Jonathan Pryce

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Date of Birth : Jun 1st 1947

Jonathan Pryce is a Welsh actor who was born in Holywell, Flintshire, Wales.

Pryce worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Everyman Theatre Liverpool during the 1970s. He appeared at the concert to launch the National Assembly for Wales, reciting poetry by Dafydd ap Gwilym. In 1980, he appeared as Ken in Breaking Glass, and had a small but pivotal role in the 12th episode of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio series, one that he reprised for the Quintessential Phase which was broadcast in 2005.

Having appeared on TV in the title role in Martin Luther, Heretic and in the Ian McEwan-scripted film The Ploughman’s Lunch (both 1983), Pryce played the subdued protagonist Sam Lowry in Terry Gilliam’s 1985 film, Brazil. Brazil won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association 1985 awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, as well as Academy Awards in 1986 for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Pryce has a good relationship with the film’s director, Terry Gilliam, later being cast by him in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), and The Brothers Grimm (2005).

Although Pryce had played the role in the original West End production, there was some controversy when he was selected to play The Engineer in the original Broadway production of Miss Saigon, a role that certain activists said should have gone to an Asian, as the character is part Asian. He, eventually, did perform the role and won a Tony Award. Pryce also gave a noteworthy performance as the successful but self-doubting writer Trigorin in a London production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull in late 1985.