Rupert Penry-Jones
Encyclopedia
Rupert William Penry-Jones (born 1970) is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, best known for his role as Adam Carter
Adam Carter
Adam Henry Carter is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. He is portrayed by British actor Rupert Penry-Jones...

 in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television series Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...

, also broadcast under the title MI-5.

Family life

Penry-Jones was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on September 22, 1970 . His father was Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

 actor Peter Penry-Jones
Peter Penry-Jones
Peter David Penry-Jones was a Welsh actor.-Career:His television credits include: Colditz, The Professionals, To the Manor Born, Bergerac, Howards' Way, Kavanagh QC and Midsomer Murders...

, his mother is actress Angela Thorne
Angela Thorne
Angela Thorne is an English actress who is best known for her roles in To the Manor Born and Anyone for Denis?-Early life:Angela Thorne was born in Karachi, British India, , in 1939...

 and his brother Laurence Penry-Jones is also an actor.

He was educated at Dulwich College
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...

 in south-east London.

In 1995 he appeared with his mother on television in Cold Comfort Farm.

Career

Penry-Jones trained for the stage at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence Olivier in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the Faculty of Creative Arts of the University of the...

. He made his London stage debut at the Hackney Empire
Hackney Empire
The Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney, built in 1901 as a music hall.-History:Hackney Empire is a grade II* listed building...

 in 1995 playing Fortinbras to Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

's Hamlet in an Almeida
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...

 production of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

.

He was cast as Richard in the premiere staging of Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff, CBE, FRSL is an acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter, widely judged amongst Britain's foremost television dramatists.-Early life and career:...

's Sweet Panic at Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...

 in 1996. The following year he appeared in both The Paper Husband at Hampstead Theatre and as the upper-class Pip Thompson in a prestigious revival of Arnold Wesker
Arnold Wesker
Sir Arnold Wesker is a prolific British dramatist known for his contributions to kitchen sink drama. He is the author of 42 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays, a book on journalism, a children's book, extensive journalism, poetry and other assorted writings...

's Chips With Everything on the Lyttelton stage at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

.

In 1998 he created the role of The Boy in Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...

's The Play About the Baby
The Play About the Baby
The Play About the Baby is a play by Edward Albee. It was first performed in 1998 by the Almeida Theatre Company in Malvern, Worcestershire, directed by Howard Davies. The American premiere was off-Broadway in 2001, by Alley Theatre at the Century Center for the Performing Arts, directed by David...

at the Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...

. In 1999 he joined the RSC
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

 at Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...

, playing the title role in Don Carlos
Don Carlos (play)
Don Carlos is a historical tragedy in five acts by Friedrich Schiller; it was written between 1783 and 1787 and first produced in Hamburg in 1787...

at The Other Place and Alcibiades in Timon of Athens
Timon of Athens
The Life of Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare about the fortunes of an Athenian named Timon , generally regarded as one of his most obscure and difficult works...

at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the British playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon - Shakespeare's birthplace - in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon...

. Both productions transferred to the Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...

 in 2000, where his performance as Don Carlos won the Ian Charleson Award.

At the West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse
The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England is a theatre which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill area of the city...

, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

 in 2001 he was cast as Robert Caplan in J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley, OM , known as J. B. Priestley, was an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He published 26 novels, notably The Good Companions , as well as numerous dramas such as An Inspector Calls...

's thriller "time-play" Dangerous Corner
Dangerous Corner
Dangerous Corner was the first play by the English writer J. B. Priestley. It was premiered in May 1932 by Tyrone Guthrie at the Lyric Theatre, London, and filmed in 1934 by Phil Rosen....

opposite Dervla Kirwan, who played Olwen Peel. The production then successfully transferred for a four-month run at the Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre
The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...

 in London's West End.

From July to October 2003 at the National's Cottesloe Theatre he played the leading role of Louis XIV in Nick Dear
Nick Dear
Nick Dear is a writer for stage, screen and radio. He received a BAFTA for his first screenwriting credit, a TV adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion....

's historical drama Power.

