robert Carlyle and Ricky Tomlinson.

In 2003, Rhys Ifans played the lead role in Danny Deckchair, playing Danny Morgan, an unhappy construction worker that ties helium balloons to his deckchair at a party and takes flight.

In 2004, Rhys Ifans starred in Vanity Fair, an adaptation of the William Makepeace Thackeray novel, playing the role of Major William Dobbin. The film also starred Reese Witherspoon, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Bob Hoskins. Later that year, he also featured in the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel Enduring Love, which co-starred Daniel Craig, Samantha Morton and Bill Nighy.

Rhys Ifans won a BAFTA for his portrayal of the late comedian Peter Cook, in Not Only But Always in 2005. That same year, he appeared in a music video for Oasis’ ‘The Importance of Being Idle’. He accepted their ‘Video Of The Year’ award at the NME awards for them. He also appeared in videos for Super Furry Animals, Catatonia and Tom Jones & The Stereophonics.

Three years later, Rhys Ifans landed a role in Hannibal Rising, the fifth film in the Hannibal Lecter series of films based on the novels by Thomas Harris. Hannibal Rising also starred Gaspard Ulliel and Gong Li.

Rhys Ifans also sings with his own band, The Peth, which features Dafydd Ieuan of Super Furry Animals.

When he appeared on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross in March 2009, Rhys Ifans announced that he would be playing Howard Marks, in a biopic about the legendary drug smuggler.

Rhys Ifans: Personal Life

Rhys Ifans dated Sienna Miller in the past and has a tattoo of a swallow on his wrist to match Sienna’s own tattoo.