The
actor Matthew Rhys (right), 26, was born in Cardiff. He won a scholarship
to Rada and last year starred with Kathleen Turner in the West End production
of "The Graduate". He shares a flat in London with Ioan Gruffudd, with
whom he co-stars in a newfilm, "Very Annie Mary".
Ioan
Gruffudd, 27, is best known for his acting roles in the films "Titanic"
and "102 Dalmatians", and in the television costume dramas "Hornblower"
and "Great Expectations". He was brought up in Cardiff
Matthew
Rhys: Our friendship didn't get off to the best of starts. We were in the
same primary school in Cardiff, but Ioan was in the class above me. My
earliest memory is of us having a massive snowball fight during the big
snow in 1982. It was Class 6versus Class 7, so I'd have been eight and
Ioan nine. Anyway, Ioan's lot ran at us and threw a lot of snowballs, before
running off and leaving Ioan on his own. As he started to run off, I went
after him and kicked his legs from under him. He fell to theground and
started to cry, and I was really worried because I thought I'd hurt him
and I'd get into trouble.
Ioan
and I are from very, very similar backgrounds, and there are many crossover
points in our lives. Both our parents are first language Welsh speakers
and come from a teaching background. We both speak Welsh fluently and our
Welsh identity is extremelyimportant to us.
We both
got in to Rada. Ioan went up a year before me and was sharing a flat in
Kilburn with friends. I stayed there the night before my audition. I was
very nervous. I have a clear memory of Ioan cooking potato croquettes and
giving me a few Stellas tocalm my nerves. At that stage he was a kind of
mentor, because he paved the way for me to go to Rada which had, and probably
still has, this very English, middle-class image. Ioan showed that it was
possible for someone of our background to get there.
We're
quite alike in lots of ways. We both have a lack of pretension about what
we do. We love acting but we don't live and breathe it and we have friends
outside the profession. We share a flat and that' s fine because we both
tolerate similar messlevels and neither of us has any pet hates.
Over
the years we've never fallen out, although we've had small disagreements.
If something is bothering me, I get it off my chest and then it's over.
There's no brooding. We can be honest with one another and if one of us
messes up there's never anyjudgment.
Our
careers have far outstripped anything we ever dreamt of, but that never
makes us feel arrogant or complacent. There's no competition between us.
In fact, if one of us was doing considerably better than the other, we'd
probably feel guilty about it.
Whatever
the future holds, we'll always be the best of friends. Our friendship doesn't
just revolve around banter and having a laugh and a few beers. I can imagine
myself calling Ioan in years to come and saying, dump the kids with the
in-laws and we'llgo off to Murrayfield and watch the rugby. It's reassuring
to have a friendship with someone whose life parallels mine in so many
ways, but it's more than that. We connect with each other on a deeper level.
I think it would be fair to say that we aresoul mates.
Ioan
Gruffudd: Very Annie Mary is the first film we've worked on together and
we play a gay couple who run the local shop in one of the south Wales valleys.
Normally when you act the part of someone's friend or lover or husband
you're doing so with atotal stranger and you have to give the appearance
of having a rapport on screen whether you click or not. So it was interesting
playing alongside someone I already know and like.
I can
remember crying when Matthew tackled me during the school snowball fight
in the winter of 1982. I think they were tears of embarrassment more than
anything because I'd been beaten up by an eight-year-old! I didn't grass
him up though, so he didn'tget into trouble.
At primary
school we didn't mix that much, because you tend not to socialise with
the year below you. We got to know each other better through chapel and
Sunday School, and we became closer friends in the sixth form because of
our mutual interest indrama and because we played in the same rugby team.
My father was the deputy head at our school and I had a bit of a complex
about always having to behave myself. My impression of Matthew was of someone
who would do things I wouldn't dare to.
Our
friendship strengthened when we were at Rada together. I was living in
a flat in Kilburn when Matthew came up for his audition. I remember he
got there late because of me. I thought he had to be there by 10am, and
in fact it was 9.30am. By the timewe arrived, the principal was already
giving his introductory talk and I had to deliver a big apology on his
behalf.
We don't
let anything disrupt our friendship. If we need to have something out,
we get it over with as quickly as possible. We'd never sit on any grievance
or anything like that. We can be very honest with one another.
We laugh
at the same things, and there's a lot of boisterous banter between us.
Sometimes we have to be careful in a social environment as other people
might find it quite intimidating. When two people are enjoying repartee,
it's easy to exclude otherpeople without meaning to. I don't think that
this would be a problem in a relationship, though. If I got married, that
person would find a good friend in Matthew, too. Matthew is like a family
member in some ways; however long I'm away working, he'salways there.
I have
other good friends, but there's nobody else I have such a long- lasting
friendship with and I feel privileged to have it. It's not just boisterous
stuff that connects us either, the silences between us are just as comfortable.
We're on the samewavelength.
Nerys
Lloyd-Pierce, "I cried with embarrassment - I'd been beaten up by an. ,
Independent on Sunday, 05-27-2001, pp 46.