Matthew Rhys Jonathan Meets...

MUSIC: "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra

New York, New York! And, as the song says, if you can make it here,

you can make it anywhere.

I'm here to meet a Cardiff actor who's certainly making it here.

On screen and making it his home as well.

A Welshman in New York who is going native and turning American.

Or is he?

Born in 1974 in Whitchurch, Cardiff,

Matthew Rhys Evans was the son of headmaster Glyn and teacher Helen.

He was educated locally through the Welsh medium

before gaining a place at Rada, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

He won a Bafta Cymru early on in his career before appearing in various

films and TV around the world.

He co-starred with Kathleen Turner in The Graduate in the West End,

played Dylan Thomas opposite Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller

in Edge Of Love and starred in the last Columbo.

He then moved to LA for the long-running family drama

Brothers and Sisters with Sally Field,

which propelled him to a lead role in The Americans,

where Matthew plays an undercover KGB agent

in Ronald Reagan's 1980s Washington.

-What do you do, Stan?

-I'm an FBI agent.

I'll have to make sure I don't do any spying around here.

You'd better not.

Shot in New York, he co-stars with fellow KGB agent wife and off-screen

partner Keri Russell, with whom he recently had a son, Sam.

-So, where are we heading now, driver?

-Brooklyn Heights.

So Brooklyn Heights is a very affluent area, is it?

Yeah. It's nice and most people from...

working in Manhattan, they're living in Brooklyn Heights.

I'm looking forward to seeing Matthew.

It's very different from Whitchurch, where he grew up.

Very different.

And here we are, I think.

-Cheers, Naz. Thank you.

-You're welcome.

There we go. See what he says.

-See you, boy.

-Hello.

-How are you, man? All right?

-Very good.

-How are you?

-I thought it was Tom Hanks from Castaway for a minute.

What, before or after he's lost the weight?

-Right, come on. Where are you taking me?

-I don't know where to begin.

I'm going to show you the sights and sounds.

Don't you water plants in New York, then?

I think it's indicative of my career.

-Right, come on. Show me the sights of New York.

-Onward to glory.

-Of course, you have a young son.

-What?!

Sam Rhys. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. He's actually Sam Evans.

Because I wanted to call him Sam Warburton, but she wouldn't agree to it.

But my full name's Matthew Rhys Evans,

-so he's going to be Sam Evans.

-Oh, is he?

-Yeah.

-And how is that going down?

-It's like a course in survival.

I think there's a very strong reason why sleep deprivation is used as

torture, or training in the special forces.

Cos anyone who can master it should receive a medal.

-Brilliant.

-It all felt very right and very natural.

-And, of course, the series.

-Yeah.

-How's that all going?

Well, I mean, it's a sort of dream in a way.

It's strange. In America, it's a very different way of working.

You sign up for sort of six to seven seasons

before you start filming the first one.

A lot of people are going, "Well, is this good to go six years?

"Is it going to be any good?" Etc, etc.

And you know, I hate to sound like the cliche,

but The Americans is one of those jobs

where the writing has got stronger and better

and it's a job that keeps challenging you and to do a job that

does that for six years is everything you want.

You know, you cross your fingers,

you do your best and you see what happens.

-So...

-Here we are.

200 yards away from...

..this magnificent skyline.

-It's like Penarth pier.

-A little bit. A little bit.

That's Brooklyn Bridge, isn't it?

-Brooklyn Bridge with the Empire State behind it.

-Yeah.

And then you've got...

Well, Freedom Tower, One World Trade.

1,776 feet tall.

1776, the year of...

-..Independence.

-Keep on going.

-Statue of Liberty.

-Ellis Island, named after a Welshman.

-Right, OK.

-Apparently,

it was a sandbank with a pub on it, owned by a Welshman called Ellis.

You take all this in, right, and you think, "Hang on now,

"living in Brooklyn Heights, with a Hollywood superstar..."

And she is.

Do you think now, "Right. You've made it now?"

Is this... When you started off acting, could you ever imagine

saying, "Here I am, showing my mates around,

-"this is where we are and this is it?"

-This is the view. Yeah. No.

No, I still totally have this sort of...

I have two things.

I either pinch myself and the turn of the shoulder

for the bloke who's going, "Oi, we didn't mean you!"

We meant Matthew Rees the hooker. Get out!

And is it...? Well, that's what they said.

"I'm going to interview Matthew Rhys."

They said, "What's Matthew Rees the hooker doing in New York?"

That's exactly it. But I'm looking at it going, right...

I started off my career and I go, "Right, I want to play for Wales."

Did you... Have you got something that you've done it,

or there is something else?

