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Paul Rhys (born 19 December 1963) is a British television, film and theatre actor. Rhys was born in Wales and studied at RADA, leaving with the Bancroft Gold Medal in 1987. While there, 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 legendary 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. Paul was born in Neath, south Wales, to Catholic parents. His mother, Kathryn Ivory, was... MORE

Paul Rhys (born 19 December 1963) is a British television, film and theatre actor. Rhys was born in Wales and studied at RADA, leaving with the Bancroft Gold Medal in 1987. While there, 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 legendary 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. Paul was born in Neath, south Wales, to Catholic parents. His mother, Kathryn Ivory, was Irish-Welsh and his father, Richard Charles Rhys, was Welsh. The family moved to an inner city estate when Paul was ten. A committed punk during his youth, Rhys was in several bands before leaving for London to study at RADA. 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 LESS