Actor Spotlight: Jonathan Rhys Meyers

For me personally, one of the most exciting castings turned out to be that of Valentine Morgenstern.  I am a HUGE fan of Jonathan Rhys Meyers (JRM).  Some how I never ever pictured him as Valentine, but when I heard that he was cast it all made sense!

If you are not familiar with JRM, let me introduce you, my friends.

First, let's get to know JRM.

• Born July 27, 1977, our Valentine is currently 35 year old.
• Born in Dublin, Ireland and raised in the small town of County Cork, Ireland. 
• Birth name: Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keefe. He took his mother's maiden name of Meyers when he began acting (though in a search of his career you will find several early variations of his name).
• Rhys is pronounced "Reece"
• He began acting in 1994.  In 2004 he found he was being typecast as androgynous or as a junkie and decided to "beef up" and gained 25 lbs in order to be considered for more masculine roles.
• His thoughts on being an actor:

  "To get up in front of a camera of course you have to have a certain amount of vanity. All acting is narcissism in some way. Would I be a narcissistic person? Absolutely. Am I vain? Absolutely. Any actor who sits down in front of you and tells you they're not vain its bullshit. I'm sure a lot of actors are like 'Oh no, I'm not vain I just look fabulous everyday'. Now they'd like to believe that themselves. Its all very carefully manipulated, and I've met and worked with some of the most beautiful actors in the world and then you see them on a cover of a magazine they don't look like that, any of them, they just don't."  

  Bio information gathered here, at imdb.com 

Where you might have seen him before:

JRM's imdb.com page shows an extensive acting career of 40 projects, but these are the ones you might know.

-Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Joe
-Vanity Fair (2004) George Osborn

-Elvis (2005 TV move) Elvis Presley
(for which he won a Golden Globe for his performance)

-August Rush (2005) Louis Connelly

-The Tudors (TV series 2007-2010) King Henry VIII


He is definitely most well known at this point for his role as Henry VIII.  He is really incredible in The Tudors. If you haven't seen it (and you are of an age to watch mature TV) I certainly encourage you to go watch it!  It is currently available as streaming and on DVD on Netflix. (His English accent is so great you forget he is Irish lol)

 And along with taking on the role of Valentine,  he will also be starring in a new (yet to be filmed) Dracula series on NBC.

On his career:

"When somebody looks at the body of work that I've done and they put Bend It like Beckham, Match Point, August Rush, The Tudor's and Elvis next to each other they can see very many different layers of what I can do as an actor. That's why I do different roles so people can see your range."

So, why do I think he's so special?

"It's not about money, fame, people knowing you. It's not even about enjoying yourself and being happy. It's about achieving something that's brilliant, creating something that's brilliant, for other people. For yourself, you're always going to be unsatisfied, but if somebody comes up to me and says, 'That was a brilliant part, and I really, really got it'. That's essentially it."

I'll admit, most of my opinion on JRM as Valentine comes from his time on The Tudors, which I think is good because you get a good look at his skills over time. Most importantly is though he is king, and others bow to his will, as Henry VIII you see that charming, enigmatic side of him.  I think he will perfectly embody that magnetism of Valentine, as well as the dangerous, sort of mad side.

I must mention, I have a wide range of friends who have read TMI series, and while they have varied opinions on casting thus far, they have ALL agreed JRM is the perfect choice we never considered.

Plus, people love to mention JRM's crazy eyes lol

I'd love to hear your thoughts! What do you think about JRM as Valentine? What is your favorite thing he has been in? Are you excited like me?!