There is still something else that lies over there,

which is to be on Broadway. That's like the elusive Lions cap.

Well, I didn't have that, so there we are.

I'll just rub some lemon juice into that one for you.

-HE SOBS

-I thought I'd relate it to you.

One thing missing there, the Twin Towers.

Having moved here, how do they feel about it, or...?

I think one thing you will see often, especially...

..Fire Department tattoos and murals is "lest we forget",

and they absolutely would.

It became just an integral part of the fabric of the city.

And I don't think it clouds them, but they absolutely...

..it changed a number of things

and they absolutely haven't forgotten it.

-Pulled them all together. Incredible.

-Yeah, incredibly so.

But yeah,

the memorials and commemorations are still enormous, as they should be.

Are those the footings for your new house

after the second, or third or fourth series?

Yes. Yeah, yes. I've brought a few boys over from Cardiff.

There's Dai there on the caterpillar.

Working hard. So you can pop over and keep an eye on him.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking forward to how it turns out.

I'm looking forward to the invite when it's all done.

Being an actor, I know everything is going so well for you, but...

..out of work and waiting, you know. You talk to actors and they say,

"I've got to do this job and that job, a painting job or whatever."

-You nearly gave it up, didn't you?

-Yeah.

I did a year in the West End playing The Graduate with Kathleen Turner

and I just thought, "Oh, I'm 25, I'm set now.

-"This is going to be amazing."

-Was that... "This is it, I've made it. Big break."

Yeah. And then I didn't work for a whole year immediately after.

-Couldn't catch a cold.

-How do get your mind around that, then?

-I didn't.

-What do you do?

-Well, I slightly didn't.

I slightly lost it a bit and considered joining the army

and things like that, cos you go, by then...

After a year, you're sort of skint and you're going... I can't...

It's not like you're not auditioning.

I was auditioning tonnes, I couldn't land a thing.

So, yeah, I started thinking about other professions.

Thank you very much.

Good call.

What do you like about the New York lifestyle, then?

I'm not sure if it's what I like...

or that I spend most of my time thinking I'm in a film.

Because I still have that thing when I walk around and, like you,

someone brings it, they go, you know, "You want some coffee?"

You go, "I feel like I'm in a Robert De Niro film."

So I think it's a continuous feeling that I'm just in one big giant film.

I've even got a soundtrack going right now.

-You're, like, Al Pacino.

-I might be happy with that.

What about the American accent, then?

Do you... When you speak at home, are you in the American accent?

-No.

-Or this Welsh one?

-This Welsh one I'm stuck with.

Give us a bit of American. You know, the old Brooklyn accent.

The archetypal one is people say is coffee. "You want some coffee?"

It's Long Island. You know, Long Island, just outside New York.

You know, they say Long Island, like, "You want some caw-fee?"

So, in a Brooklyn accent, you might say, "You want some cah-fee?"

Instead of caw-fee.

And, all of a sudden, you're like, "What?"

So I try to keep it as generic and general as possible.

What's it like working in America and working with Americans?

Does it drive you hard?

100%.

-It's one of the most overcrowded professions in the world.

-Yeah.

And every man and his dog thinks they can act, because, ultimately,

-it's all you're doing is...

-No, I can't.

Well, you're standing on a bit of tape talking to people.

Everyone goes, "How hard is that?" So, yeah.

There's a million people there ready to go, "I'll do it quicker and cheaper."

You've been mega-successful now in the States...

-Mega?

-I'll say that again.

-Mega, you know, mega.

-Thank you. £10 every time you say mega.

-Brothers and Sisters?

-Mm.

-Massive hit.

You played a gay lawyer.

Do you think that was the...that put you on that kind of plateau

and that you could just pick and choose, or...?

I'm not sure if I'm in a place where I can pick and choose,

but it definitely gave me an opportunity.

It was a big show, it was a network show,

so you can sit back and learn and that's what I did.

Watch and learn.

I did a lot of that on Brothers And Sisters.

And it gave me the opportunity to audition for things like The Americans.

Maybe we should concentrate on Kevin. Chad dumped him.

-Oh, Kev, I'm so sorry.

-You know what?

I'm going to join a monastery anyway,

one of those vow of silence places, so I can stay out of trouble.

Well, you'll probably find a way, especially with all those monks batting their eyes at you.

Oh, what a sorry bunch we are. Look at us! God.

Do you still get recognised a lot or do you love the anonymity of...

-..New York?

-I think, in New York, even if they do recognise you,

-they don't really care.

-Yeah.

-Seen enough, see everyone.

-I rarely get recognised.

Even when I go to the kitchen in the morning,

it's touch and go if she remembers me!

