Film

His next film role was in Franklin J. Schaffner's Lionheart. After a brief spell at the Royal Shakespeare Company he played opposite Colin Firth in Richard Eyre's award-winning film Tumbledown. Soon after this, he appeared in Vincent & Theo, directed by the legendary American film director Robert Altman, as Vincent van Gogh's younger brother Theo van Gogh. Continuing the theme of famous brothers, Paul then played Sydney Chaplin opposite Robert Downey, Jr.'s Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough's Chaplin. He went on to play Massis in Alan Bennett's 102 Boulevard Haussmann. He then appeared opposite Peter O'Toole in Rebecca's Daughters. A series of films then followed including From Hell, Food of Love, Love Lies Bleeding, Becoming Colette and Hellraiser: Deader. He appears as Talleyrand in Ridley Scott's 2023 epic Napoleon and as Duncan in Emerald Fennell's Saltburn.

Television

Running parallel to Rhys's film work has been a diverse and notable television career, working in leading roles with directors such as Mike Hodges, Stephen Frears, Sir Richard Eyre, Philip Martin, Christopher Morahan, Tom Vaughan, Edward Hall, Harry Bradbeer in productions including Tumbledown, A Dance to the Music of Time, The Heroes, Ghosts, Gallowglass, The Healer, Anna Karenina, The Deal, Beethoven, The Ten Commandments, Borgia, Luther, and Spooks.

In 2008 Rhys appeared in the series "Agatha Christie's Poirot". In 2014, he played the lead as traitor Aldrich Ames, in The Assets miniseries, then as King George III in Turn: Washington's Spies and as Sir John Conroy in Victoria. He has made a minor industry out of playing vampires: Being Human (as Ivan);^[3] as Vlad, the Prince of Wallachia aka Dracula in seasons 1–3 of the 2015 series Da Vinci's Demons; and as Andrew Hubbard in two seasons of the 2020–2021 hit, A Discovery of Witches. In 2023, he appears as Tommy in the BBC film, Men Up.

Theatre

Rhys’ early stage work included performances at Glasgow Citizen’s Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Riverside Studios, Compass Theatre, and Young Vic. His first appearance at the Royal National Theatre was opposite Ian McKellen in Bent,^[4] subsequently playing Angelo in Simon McBurney's Measure for Measure for which he won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award; Housman in The Invention of Love; and Edgar in King Lear, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He appeared as Edmund in Long Day's Journey into Night and as Leo in Design for Living at The Donmar Warehouse, performing opposite Rachel Weisz and Clive Owen. In 2000 he played the title role in Hamlet at the Young Vic and later in Tokyo and Osaka. He received several awards for this performance.^[5] Rhys continued his collaboration with Simon McBurney in Vanishing Points, The Dark is Rising, and The Master in Master and Margarita. The show opened at the Barbican in 2010 and continued on international tour, returning to the Barbican for a second sell-out season in 2012.^[6][7] In 2016, he starred in a new version of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya by Robert Icke at The Almeida Theatre alongside Tobias Menzies, Jessica Brown-Findlay and Vanessa Kirby.

Real-life characters played by Rhys have included Vlad Tepes, Ludwig van Beethoven,^[8] Peter Mandelson,^[9] Paul McCartney, Thomas De Quincey, A. E. Housman, Frédéric Chopin, Marcus Tullius Cicero and Charles Talleyrand.

On two occasions, Rhys was taken to hospital while working on a stage production, once with pneumonia and the other with exhaustion.^[10] In the title role in Howard Brenton's play Paul at the Royal National Theatre, he was unable to continue as he had lost an unhealthy amount of weight, dropping from 76 to 57 kilograms (168 to 126 lb).

Radio

Rhys has acted in over one hundred BBC Radio dramas. His roles include: Simon Templar in Leslie Charteris' The Saint (1995),^[11] Prince Myshkin in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot (2002),^[12] Charles Lamb in Carlo Gébler's Charles and Mary (2011),^[13] and Jacques Futrelle's Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen in The Rivals (2011–2013).^[14]

Film

Television

Theatre