John Rhys-Davies

John Rhys-Davies was born on 5 May 1944 in Ammanford Wales, UK. He is a well-known Welsh actor. His mother, Mary Margareta Phyllis was a nurse and father, Rhys Davies was a mechanical engineer and Colonial Officer. He was married to Suzanne A. D. Wilkinson, a translator in December 1966, but separated in the 1980s.

He didn't divorce her, but later she died suffering from Alzheimer's in August 2010. John was very close to her during her last days. They have two sons, Tom, and Ben. Since 2004, he is living with Lisa Manning and has a daughter named Maia. He completed his graduation from the University of East Anglia. Rhys-Davies was brought up in England as well as in Africa. This inhibited in him the passion for literature, acting and writing.

He later expertise his skills at Royal Academic of Dramatic Arts and is an Associate Member. He rose to fame by delivering excellent acting in the movies "Raiders of the Lost Ark" for playing Sallah, an Egyptian in 1981 and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" in 1989. He says that he still meet youngsters who claim to study Archaeology after seeing his movie. John has played leads in the "King Solomon's Mines" in 1985, "The Living Daylights" in 1987 and "Victor/Victoria" in 1982. He was a sensation of new-generation amongst the teenagers through the movie series of "The Lord of the Rings”:

Fellowship of Ring in 2001, The Two Towers in 2002 and The Return of the King in 2003. He earned appreciation for the dwarf "Gimli" In the series. While getting ready for the role of "Gimli", he spent 5 hours per day putting makeup. He was allergic to the heavy makeup, and it would burn the skin under his eyes. He played a dwarf even though he was the tallest among all the co-stars: Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and Ian.

A gel finger was glued to his finger as he lost the tip of his middle finger of the left hand while changing a van engine. He used to play many pranks on his co-stars and was known to be very jolly and humorous on the sets. The cast of the series won many awards for the Best Ensemble Cast, which depicted their bravery and perseverance. All his co-stars of the series, except Rhys-Davies, got inked as a memento of the movie experience.

He sent his body double - Brett Beattie, a martial artist who performed the majority of the Gimli sequences. A body double was used to make John look much shorter since Gimli's character was supposed to be around 4 feet, but John was 6' 1.” He even lost seventy pounds from all the hustle and bustle during the shoots. Not only in movies, but he also excelled in television.

Some of his great TV works include "Shogun" in 1980, "Noble House" and "War and Remembrance" in 1988, " Great Expectations Click to look into! >> Read More... " in 1989, War and "Archaeology" in 1991. He was the narrator in “Sword Saint”, which depicts the legends of Takezo Kensei. In the movie “ Star Trek Click to look into! >> Read More... ”, he appeared as Leonardo da Vinci’s hologram. Rhys-Davies loves collecting vintage automobiles. He has his own property in New Zealand and lives there. He also says that he loves spending most of his time on the Isle of Man. He also played theatrical roles in "The Misanthrope", "Hedda Gabler" and several Shakespeare's works.

John Rhys-Davies has a good deep voice and has given voice to many television, video games, animations, and films. He voiced for computer-animated character Treebeard in Lord of the Rings. He is a supporter of the British Conservative Party. He attended the Armageddon Sci-Fi and Comics Convention in Auckland, NZ in April 2004 as the Lord of Rings guest. His four movies made with Kiran Shah Kiran Shah is a known actor and stunt double of In >> Read More... : "Raiders of the Lost Ark"," The Fellowship of the Ring", “The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" were nominated for the Best Picture Oscars, while only the latter one won the Oscar.

He was recently in headlines for rendering his voice against Islamic extremism stating that they pose a threat to "Western society values" of democracy and equality and the true teachings of Islam. He knew that making such anti-Muslim remarks could end his career.

He is firmly against the racial discrimination and supports racial equality. Immediately after this the Islamic leaders in Wales demanded an apology from John Rhys-Davies. Movies like "Golden Shoes", "Beyond the Mask" and the television series "The Shannara Chronicles" were in his bucket-list in 2015. Till 2015, he has delivered his best performances and talents through various characters in about 239 projects.