He returned to the theatre at the end of 2009 playing the role of Carl in Michael Wynne's new play The Priory
The Priory (play)
The Priory is a play by Michael Wynne that opened at the downstairs theatre of the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2009. The production starred Jessica Hynes, Rupert Penry-Jones, Charlotte Riley, Alastair Mackenzie, Joseph Millson and Rachael Stirling. After receiving good reviews, its run was...

at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

, London, from 19 November 2009 to 16 January 2010.

On television, he has played barrister Alex Hay in C4's 10 part serial North Square
North Square
North Square is an award-winning British television drama series written by Peter Moffat and broadcast by Channel 4 at the end of 2000. Starring an ensemble cast including Phil Davis, Rupert Penry-Jones, Helen McCrory and Kevin McKidd, the programme is set around the practice of a Leeds Legal...

 in 2000, Donald McLean in the BBC's 4-part production of Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies is a 2003 four-part BBC television drama concerning the lives of the best-known quartet of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies from 1934 to the 1951 defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to the Soviet Union...

 in 2003 and Grimani in Russell T Davies' production of Casanova in 2005.

In 2004, he joined the cast in series 3 of the BBC's BAFTA-winning series Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...

. He played the lead role of section leader, Adam Carter
Adam Carter
Adam Henry Carter is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. He is portrayed by British actor Rupert Penry-Jones...

 for 4 series before leaving the show in 2008. He won ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards for his role in Spooks in 2008. He also went on to play the role of Captain Wentworth in ITV's adaptation of Persuasion
Persuasion (2007 TV drama)
Persuasion is an adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel of the same name published in 1818. The TV-film premiered on 1 April 2007 on the UK channel ITV at 9pm, as part of their Jane Austen Season...

.

In 2008, he starred with Bradley Whitford
Bradley Whitford
Bradley Whitford is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles as Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the NBC television drama The West Wing, as Danny Tripp on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, as Dan Stark in the Fox police buddy-comedy The Good Guys, as...

 and Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...

 in Burn Up playing an oil executive who becomes embroiled in the politics surrounding global warming and oil stocks.

He played Richard Hannay in the BBC adaptation of The 39 Steps
The 39 Steps (2008 film)
The 39 Steps is a 2008 British television feature-length adaptation of the John Buchan novel The Thirty-Nine Steps produced by the BBC. The adaptation is set on the eve of World War I, and sees mining engineer Richard Hannay caught up in a conspiracy following the death of a British spy in his...

which was screened at Christmas 2008.

In 2009, he was cast as the lead in the unaired ABC pilot The Forgotten
The Forgotten (TV series)
The Forgotten is a television series which premiered on September 22, 2009 on ABC. On November 9, 2009, ABC ordered five additional episodes of the series, bringing the first season's total to eighteen episodes...

but his role in the series was taken by Christian Slater
Christian Slater
Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor. He made his film debut with a small role in The Postman Always Rings Twice before playing a leading role in the 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean...

.

In February 2009, he took the lead in an ITV drama, Whitechapel
Whitechapel (TV series)
Whitechapel is a three-part British television drama series produced by Carnival Films, which first broadcast in the UK on 2 February 2009 and which dealt with the murders of Jack the Ripper....

, a three-part thriller based on a the copycat killings of Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...

. Whitechapel was the highest performing new drama in 2009. A second series of the show based around the Kray twins
Kray twins
Reginald "Reggie" Kray and his twin brother Ronald "Ronnie" Kray were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s...

 was broadcast in autumn 2010.

He was scheduled to appear alongside other celebrities in Soccer Aid 2010, but broke a bone in his knee during training, putting him in a plaster cast and ruling him out of the final match on 6 June 2010.

Rupert has been cast opposite Maxine Peake in a legal drama by Peter Moffat titled Silk
Silk (TV series)
Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2011. Written by Peter Moffat, the series follows a set of barristers, and what they do to attain the rank of Queen's Counsel, known as 'taking silk'.-Origin:...

. It revolves around two barristers, played by Penry-Jones and Peake who are competing to become QCs.

