The prospect of a Welsh Bafta this month means more to the
Hollywood A-lister than many of the US plaudits he has wonAn
American viewer who comes across the line-up of leading men nominated for the Welsh Baftas this month might be brought up short by one of the four names. Michael Sheen? Tick. Celyn Jones? Yes, certainly sounds Welsh. Sir Anthony Hopkins? No questions asked. But what about Matthew Rhys? He’s an A-lister in the US, where he won an Emmy last year, and many fans have no idea he was not raised on their side of the Atlantic.
But Rhys, 44, who co-stars with Tom Hanks in the very American film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, is in fact Cardiff born and bred. His surname is a clue, yet the actor’s mastery of accents, particularly in the award-winning spy television series The Americans, has shaped his career, keeping him working largely in the US, where he first appeared in the popular series Brothers and Sisters with Sally Field and Calista Flockhart.Fellow American cast members are not always happy, he told the Observer this weekend, when they discover he is Welsh. “I do get comments like, ‘When are you going back?’ and ‘Have you got leave to stay?’ It is all done under the guise of joking about it, but they are annoyed by it.”