Jonathan Rhys Meyers is an irish actor who, even though he's been on some big movies, is still waiting for his break-through. He usually plays villains and has exceptionally expressive eyes. His good androginous looks help too.

Jonathan was born July 27, 1977, in Dublin, Ireland. He was born with a heart condition and his family feared he would not survive. After several months on the hospital, he finally got out of danger and grew up as a healthy child.

His family moved to Cork when he was a toddler and grew up there. After a troubled childhood following his parents' divorce, Jonathan was expelled of school at the age of 16. Having nothing better to do, he used to hang around Cork pool hall and was finally discovered by Hubbard Casting there.

They were looking for young talents for the David Puttnam production of 'The War of the Buttons'. After days of auditions, Jonathan lost the part to Gregg Fitzgerald. Even though he was very discouraged at the time, soon after he was hired to do a Knorr soup commercial. This drove him to find his first real acting job, on the movie 'A Man of No Importance'.

His next role was much more significant: he got the lead part on "The Disappearance of Finbar". This lead him to the role of the assassin on "Michael Collins", the irish saga by Neil Jordan.

After that, he got several roles in small independent movies, like "The Killer Tongue", and TV movies, like "Samson and Delilah". He was partnered with Matthew Modine in "The Maker", which made its debut on HBO in 1997. He also worked with Brad Renfro in "Telling Lies in America". In 1998, he got a part in "The Governess", as the young man who falls in love with Minnie Driver.

The next movie he was in granted him lots of praise and fans: Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine. Jonathan plays the lead glam rock star, Brian Slade. The movie explored his androginy and his beauty, also highlighting his acting talents. He was partnered with Ewan McGregor (as his lover, Curt Wild), Toni Collette (as his wife, Mandy Slade) and Christian Bale (as the journalist who uncovers it all, Arthur Stuart). Jonathan also sang for the movie and his perfomance can be found at the soundtrack.

He's been in several films since then, including Mike Figgis' "The Loss of Sexual Innocence", Michael Radford's "B. Monkey", Ang Lee's "Ride With the Devil" and Julie Taymor's "Titus", where acts side by side with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange.

According to IMDB, Jonathan's filmography is:

- A Man of No Importance (1994)
- The Killer Tongue (1996)
- The Disappearance of Finbar (1996)
- Samson and Delilah (1996)
- Telling Lies in America (1997)
- The Maker (1997)
- The Tribe (1998)
- Velvet Goldmine (1998)
- The Governess (1998)
- B. Monkey (1998)
- The Loss of Sexual Innocence (1999)
- Ride with the Devil (1999)
- Titus (1999)
- Gormenghast (2000)
- Happy Now (2001)
- Prozac Nation (2001)
- The Magnificent Ambersons (2002)
- Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
- Tangled (2002)
- The Emperor's Wife (2003)
- Octane (2003)
- I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003)

Sources:
http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/bio/celeb/1677555
http://www.geocities.com/jonathanrhysmeyersonline/bio.html
http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Rhys-Meyers,%20Jonathan

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