Rufus Sewell

Rufus Frederik Sewell^[1] was born on 29 October 1967,^[2] the son of Jo, a Welsh artist and classically trained pianist.^[3] His father, William John Frederick Sewell (1924–1978), was born in Australia to British parents and worked as an animator on the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" segment of animation for the Beatles' Yellow Submarine film.^[4][5][6] His parents divorced when Sewell was five and his father died when he was 10.^[7][8] Sewell's mother subsequently lived at The Pelican, Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, formerly home to the parents of the Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas.^[3][9] Sewell has said that he was a difficult teenager.^[7]

Sewell went on to attend Orleans Park School,^[10] a state comprehensive school in Twickenham, which he left in 1984. This was followed by enrolling at West Thames College, where a drama teacher sent him to audition for drama school. He later matriculated to the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.^[11]

Sewell's breakthrough year was 1993, in which he starred as the unpleasant Tim in Michael Winner's film Dirty Weekend. Winner chose him after seeing him in a play at the Criterion Theatre.^[12]

Sewell is known for his villainous roles, such as those in A Knight's Tale, The Legend of Zorro, Bless the Child, Helen of Troy and The Illusionist. He spoke of his unhappiness about this, saying that "[I] don't want to play a baddie again."^[13][14]

He co-starred in the controversial film Downloading Nancy, which was released on 5 June 2009.^[15] At the Sundance Film Festival in 2008, audiences walked out of the screening. Despite the controversy, Sewell continues to staunchly support the film. "It's a film I'm very proud of, whether you consider that it fails or succeeds, whether you like it or don't like it. I'm proud to be in it."^[14]

Between 2006 and 2009, on BBC Radio, Sewell read Russell Thorndike's stories of Doctor Syn—the adventures of an 18th-century clergyman, adventurer, smuggler and pirate.^[16] He played Petruchio in the BBC's 2005 version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, a modern retelling of the story which earned him a Best Actor nomination at the 2006 BAFTA Television Awards. This was the fourth time that Sewell had acted in a Shakespeare play since becoming a professional actor: he previously portrayed Hotspur in Henry IV, Part 1 in 1995, Fortinbras in Hamlet in 1996 and the title role in Macbeth in 1999.^[17] He appeared in the premiere and first run of Tom Stoppard's play Rock 'n' Roll at the Royal Court Theatre from June to July 2006 and at the Duke of York's Theatre from July until November 2006.^[18]

He has recorded eleven of Ian Fleming's James Bond books on 36 CDs for Collins. He continues to work in film, television and theatre, playing the lead role of Dr. Jacob Hood in the CBS TV series Eleventh Hour.^[19] He finished filming in November 2009 for the miniseries The Pillars of the Earth, which was shown on TV in 2010.^[20]

In 2010 he played the Italian detective Aurelio Zen, based on the best-selling novels by Michael Dibdin, for the BBC One drama series Zen. The three episodes were filmed in Rome and shown on BBC One in early January 2011. The series was cancelled by the BBC after just one season.^[21] He also had a small part in the film The Tourist, which also starred Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp and was released in cinemas in 2010.^[22] He played the lead vampire, Adam, in the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,^[23] which was filmed in New Orleans and released in June 2012.^[24]

Sewell played the role of Ethics Man in Darkside, Tom Stoppard's 2013 radio drama based on Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon.^[25] Sewell co-starred with Dwayne Johnson, as Autolycus, in the film Hercules, which was released in July 2014.^[26] In 2015, Sewell voiced the role of Sir Claude, a feral cat, in Blinky Bill the Movie. Sewell has most recently appeared as high-ranking American-turned-Nazi official John Smith in The Man in the High Castle,^[27] and as Lord Melbourne in Victoria.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2023, it was announced that Sewell had been cast as Prince Andrew, Duke of York in Scoop, a Netflix drama about Andrew's 2019 Newsnight interview, co-starring Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis, Billie Piper, and Keeley Hawes.^[28]

Sewell has been married three times. His first wife was his long-term girlfriend,^[7] the Australian fashion journalist Yasmin Abdallah; they were married in 1999 and divorced in 2000.^[29] He married his second wife, the scriptwriter and producer Amy Gardner, in 2004^[7] and divorced in 2006.^[30] They have a son. Rufus Sewell also has a daughter with Ami Komai.^[31][32] In July 2024 he married Vivian Benitez, an American actress, 29 years his junior.^[33][34]

• List of British actors