What about... So, moving on to The Americans,

maybe in the UK they don't appreciate how big it is here...

-Well, tell them!

-I will tell them! Telling them now.

Even to the degree where you were summoned to the White House,

because the Obamas are massive fans.

-Who did you sit next door to in the White House?

-Michelle Obama.

-There we are. And what kind of conversation?

-The First Lady.

You know, I've been in a number of nerve-racking situations,

but I have to say, I was so nervous.

-Cacking yourself.

-I didn't have a single thought in my head.

I do remember going, "Say something, say something!"

Cos I was just like this.

There was one terrible moment where... She was all in white,

this beautiful white gown and they'd gotten these small heirloom tomatoes

from the garden that they'd poached and peeled.

Like a bull in a tantrum, I go like this and I fork this tomato.

Oh, my God! It went off like a grenade. Right, it went "phom"!

And I just watched it go and she's there,

just watching, just sail past...

IMITATES SLOW MOTION

All of it missed her and she was none the wiser,

talking to this Prime Minister of Singapore and I'm there going...

IMITATES SLOW MOTION

What was he like?

They are the most, the most...

..gracious, charming, down-to-earth. Everything you think they are.

And more. And, you know, they're fans of the show,

so they wanted to talk about the show, you want to talk about

how to run America, so he's like, "I don't want to talk about it."

And I'm like, "I don't want to talk about the show!"

So, what do you ring home and tell Mum and Dad?

"Have a guess where I've been today."

"I'm sitting with the man that runs America."

"Hang on. Ronald Reagan, ife?"

What did they say? What did they say?

I think they were just a bit shocked now.

The other thing is, in The Americans, you're married to Keri.

Yeah. I mean, not in real life.

No, you're married on the show, but now she is your partner.

-Yeah.

-The mother of your son.

-Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

-That's a bit weird, isn't it?

-I broke the cardinal rule.

-Yes.

-Dating a co-star.

-Never date your co-star, ever.

And I thought I'd cracked it.

You know, "Done it, got through it."

And then, you know, I was like, "Oh, no, I've become the cliche."

Terrible! But it, so far, has worked.

Another thing I'm not sure of, as an actor,

when you see someone you kind of love, right, having to do...

-..kind of love scenes?

-It's the worst.

It's the worst part of the job and, as it is,

if you're two actors together, it's the worst thing for them as well.

But it is... There's nothing that makes it any better,

the amount of time you're with someone, it...

You know, it's the worst feeling in the world,

especially if he's got a better six-pack, bigger arms, you know?

-All of that.

-I can imagine.

-This is a wine bar.

-Yes, I'm very familiar with this place.

You've also got your...

..hand in a few other pots.

And you are now doing a wine show?

-Yes.

-With Matthew Goode from Downton Abbey?

-Yeah.

He called me up and went, "Do you want to go to Italy for three weeks to drink?"

And I was like, "What time shall I be at Heathrow?"

That's a little firework under the nose.

-That's really powerful.

-Yes.

-It's a big wine.

-How were we as sommeliers?

-Do we have a lot to learn?

-You are...not bad.

-Good.

-You talk too much. I think.

-No? I'm wrong?

-No! You're very, very right.

-I can't say.

-So you've done one series and you've done Italy and now the next one is, obviously...

-France.

Then there's Spain? Argentina?

That's what we were saying. This could run and run,

as long as our livers hold out, we've got show.

-Co un.

-Af i i'r ochr arall.

-All right.

So, Math, where are we now in this great city?

Well, we're leaving the great city of Brooklyn,

will probably either get on the Brooklyn or the Manhattan Bridge.

-Yes.

-And make our way to Manhattan

to probably my favourite bar in New York, for many reasons,

called the White Horse Tavern.

-Dylan Thomas?

-Dylan Thomas's... Also his favourite pub.

We're just getting onto the Brooklyn Bridge now,

which, when it was opened,

I think it was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

But it's iconic. It's an amazing skyline, isn't it?

Yeah, it's incredible.

The one downside of New York for me is that, sometimes,

you just feel like you can't quite breathe.

-Yeah.

-It's only when you get to the countryside that you go, "Oh!"

-And you realise.

-So where do you... Where do you get out?

We usually go upstate, about two hours north,

a mountain range called...

Two and a half. Woodstock, Catskills, all around there.

Just countryside. It's like being at home.

It's absolutely boiling. How do you cope with the heat in summer?

I don't. My Welsh blood...

..congeals to a slow pulse and I'm good for nothing.

I am no good in the summer in this city.

I can't wait till autumn comes.

BOTH: White Horse Tavern!

-Where it all happened.

-Here we are.

