Rupert Penry-Jones

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

(1970-09-22) 22 September 1970 (age 53)
London, England
OccupationActor
Years active1994–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2007)​
Children2
Parents

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.

Early life[edit]

Penry-Jones was born in London on 22 September 1970, the son of Welsh actor Peter Penry-Jones and English actress Angela Thorne.[1][2] His brother, Laurence Penry-Jones (born in London, 1977), 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.[2] Penry-Jones also discovered that he had Indian ancestry from the early 19th century.[3]

Penry-Jones was educated at Dulwich College in Dulwich, London, until the age of 19 when he was enrolled at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.[4][5] He was thrown out of Bristol Old Vic "for having a bad attitude".[6]

Career[edit]

In 1995, Penry-Jones appeared with his mother on television in Cold Comfort Farm.[7]

Penry-Jones 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.[8] He was cast as Richard in the premiere staging of Stephen Poliakoff's Sweet Panic at Hampstead Theatre in 1996.[9] The following year he appeared in both The Paper Husband at Hampstead Theatre,[9] 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.[9]

In 1998, he created the role of the Boy in Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby at the Almeida Theatre.[9] In 1999, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon,[8] playing the title role in Don Carlos at The Other Place theatre,[9] and Alcibiades in Timon of Athens at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.[9] Both productions transferred to the Barbican Centre in London,[8] where his performance as Don Carlos won the 1999 Ian Charleson Award.[10]

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 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.[8] The production then transferred for a four-month run at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End.[8] 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. Penry-Jones 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.[8]

On television, Penry-Jones has played barrister Alex Hay in C4's ten-part serial North Square in 2000;[9] Donald Maclean in the BBC's four-part production of Cambridge Spies in 2003;[9] and Grimani in Russell T. Davies' production of Casanova in 2005.[9] In 2004, he joined the cast in series 3 of the BBC's BAFTA-winning series Spooks.[9] 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.[11] He also went on to play the role of Captain Wentworth in ITV's adaptation of Persuasion.[9]

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.[9] He played Richard Hannay in the BBC adaptation of The 39 Steps.[9]

In February 2009, Penry-Jones took the lead in an ITV drama, Whitechapel,[9] a three-part thriller based on the copycat killings of Jack the Ripper. Whitechapel was the highest-performing new drama in 2009.[12] 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.

From 2012-2014, 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.[13]

From 2014–2017, he joined the cast of Guillermo del Toro's The Strain, playing a main role as Mr.Quinlan, a vampire-human hybrid (on the side of humans), intent on killing his father... The Master.[14] Playing Mr.Quinlan involved wearing prosthetics and a lot of make-up, for 29 episodes over 3 seasons, something Penry-Jones admitted he would not consider again in television.[14]

In 2020, the release of the first trailer for The Batman revealed that he had an as-yet unannounced role in the film,[15] later reported to be that of Gotham City Mayor Don Mitchell, Jr.[16]

In 2022, Penry-Jones starred as Mike/Toby in ITV 1's drama Our House alongside Martin Compston and Tuppence Middleton.[17][18]

Personal life[edit]

Penry-Jones married Irish actress Dervla Kirwan in August 2007, following a four year engagement. They had met in 2001 at a production of J. B. Priestley's Dangerous Corner.[1] They have two children.[19]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
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 Getting to know you Luke Manning
Love Sarah Matthew
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears Jonathon Lofthouse
2022 The Batman Mayor Don Mitchell, Jr.
TBA Prisoner of Paradise TBA

Television[edit]

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 (voice) 6 episodes
2021 The Drowning Mark Main role
2024 Those About to Die Marsus Upcoming series

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b Hayward, Anthony (20 June 2023). "Angela Thorne obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  3. ^ "BBC One - Who Do You Think You Are?, Series 7, Rupert Penry-Jones". BBC. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Time & Place: For life's big moments". 16 May 2023 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  5. ^ "Rupert Penry-Jones". Tes.
  6. ^ "Rupert Penry Jones: 'I get prejudged for being posh'". 16 May 2023 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  7. ^ "Casanova". PBS. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Rupert Penry-Jones". theatricalia.com. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Rupert Penry-Jones". royalcourttheatre.com. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Winners and Nominations of the Ian Charleson Awards 1999". westendtheatre.com. 2000. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "Most-watched TV shows of 2009". The Guardian. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  13. ^ "CBD Oil and Cannabis News & Magazine". Candid.
  14. ^ a b Radish, Christina (23 July 2017). "Rupert Penry-Jones on 'The Strain' Season 4 and Quinlan's Role in the Final Episodes". collider.com.
  15. ^ "Keoghan, Jones Set For "The Batman"". Dark Horizons. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  16. ^ "Robert Pattinson's The Batman: Set Video Reveals Gotham City Mayor Debate Footage". The Direct. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  17. ^ Hibbs, James (8 March 2022). "Meet the cast of new ITV thriller Our House". Radio Times. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  18. ^ Midley, Carol (10 March 2022). "My Brilliant Friend review — gorgeously acted . . . shame about the book". The Times. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  19. ^ McGrath, Nick (8 July 2012). "Dervla Kirwan: 'Who hasn't argued with their mother-in-law?'". The Daily Telegraph.

External links[edit]

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