Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Meyers was born on 27 July 1977 in Dublin, Ireland, to Geraldine (née Myers; 1957–2007) and folk musician John O'Keeffe, and brought up in County Cork.[6][1] His family is Roman Catholic.[7] His three brothers are professional musicians.[8] He attended North Monastery Christian Brothers School.[9]

After being expelled from North Monastery for truancy, he spent much of his time working and socializing 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.[10] Although passed over for War of the Buttons, the casting agents encouraged him to pursue a career in acting.[1]

Taking on the name Rhys Meyers,[11] his first acting role came in the film, 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 did not sing for his role in the miniseries.[12] The latter earned him an Emmy[13] nomination and a Golden Globe win.[14] 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.[15]

Meyers with Natalia Vodianova at the premiere of Belle du Seigneur

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 where he plays Cassander.[16] 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)[17]

In 2011, he starred as Solal in Belle du Seigneur, an English language film adaptation of Albert Cohen's novel Belle du Seigneur. 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.[18] "This Time" was not released as a single but peaked at number 84 in the Canadian Hot 100.[19]

Besides acting, Rhys Meyers has also modeled for several clothing companies. He modeled for Club Monaco in 2001 and was chosen as the face for the Versace men's collection of Autumn/Winter 2006 and Spring 2007,[20] and he was the face of the Hugo Boss men's fragrance range from 2006[21] until he was replaced with Jared Leto in 2011. He is signed to Independent Models in London.[22] In February 2008, he became a celebrity ambassador for the Cork-based charitable organisation The Hope Foundation.[23] On 5 October 2008, Rhys Meyers received an Honorary Patronage from the Trinity College Philosophical Society in Dublin.[24]

In 2013, Meyers was cast as Dracula in NBC's television series Dracula alongside Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jessica De Gouw.[25] 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 20 years.[26]

Meyers played the lead in the spy thriller Damascus Cover, based on the novel by Howard Kaplan.[27] It premiered on September 23, 2017, at the Boston Film Festival.[28]

Meyers portrays 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.[29]

In 2008, Rhys Meyers was named the ambassador for the Hope Foundation. A charity formed in his native Cork. The charity provides shelter, medical care, and support to the street children of Calcutta.[43][44]

Rhys Meyers is also an ambassador for the children’s charity, Barretstown. Barretstown’s mission is to rebuild the lives of children affected by serious illness and their families, through life-changing therapeutic recreational programmes in a safe, fun and supportive environment. In 2019, he and fellow actor Aidan Gillen helped launch Barretstown’s new press play campaign. It aims to raise additional funds over the next five years to ensure that the charity can expand its programmes to serve more children who suffer from serious illness and their families.[45][46]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

• Jonathan Rhys Meyers on IMDb