How are you? You should try a Brooklyn lager.

-Can I get an IPA and a Brooklyn lager, please?

-Sure.

Thank you.

Guinness. Thank you very much.

-Taste. Cheers, boy.

-Iechyd.

-What do you think?

-Yeah, it's all right.

-All right?

-It's wet, it's wet.

-Cold.

-So, this is...

Dylan Thomas's local.

-Yeah.

-It's where he spent a lot of his time.

He did. And, as many know, it was...

..where, you know, tragically,

it all came to an end and he had his last few drinks here

and then collapsed outside and then they took him to St Vincent's.

So, they know the history of Dylan Thomas,

is there a fondness for the Welsh in New York?

Yeah, I think primarily because of him, you know?

At his height, he was this rock-and-roll poet, you know,

making poetry sexy and doing these readings.

He was a new phenomenon in his time

and he was a famous Welshman in New York, coveted and sought out.

You Know, Bob Dylan Took His Name.

In The Edge Of Love, you played Dylan,

but as you said, it was mainly about the women.

-Yes.

-Do you think they should do a film where, right, that's it,

-he's the main character?

-Yes, of course.

-And you'd play him?

-Well, of course! There, there we are.

End of conversation. I think,

having got to know what his life was, there's certainly enough there

to make an incredible feature film about it.

If not a short series. And naturally, I should play him.

This is just an amazing place, isn't it?

-If you just look at the walls...

-Yeah.

And to me, yes, it was Dylan's pub, but also, to me,

it's one of the last, or one of the only, great pubs in New York.

-Dylan Thomas awards. Richard Burton.

-Yes.

Accepted by daughter, Kate,

who I did Under Milk Wood with a few years ago.

-Incredible.

-Yeah.

This is the Dylan Thomas Room.

Do you feel you're maintaining now the kind of great Welsh actors,

your Burtons, your Hopkinses, and leaving a Welsh legacy

in American film industry?

I think what Burton and Hopkins did for me was...

-..made it a very real and tangible dream.

-You could make it?

Yes, that it's possible for boys from Wales to go to Hollywood

and have a career. Burton did that very early on.

If, in some small way, if we're talking about legacy,

that some kid sees The Americans and goes, "Oh, it is possible,"

you know, "There is life after an Eisteddfod," then, you know...

And that's why it's so important to have heroes. Your Gareth Bales...

-Yes.

-..and Gareth Edwards, you know?

Yeah, in every walk of life. So legacy, in that respect,

then, if I'm part of a legacy, then, iechyd da.

-How much do you miss Wales?

-Enormously. Daily, daily.

It's funny. I think as a young man...

In your 20s, your 30s, you kind of, you know,

you're running around the world and it's there for the taking.

And in these last few years, as I get a little bit older,

I start missing it more and more. And it's simple things, day to day.

I miss Welsh banter. So much...

-Sledging.

-There's nothing like it.

-Sarcasm...

-Yeah.

-Does Keri enjoy going to Wales?

Yeah, loves going to Wales.

But our life is definitely here, so I come here for my pocket of Wales.

-Pints and pockets.

-Incredible.

And if you watch the rugby matches, local pubs?

It depends, it depends on the game.

I've realised I can't watch England and Wales in the pub any more.

In fact, I'm encouraged not to. When I was told to get out.

-"Get out, Rhys!"

-Yes, I was full of expletives.

-"I don't care if you're a Russian agent or not, get out!"

-Yeah.

So where are we in now, this is...?

This is quite close to your house, isn't it?

Yeah. This is a very regular hang-out for us.

Rooftop eating, a good view, keep an eye on the kids playing football.

-It's perfect.

-It's a lovely spot, innit? A lovely spot.

The Americans, is it the toughest role you've had to play so far?

Yeah. I would say yes, because Ronald Reagan,

the height of the Cold War,

what the KGB were trying to do is unbelievable.

So making that believable in a drama is a big ask of the audience,

so grounding that in reality I find difficult,

but then the layers to the character,

that you're this domestic dad by day and a sort of KGB agent by night.

So, making those two marry in a very real way,

so you don't go, "hang on". It's not like the Caped Crusader,

you put your pants on the outside by night and off you go.

-It's layers, basically.

-But in the character as well,

you have the high-speed car chases.

How does that work? Do they close streets down in New York?

Yeah, that's the Boy's Own Adventure stuff that I love.

Again, harking back to the American television that I watched.

You get an opportunity with a closed street, police, stunt drivers

and you're in a 1980s car that doesn't have power steering,

I hasten to add,

you know, flooring it along these American streets.

Those are the sort of great moments.

And also, your fitness regime.

