Rupert Penry-Jones

Rupert William Penry-Jones (born 22 September 1970) is a British actor, known for his performances as Adam Carter in Spooks, Clive Reader in Silk, DI Joseph Chandler in Whitechapel, and Mr Quinlan in the American horror series The Strain.

Rupert Penry-Jones
Penry-Jones in October 2006
Born
Rupert William Penry-Jones

(1970-09-22) 22 September 1970
London, England
OccupationActor
Years active1994–present
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2007)​
Children2
Parents

Early life

Penry-Jones was born in London, the son of Welsh actor Peter Penry-Jones and English actress Angela Thorne.[1] His brother, Laurence Penry-Jones, is an actor turned ambulance driver who is married to actress Polly Walker.[1]

On BBC One's Who Do You Think You Are?, broadcast in August 2010, it was revealed that Penry-Jones' maternal grandfather, William, had served with the Indian Army Medical Corps at the Battle of Monte Cassino and that his earlier ancestors had a long-standing connection with the Indian Army. Penry-Jones also discovered that he had Anglo-Indian ancestry from the early 19th century.[2]

Penry-Jones was educated at Dulwich College in Dulwich, London, until age 17 when he was enrolled at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.[3]

Career

In 1995, he appeared with his mother on television in Cold Comfort Farm.[4]

He made his London stage debut at the Hackney Empire theatre in 1995 playing Fortinbras to Ralph Fiennes's Hamlet in an Almeida production of Hamlet.

He was cast as Richard in the premiere staging of Stephen Poliakoff's Sweet Panic at Hampstead Theatre in 1996. The following year he appeared in both The Paper Husband at Hampstead Theatre and as the upper-class Pip Thompson in a revival of Arnold Wesker's Chips with Everything on the Lyttelton stage at the Royal National Theatre.

In 1998, he created the role of the Boy in Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby at the Almeida Theatre. In 1999, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, playing the title role in Don Carlos at The Other Place theatre and Alcibiades in Timon of Athens at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Both productions transferred to the Barbican Centre in London in 2000, where his performance as Don Carlos won the Ian Charleson Award.

At the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, in 2001 he was cast as Robert Caplan in J.B. Priestley's thriller "time-play" Dangerous Corner opposite Dervla Kirwan, who played Olwen Peel. The production then transferred for a four-month run at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End.

From July to October 2003 at the National's Cottesloe Theatre he played the leading role of Louis XIV in Nick Dear's historical drama Power.

He returned to the theatre at the end of 2009 playing the role of Carl in Michael Wynne's new play The Priory at the Royal Court Theatre, London, from 19 November 2009 to 16 January 2010.

On television, he has played barrister Alex Hay in C4's ten-part serial North Square in 2000; Donald Maclean in the BBC's four-part production of Cambridge Spies in 2003; and Grimani in Russell T. Davies' production of Casanova in 2005.

In 2004, he joined the cast in series 3 of the BBC's BAFTA-winning series Spooks. He played the lead role of section leader Adam Carter for four series before leaving the show in 2008. He won a ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for his role in Spooks in 2008.[5] He also went on to play the role of Captain Wentworth in ITV's adaptation of Persuasion.

In 2008, he starred with Bradley Whitford and Neve Campbell in Burn Up playing an oil executive who becomes embroiled in the politics surrounding global warming and oil stocks.

He played Richard Hannay in the BBC adaptation of The 39 Steps which was screened at Christmas 2008.

In February 2009, he took the lead in an ITV drama, Whitechapel, a three-part thriller based on the copycat killings of Jack the Ripper. Whitechapel was the highest-performing new drama in 2009.[6] A second series of the show based around the Kray twins was broadcast in autumn 2010; the third series began in January 2012. The fourth and last series aired in September 2013.

He was scheduled to appear alongside other celebrities in Soccer Aid 2010, but broke a bone in his knee during training, putting him in a plaster cast and ruling him out of the final match on 6 June 2010.

