Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of characters such as Spike in Notting Hill, Jed Parry in Enduring Love and Eyeball Paul in Kevin & Perry Go Large. He is also known as a member of the rock groups Super Furry Animals and The Peth. Ifans also appeared as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and as Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man. He...
NationalityWelsh
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth22 July 1967
CityHaverfordwest, England
The older I get, I'm really reminded how important the arts are to our wellbeing as a society.
We're in an age of enlightenment, and we have a choice as a society which path to take.
When I'm not filming, I do rock n' roll; when I'm not doing rock n' roll, I do filming.
I think that all great art never strives to answer any questions; it just asks the appropriate ones at the appropriate time.
I think that Liverpool's particular modern history lends itself to the cinema better than London in many ways. When you go to Liverpool, you absorb that whole sound and humour.
I went to the Guilford School of Music and Drama, which was affiliated with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I was lucky enough to be taught by a beautiful, wonderful teacher called Patsy Rodenberg, who works a lot with the Royal Shakespeare Company as a voice coach and technician.
I think Liverpool generates generosity which rubs off - it's a good place to work and to party.
Spider-Man is a school boy that's looking for his parents.
Well, I need to be frightened on a regular basis.
You know you are in a good film when it affects the audience.
I'm a factory-floor actor: I learn the lines, I get there on time.
I've done a lot of Shakespeare onstage, and I'm not convinced that the Earl of Oxford was the author of all those works, but I am convinced that the Stratfordian William Shakespeare was not. My feeling is that it was an amalgamation of many writers, in the same way that most films are a collaborative endeavor.
Edward Curtis was a photographer in the late 19th century who tried to document the rapidly disappearing Native Americans. He assembled a canon of work which, today, is exemplary and invaluable.
When I was taught Shakespeare in school, it was such an alien, sanitized puzzle, it made no sense.