Rupert has also joined the cast of the film Manor Hunt Ball. Filming will commence in late 2010/early 2011.

Personal life

He married actress Dervla Kirwan
Dervla Kirwan
Dervla Kirwan is an Irish actress famous for roles in British television shows such as Ballykissangel and Goodnight Sweetheart...

 in August 2007 after a three-year engagement. He and Kirwan met in a theatre production, Dangerous Corner, in 2001. Both appeared in Casanova
Casanova (film)
Casanova is a 2005 American romantic film directed by Lasse Hallström starring Heath Ledger and loosely based on the life of Giacomo Casanova.-Plot:...

in 2005, although they did not share any scenes. They have two children; Florence, born 1 May 2004 and Peter, born 8 April 2006.

On BBC 1's Who Do You Think You Are?
Who Do You Think You Are?
Who Do You Think You Are? is a British genealogy documentary series that has aired on the BBC since 2004. Made by Wall to Wall, in each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Eight series have been broadcast, the most recent of which aired from August-October 2011...

, broadcast in August 2010, it was revealed that Penry-Jones's maternal grandfather William had served with the Indian Medical Corps at the Battle of Monte Cassino
Battle of Monte Cassino
The Battle of Monte Cassino was a costly series of four battles during World War II, fought by the Allies against Germans and Italians with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome.In the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was being anchored by Germans...

 and that his preceding ancestors had a long-standing connection with the Indian Army. Penry-Jones also discovered that he had Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...

 ancestry from the early 19th century.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1994 Black Beauty
Black Beauty (1994 film)
Black Beauty is a 1994 film adaptation of Anna Sewell's novel by the same name directed by Caroline Thompson in her directorial debut. The film stars Andrew Knott, Sean Bean and David Thewlis. The film is also treated as an autobiography of the horse Black Beauty as in the original novel, and is...

wild-looking young man
Fatherland SS Cadet Hermann Jost TV movie
1995 Cold Comfort Farm Dick Hawk-Moniter TV movie
Absolutely Fabulous boy at party TV series (1 episode: "The End")
1996 Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC is a British television series made by Carlton Television for ITV between 1995 and 2001. It has been shown on ITV3 as recently as August 2011; series 1–6 are available on Region 2 DVDs....

Lt. Ralph Kinross TV series (1 episode: "The Burning Deck")
Cold Lazarus
Cold Lazarus
Cold Lazarus is a four-part British television drama written by Dennis Potter with the knowledge that he was dying of cancer of the pancreas....

militiaman/policeman TV mini-series (2 episodes)
The Ring
The Ring (1996 film)
The Ring is a 1996 film, directed by Armand Mastroianni, written by Danielle Steel and starring Nastassja Kinski and Michael York.- Plot :...

Gerhard von Gotthard TV movie
Faith in the Future
Faith in the Future
Faith in the Future was a British comedy television show running from 1995-1998. It was a sequel to the show Second Thoughts. It aired on ITV for 22 episodes....

Sam TV series (2 episodes)
1997 The Moth Stanley Thorman TV movie
Jane Eyre St John Rivers TV movie
Bent
Bent (film)
Bent is a 1997 British/Japanese drama film directed by Sean Mathias, based on the 1979 play of the same name by Martin Sherman, who also wrote the screenplay. It revolves around the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany after the murder of Sturmabteilung leader Ernst Röhm on the Night of the...

guard on road
Food of Love
Food of Love (1997 film)
Food of Love is a 1997 film directed by Stephen Poliakoff. It stars Richard E. Grant and Nathalie Baye.-Cast:*Richard E. Grant as Alex Salmon*Nathalie Baye as Michele*Joe McGann as Sam*Sylvia Syms as Mrs. Harvey-Brown*Liz Moscrop as Village woman...

head office staff
1998 The Tribe
The Tribe (1998 film)
The Tribe is a 1998 television film written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, and starring Joely Richardson, Jeremy Northam, and Anna Friel.The film was made in 1996, but only first appeared in 1998, on BBC Two...

