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John Rhys-Davies — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Career

Rhys-Davies appeared sporadically on UK television in the early 1970s, including his role as the gangster "Laughing Spam Fritter" opposite Adam Faith in Budgie. Later, Rhys-Davies played Praetorian officer Naevius Sutorius Macro in I, Claudius. He then began to appear more frequently, and not just in the UK, with roles as a Portuguese navigator Rodrigues in the 1980 television miniseries Shōgun, based on the novel by James Clavell.

In 1989, Rhys-Davies played Marvel Comics character Kingpin in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. He also starred in another Clavell adaption, Noble House, set in Hong Kong, where Rhys-Davies plays Ian Dunross' corporate enemy, Quillan Gornt. He has since appeared in numerous television shows and miniseries, including Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables as well as a leading role in the television series Sliders as Professor Maximillian Arturo from 1995 to 1997.

Rhys-Davies also appeared in Reilly, Ace of Spies in 1983, made several appearances in Star Trek: Voyager as a holodeck version of Leonardo da Vinci, starred as an ally of James Bond in The Living Daylights, and appeared in the film One Night with the King. Rhys-Davies has played the character Porthos in two separate projects; a two-part episode of The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, and the Hallmark Channel film La Femme Musketeer. He appears in the full-motion video cut scenes of computer games including Ripper (as Vigo Haman) (1996), Dune 2000 (as Noree Moneo) (1998), and the Wing Commander series (as James Taggart, doubling as the voice of Thrakhath nar Kiranka in the third game of the series).

In 2004, Rhys-Davies narrated The Privileged Planet, a documentary that makes the case for intelligent design. He also provided narration in the MTV series Wildboyz around this time. In 2013, Rhys-Davies appeared in the family history programme Coming Home, in which he discovered information about his grandfather's life in the Carmarthenshire coal mines.

In 2014, Rhys-Davies joined the cast of the television show Métal Hurlant Chronicles to play Holgarth, an immortal alchemist. In October 2015, it was announced that he had a role in the single-player module Squadron 42, of the planned PC game franchise Star Citizen; the work consisted of full body motion capture, including facial expressions and his voice. In October 2024, with Squadron 42 in its 10th year of development, the developer suggested that it might be released in 2026.

Voice work

In addition to voicing the Ent Treebeard in Lord of the Rings, Rhys-Davies has lent his distinctive voice to many video games and animated television series, including the role of Hades in Justice League, the original voice of Man Ray in SpongeBob SquarePants (until both roles were recast with Bob Joles), and numerous times in Gargoyles (1994–1996), as the character Macbeth. He also lent his vocal talents to the games Freelancer (as Richard Winston Tobias) and Lords of Everquest (both in 2003) and the game Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, which was released with his narration on a CD-ROM version in 1995. Rhys-Davies also had a voice role on Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance as the character Jherek, and narrated a documentary called The Glory of Macedonia. Next Generation magazine gave its Dune 2000 review "an automatic one-star deduction for featuring John "Multimedia Whore" Rhys-Davies in the FMV."

Rhys-Davies' voice can be heard on the 2009 documentary Reclaiming the Blade. In the narration, he explores swords, historical European swordsmanship and fight choreography on film, a topic very familiar to Rhys-Davies from his experiences in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where his character wielded an axe in many scenes.

In 2004, Rhys-Davies was the unknowing subject of an internet prank that spread false rumours in several mainstream media sources that he was scheduled to play the role of General Grievous in Star Wars Episode III.

Rhys-Davies is the narrator of The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament Bible, a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully dramatised audiobook version of the New Testament which uses the Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition translation. In 2011, he presented KJB: The Book That Changed The World, which features Rhys-Davies reading diverse snippets from the King James Version.

Rhys-Davies' voice work also includes voice-over work with Breathe Bible. In 2016, he provided spoken words for Voices of Fire, the sixth album by a cappella power metal band van Canto.

A resident of the Isle of Man since 1988, John Rhys-Davies provides the introductory voice-over to the Island's Castle Rushen, one of the best-preserved medieval fortresses in the British Isles. In 2018, he lent his voice to the Isle of Man's tourism commercial.

Rhys-Davies voice was recorded for some of the callouts in the 1993 Williams SuperPin Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure.

In the 2023 video game The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, Rhys-Davies reprises the role of Gimli and narrates the opening scene.