JONATHAN RHYS-MEYERS Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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JONATHAN RHYS-MEYERS

Name: Jonathan Rhys Meyers                                                                 
Birth name: Jonathan Michael O'Keeffe                                                       
Born: 27 July 1977 Dublin, Ireland                                                         
                                                                                           
Jonathan Rhys Meyers (born 27 July 1977) is an Irish Golden Globe-winning actor             
and fashion model.                                                                         
                                                                                           
Meyers was born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe in Dublin, Ireland, the son of           
Geraldine Meyers and John O'Keeffe, who was a musician. His stage name is                   
derived from his mother's maiden name, Myers.                                               
                                                                                           
Rhys Meyers was born with a serious heart problem and was baptised shortly after           
his birth, as it was feared he would not survive long enough for a traditional             
baptism ceremony. He spent the first few months of his life in the hospital.               
Meyers still lives in County Cork, Ireland where his family moved when he was a             
few months old. He has three younger brothers named Jamie, Alan and Paul.                   
                                                                                           
When Rhys Meyers was three years old, his parents separated. His mother raised             
Jonathan and his brother Alan, while his other two brothers went to live at                 
their grandmother's house with their father. They had not been in close contact             
for some years.                                                                             
                                                                                           
Rhys Meyers was expelled from the North Monastery Secondary School at age 16,               
and spent much of his time hanging out in pool halls namely the Victoria                   
Sporting Club on Patricks Quay and the Coliseum Leisure Centre on McCurtain                 
Street. Casting agents looking for Irish boys to appear in War of the Buttons               
spotted Rhys Meyers at a Cork pool hall, the Victoria Sporting Club, and invited           
him to audition. Although he was passed over for War of the Buttons, the casting           
agents encouraged him to pursue a career in acting. His first film role came               
soon afterward, in A Man of No Importance (1994). In 1996 he appeared in Michael           
Collins, as Collins' assassin.                                                             
                                                                                           
Rhys Meyers has starred in television series including Gormenghast (2000) and in           
the CBS 4-hour mini-series Elvis (2005) as Elvis Presley alongside Rose McGowan             
as Ann-Margret. The latter earned him an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe win.           
He is currently starring in the Showtime series The Tudors (2007) as young King             
Henry VIII. He was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television           
Drama in 2007 for the role.                                                                 
                                                                                           
His film roles range from a David Bowie-inspired glam rock star in Velvet                   
Goldmine (1998) to a dedicated girls' football coach in Bend It Like Beckham (2002).       
He appeared in Vanity Fair (2004) alongside Reese Witherspoon. In 2005, Rhys               
Meyers starred in Woody Allen's film Match Point, for which he received a                   
Chopard Trophy at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, he appeared in Mission:               
Impossible III. Other projects include August Rush (2007) and "The Children of             
Huang Shi" (2007). He is in talks to play Branwell Brontë in the movie Bronte,             
and is rumored to be appearing in Danny Glover's Haitian epic Toussaint (2008).             
He is also signed on to star as Lee Falk's comic strip hero Mandrake the                   
Magician in an upcoming movie directed by Chuck Russell.                                   
                                                                                           
Rhys Meyers also has experience as a singer. He did much of his own singing in             
the role of rock star Brian Slade in Velvet Goldmine, although some of these               
songs were replaced on the CD release of the soundtrack with alternate tracks by           
better-known vocalists. Rhys Meyers also sings briefly in the TV miniseries                 
version of The Magnificent Ambersons. His singing voice is also featured in his             
film August Rush.                                                                           
                                                                                           
Rhys Meyers was chosen as the face for the Versace men's collection of Autumn/Winter       
2006 and Spring 2007, and he has also been the face of the Hugo Boss men's                 
fragrance range since 2005.