You have a personal trainer, or you have self-defence classes, kung fu,

-Krav Maga.

-Yeah.

You find yourself going, "This is my job.

"Doing high-speed chases and doing kung fu."

So, to what degree could you defend yourself

if you were kind of attacked in the street?

If you give me 20 minutes,

-I could bore anyone to death about my career.

-Don't need 20.

-Don't need 20.

-No, five solid minutes.

When fending someone off, or...?

Well, here's the thing. You learn all this stuff in showbiz...

"In showbiz!" And you sort of go, "I think I'd be all right."

And then I would imagine, if you cut to the reality,

I would be screaming for my stunt double or shouting, "Cut!"

-Best self-defence is this one, look. See?

-Yeah, is...

-You go like that.

HUGE LAUGH

Here's an expert.

-Sword stuff is when you get nervous.

-Yeah, I can imagine.

Or if someone comes in between the matinee and the evening performance in the theatre and they go...

-SLURRED:

-"Come on, let's go do the sword fight again."

And you go, "What?"

Yeah. Yeah. You've been to Dylan's pub!

-SLURRED:

-Just for lunch. I only had a sandwich.

Let's rehearse that fight again.

But it happens.

You've done over 50 episodes for The Americans and still going

and over 100 Brothers And Sisters, how much time do you have?

There's the script, you're doing it?

It completely depends. Sometimes, you can get a script the week before and it doesn't change.

Other times, you walk on set and they go, "Oh, you know that scene?

"We've just... We've tweaked it a bit. Sorry to do this to you."

And you're going to shoot in five minutes.

"Sorry to do this! These are the new lines, if that's OK?"

-And you go... And that's when...

-HE SQUEAKS

-..the panic sets in.

-On set?

As you're walking onto the set.

You've learnt the scene and they go, "We've tweaked it, would you mind?

"Sorry." And you're like, "We're shooting now?"

And they're like, "We know. It's a tiny..."

And you go, it's not a tweak! You've changed the scene!

And they're like, "Yes, because the last one didn't make sense."

Like, "Well, unless I can staple it to someone's forehead, you need to give me five minutes!"

This is a scene...

Season three, where Ncgobo was actually...

-I could do that part.

-Well, he's an African socialist, from South Africa.

-OK.

-So it's not a white Afrikaans accent.

-It's not?

-It's not Francois Pienaar.

-How does it go?

I won't attempt it. I won't attempt it, I'll leave it to you.

-I'm not doing it.

-Yeah, go on, you've got time.

-OK.

IN STRANGE ACCENT: Your wife is at home now.

THEY LAUGH

Here's a taste of The Americans for you, Ncgobo.

Sounds like your new nickname.

Ncgobo Davies.

It's a lot nicer than some of them I've had, let me tell you.

-2018...

-Yeah?

-It's the end of The Americans.

-The end of my career.

-No. I know you're working on things at the moment.

What's the future, then, for Matthew, career-wise and living?

-Family.

-Living and life. Well, you know,

I have a son... That's what trips me out,

when I say my son is a New Yorker.

He's going to say "Mom" and "Dad"!

"Mam a Dad! Dwed e'n iawn, fachgen."

Yeah, you know?

So, our lives are here in New York for the foreseeable future.

One thing you realise in this mad game

is that you have no control over...

..your career, really. And it can be a drop of a hat the next day.

I've had jobs where they go, "Can you be in France tomorrow?"

-And you go, "OK."

-That must be a tough with the little one, isn't it?

Yeah, unfortunately, that's one of the tougher elements of it.

-Yeah.

-Time away from the family.

Things are going really well and I'm really happy for you.

-Thank you.

-Living the life.

-I know.

-Doing the great stuff on telly.

Happy families, lovely boy.

-You sound like Windsor Davies!

-I know.

"Lovely boy, lovely boy." Can't get any better.

No, it can't, it can't. So, knock on wood, long may it continue.

-Diolch i weld ni, boy.

-Iechyd.

-Pleser.

For me, Matthew Rhys is a fantastic talent

and following in the footsteps of Welsh legends

who have made it over here, like Burton and Hopkins.

I'm sure, wherever life takes him next, he will succeed.

After all, if he's made it here, he can make it anywhere.

# Well, I shuffled through the city on the 4th of July

# I had a firecracker waiting to blow

# Breakin' like a rocket who was makin' its way

# To the cities of Mexico

# Lived in an apartment out on Avenue A

# I had a tar-hut on the corner of 10th

# Had myself a lover who was finer than gold

# But I've been broken up and busted up since

# And love don't play any games with me, any more

# Like she did before

# Hell, I still love you, New York... #