Matthew Rhys was the big winner at last night’s Primetime Emmy Awards, but how much do you know about the award-winning actor?
The Primetime Emmy Awards are always one of the highlights of the Hollywood calendar and yesterday’s ceremony was no exception as the great and good came together to celebrate the best of the past year in showbusiness.
But amongst all the glitz and glamour though history was made, as Matthew Rhys became the first person to win two leading actor prizes at the same ceremony. Latthew was named best lead actor in a limited series for his role in the psychological thriller The Beast in Me and best lead actor in a comedy for Widow’s Bay.
But how much do you know about Matthew Rhys? Here are some facts you might not know about him.
He nearly quit acting for the army
Matthew had some early successes in his acting career, including a lead role in a UK TV drama series and starring alongside Kathleen Turner in a West End adaptation of The Graduate, but after that work dried up for a time and he questioned whether to carry on in acting.
Indeed, he even got to the point of meeting and army officer, with a view to signing up. However, the officer was apparently suspicious of Matthew when he said he was an actor and received a rejection letter soon after.
Fortunately, Matthew decided to carry on in acting and soon picked up work in BBC dramas.
He once lived with two other Welsh acting stars
Matthew is one of several Welsh actors who have made it big in Hollywood over the past couple of decades, and he lived with two of them at one point.
Matthew moved to the US in 2006 and quickly moved in with friends and fellow Welshmen Michael Sheen and Ioan Gruffudd. Indeed, Matthew and Ioan had been at school together in Cardiff.
While living together – although they were working so wouldn’t always been home at the same time – they spoke Welsh, and would watch rugby in a local British pub.
He met his partner at a kickball game
Matthew has been in a relationship with fellow actor Keri Russell since 2013, and they have a child together.
However, the pair met many years earlier – and it wasn’t love at first sight. They met at a kickball game in 2002, and MattheHw asked for her number. She gave it to him and he ended up leaving a drunken answerphone message, which didn’t impress Keri and she didn’t call him back.
That was it until 2013 when they reconnected as they starred together in a series called The Americans, a show about a pair of married spies.
He was Columbo’s last arrest
Columbo is one of the most iconic TV detectives of all time. Peter Falk’s shabby, shambling yet brilliant detective delighted audiences for many years. Over the course of the 1990s and early 2000s, Columbo was only seen in specials, with the final one airing in 2003.
In that final episode, titled Columbo Likes the Nightlife, Columbo investigated the murder of a mob boss, with a rave promoter – and boyfriend of the mob boss’ ex-wife – the main suspect. Matthew played the rave promoter and, of course, was caught out by Columbo’s eagle eye, making him the last villain to be outsmarted by the detective.
He restored his own boat
Matthew owns and rents out a charter boat in New York City named Raebit. The boat is a Wheeler, which was originally built in about 1934. However, when he bought it in 2017, it was in a poor state of repair. But rather than sell it on, Matthew decided to restore it, which he did largely by himself, with advice from experienced shipwrights.
The name of the boat, Rarebit, is a reference to a Welsh delicacy, which consists of melted cheese served on toast.