Dietrich
Hilary and Jackie
Hilary and Jackie
Hilary and Jackie is a 1998 British biographical film directed by Anand Tucker. The screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce is based on the memoir A Genius in the Family by Piers and Hilary du Pré, which chronicles the life and career of their late sister, cellist Jacqueline du Pré...

Piers
Still Crazy young Ray
The Student Prince The Prince TV movie
1999 Virtual Sexuality
Virtual Sexuality
Virtual Sexuality is a 1999 film about a young woman who designs the perfect man at a virtual reality convention, but then an accident occurs causing the man to be brought to life.-Synopsis:...

Jake
2000 North Square
North Square
North Square is an award-winning British television drama series written by Peter Moffat and broadcast by Channel 4 at the end of 2000. Starring an ensemble cast including Phil Davis, Rupert Penry-Jones, Helen McCrory and Kevin McKidd, the programme is set around the practice of a Leeds Legal...

Alex Hay TV series (10 episodes)
2001 Charlotte Gray
Charlotte Gray (film)
Charlotte Gray is a 2001 British-Australian-German feature film directed by Gillian Armstrong, based on the novel of the same name by Sebastian Faulks...

Peter Gregory
2002 The Four Feathers
The Four Feathers (2002 film)
The Four Feathers is a 2002 action drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur, starring Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Djimon Hounsou and Kate Hudson...

Tom Willoughby
A Family Man Tarquin
2003 Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies is a 2003 four-part BBC television drama concerning the lives of the best-known quartet of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies from 1934 to the 1951 defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to the Soviet Union...

Donald Maclean
Donald Duart Maclean
Donald Duart Maclean was a British diplomat and member of the Cambridge Five who were members of MI5, MI6 or the diplomatic service who acted as spies for the Soviet Union in the Second World War and beyond. He was recruited as a "straight penetration agent" while an undergraduate at Cambridge by...

TV mini-series (4 episodes)
Agatha Christie: Poirot Roddy Winter TV series (1 episode: "Sad Cypress")
2004 Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...

Adam Carter
Adam Carter
Adam Henry Carter is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. He is portrayed by British actor Rupert Penry-Jones...

TV series (41 episodes: 2004-2008)
2005 Casanova
Casanova (2005 TV serial)
Casanova is a 2005 British television comedy drama serial, written by television scriptwriter Russell T Davies and directed by Sheree Folkson...

Grimani TV mini-series (3 episodes)
Match Point
Match Point
Match Point is a 2005 dramatic thriller film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton....

Henry
2006 Krakatoa: The Last Days Willem Beijerinck TV movie
2007 Persuasion
Persuasion (2007 TV drama)
Persuasion is an adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel of the same name published in 1818. The TV-film premiered on 1 April 2007 on the UK channel ITV at 9pm, as part of their Jane Austen Season...

Captain Wentworth TV movie
Joe's Palace
Joe's Palace
Joe's Palace is a BBC television drama, and written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. It was first aired on BBC One on 4 November 2007...

Richard Reece TV movie
2008 Burn Up Tom TV mini-series (2 episodes)
The 39 Steps
The 39 Steps (2008 film)
The 39 Steps is a 2008 British television feature-length adaptation of the John Buchan novel The Thirty-Nine Steps produced by the BBC. The adaptation is set on the eve of World War I, and sees mining engineer Richard Hannay caught up in a conspiracy following the death of a British spy in his...

Richard Hannay
Richard Hannay
Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer...

TV movie
2009 Whitechapel
Whitechapel (TV series)
Whitechapel is a three-part British television drama series produced by Carnival Films, which first broadcast in the UK on 2 February 2009 and which dealt with the murders of Jack the Ripper....

DI Joseph Chandler TV series (6 episodes: 2009-2010)
2011 Silk
Silk (TV series)
Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2011. Written by Peter Moffat, the series follows a set of barristers, and what they do to attain the rank of Queen's Counsel, known as 'taking silk'.-Origin:...

Clive Reader TV series (6 episodes)
Manor Hunt Ball Laurence pre-production
2012 Treasure Island Squire Trelawney TV movie

External links

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