Matthew Rhys reveals why survival of Welsh language remains ‘most important thing’ to him

Mark Mansfield

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys has spoken about his determination to see the Welsh language survive and how the historic treatment of Wales continues to shape his sense of national identity.

The Cardiff-born star discussed his relationship with Wales and Welsh in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, as well as reflecting on his Hollywood career, his upbringing and the insecurity that has followed him despite his success.

Rhys, 51, told interviewer Lulu Garcia-Navarro that the survival of the Welsh language remained the “most important thing” to him – an answer he had also given when asked the same question more than a decade ago.

Growing up in Wales during the 1980s, Rhys witnessed the campaign for greater recognition and legal protection for Welsh.

He recalled attending protest marches at a time when campaigners were seeking legislation to give the language greater status and said something as routine as opening a bank account through the medium of Welsh was not possible.

His family’s attitude towards the language was also influenced by the experiences of earlier generations.

Rhys discussed the Welsh Not, historically used in some schools to punish or discourage children for speaking Welsh, which he said had affected his grandmother’s generation.

That history, he suggested, helped produce a determination in his parents’ generation to ensure the language survived.

Rhys said there was a “zeal” about their determination that Welsh would not die.

Welsh history

The interview also explored how the history of Wales and its relationship with England have influenced Rhys’s outlook.

He suggested Wales’ position as a small country alongside its much larger neighbour had contributed to a national insecurity and sense of subservience.

That was one reason Richard Burton became such an important figure to him.

Rhys recalled being struck by the confidence of the Port Talbot-born actor, who became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars rather than allowing his background to limit his ambitions.

For the young Rhys, Burton demonstrated that a Welsh actor did not have to approach the wider world apologetically.

Those questions of identity have followed Rhys into his own acting career.

Despite spending years playing American characters – most famously in The Americans – he told the newspaper that adopting an American accent could feel easier than performing with a southern English one.

Rhys linked that discomfort to the historical relationship between Wales and England and to his own childhood, when his family would jokingly imitate an English accent.

His commitment to Welsh is now intersecting with one of the world’s biggest film franchises.

Rhys is providing the voice of Han Solo in the first Welsh-language dub of Star Wars, an experience he described as “surreal”.

The project has involved familiar elements of the film being translated into Welsh, allowing a story Rhys first encountered in English as a child to be experienced in his first language.

Hollywood

The interview comes at a particularly successful point in Rhys’s career.

He has received two leading-role Emmy nominations this year, including recognition for Widow’s Bay, which became a major success over the summer and secured 19 Emmy nominations.

He is also nominated for his performance in The Beast in Me, in which he plays a wealthy businessman suspected of killing his wife.

Yet Rhys told the NYT that professional success has not removed the insecurity he has experienced throughout his career.

He recalled feeling different while growing up as a boy interested in acting at a school where sport was dominant. At the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he became conscious of being the young Welsh student, before experiencing another period of adjustment when his career took him to America.

One decision still troubles him.

Rhys revealed that he was offered the opportunity to play Hamlet at the age of 24 but turned it down because he did not believe he had sufficient emotional maturity for the role. He now regards the decision with regret.

Distinctly Welsh

He also suggested there was something distinctly Welsh about his reluctance to become too comfortable with success.

Rhys recalled an expression used by his father to mock someone with an excessively high opinion of themselves – that if the person were made of chocolate, they would eat themselves.

His years as an actor have meanwhile taught him how quickly professional fortunes can change. Periods of considerable success can be followed by periods without work, and vice versa.

Despite his television success, Rhys retains ambitions on the big screen, describing movies as “the grail” and acknowledging the continuing attraction of an Oscar.

But even after decades in the profession and his latest Emmy recognition, the sense of insecurity has not entirely disappeared.

It is a characteristic Rhys suggested may also be useful: never feeling completely comfortable keeps him looking towards whatever comes next.

This article draws on an interview with Matthew Rhys by Lulu Garcia-Navarro, published by The New York Times on August 15, 2026.

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