Penry-Jones was also cast opposite Maxine Peake in a legal drama Silk created by Peter Moffat. The show revolves around two barristers, played by Penry-Jones and Peake who are competing to become QCs. Series 2 aired in 2012 and Series 3 premiered on 24 February 2014.

He also joined the cast of the film A Little Chaos with Kate Winslet as Antoine. The film was directed by Alan Rickman.[7]

He recently finished filming the Stan/Playmaker Media's new series, The Commons, which will air in 2020.

In August 2020, the release of the first trailer for The Batman revealed that he had an as-yet unannounced role in the film,[8] later reported to be that of Gotham City Mayor Don Mitchell.[9]

Personal life

Penry-Jones married Irish actress Dervla Kirwan in August 2007, following a three-year engagement. They met in 2001 at a production of J. B. Priestley's Dangerous Corner.[1] They have two children.[10]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role
1994 Black Beauty Wild-Looking Young Man
1997 Bent Guard on road
Food of Love Head office staff
1998 The Tribe Dietrich
Hilary and Jackie Piers
Still Crazy Young Ray
1999 Virtual Sexuality Jake
2001 Charlotte Gray Peter Gregory
2002 The Four Feathers Tom Willoughby
A Family Man Tarquin
2005 Match Point Henry
2011 Manor Hunt Ball Laurence
2012 Red Tails Campbell
2014 A Little Chaos Antoine Nompar de Caumont
2017 Pegasus Bridge Richard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin
2018 Vita and Virginia Harold Nicolson
2020 Love Sarah Matthew
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears Jonathon Lofthouse
2022 The Batman Mayor Don Mitchell

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1994 Fatherland Hermann Jost
1995 Cold Comfort Farm Dick Hawk-Monitor
Absolutely Fabulous Boy at party 1 episode: "The End"
1996 Kavanagh QC Ralph Kinross 1 episode: "The Burning Deck"
Cold Lazarus Militiaman / Policeman 2 episodes
The Ring Gerhard von Gotthard
Faith in the Future Sam 2 episodes
1997 The Moth Stanley Thorman
Jane Eyre St. John Rivers
1998 The Student Prince The Prince
2000 North Square Alex Hay 10 episodes
2003 Cambridge Spies Donald Maclean 4 episodes
Agatha Christie's Poirot Roddy Winter 1 episode: "Sad Cypress"
2004–2008 Spooks Adam Carter 41 episodes
2005 Casanova Grimani 3 episodes
2006 Krakatoa: The Last Days Willem Beijerinck
2007 Persuasion Captain Wentworth
Joe's Palace Richard Reece
2008 Burn Up Tom 2 episodes
The 39 Steps Richard Hannay
2009–2013 Whitechapel Joseph Chandler 18 episodes
2011–2014 Silk Clive Reader 18 episodes
2012 Treasure Island Squire Trelawney 2 episodes
The Last Weekend Ollie
2014–2017 The Strain Mr. Quinlan 29 episodes
2015, 2017 Black Sails Thomas Hamilton 6 episodes
2015 Life in Squares Duncan Grant (older)
Crown for Christmas King Maximillian
2018 Stan Lee's Lucky Man Samuel Blake 8 episodes
2020 Wizards: Tales of Arcadia Lancelot 6 episodes
2021 The Drowning Mark Main role

References
  1. Jones, Alice (13 November 2009). "Rupert Penry-Jones: 'It's nice not to be chasing a bad guy'". The Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  2. "Who Do You Think You Are, Series 7, Rupert Penry-Jones".
  3. Red Magazine,2010
  4. "Casanova". Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  5. Allen, Katie (6 October 2008). "Rankin and P. D. James pick up ITV3 awards". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  6. "Most-watched TV shows of 2009". The Guardian. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  7. "A LITTLE CHAOS".
  8. "Keoghan, Jones Set For "The Batman"". Dark Horizons. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  9. "Robert Pattinson's The Batman: Set Video Reveals Gotham City Mayor Debate Footage". The Direct. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  10. McGrath, Nick (8 July 2012). "Dervla Kirwan: 'Who hasn't argued with their mother-in-law?'". The Daily Telegraph.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.