The 1997 role that’s left Matthew Rhys “chasing that feeling ever since”
He’s shared the screen with legends like Tom Hanks, won multiple major awards, and been a part of some beloved cult movies and TV shows. He might not be the most famous person in the world, but Matthew Rhys has achieved pretty much every goal that an actor can set for themselves.
Born in Cardiff, Wales, Rhys didn’t fully realise he wanted to be an actor until he was a teenager. Inspired by his fellow countryman Richard Burton, He was accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts (RADA), which set him on the path on which he finds himself today.
Rhys’ native country played a huge role in establishing his career. While he was still a student, he starred in a number of low-budget films made by Welsh directors. As he explained to Time Out, one of these projects has stayed with him ever since.
‘The first job I ever did was House of America, directed by Marc Evans,” he recalled, “I loved it so much, and I remember thinking that was how you always felt about things. I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.”
Released in 1997, House of America is an independent Welsh film about a dysfunctional family living in a poverty-stricken town that saw Rhys play Boyo, a young man struggling to forge a future while dealing with his rampaging siblings and their meddling mother, played by Dame Siân Phillips. The film is widely considered to be emblematic of the ‘Cool Cymru’ movement that defined Welsh cinema during the 1990s and has often been likened to Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, another depiction of a part of Britain often overlooked in favour of England.
It also offers a commentary on the ‘American Dream’, where the father of the three children supposedly leaves the family to find his fortune in the United States, but his plan doesn’t quite work out. This is an interesting foreshadowing of one of Rhys’ most famous roles in The Americans, another story that offers an unconventional look at the world’s most prominent superpower.
House of America achieved some international recognition, winning Evans, who went on to make Snow Cake with Alan Rickman, the ‘Best Directorial Debut’ at the Stockholm International Film Festival. It remains highly underseen, however, with only 75 people having logged it as seen on Letterboxd, which is staggeringly low.
The story is certainly not for the faint of heart, and without spoiling it for you, there is one very shocking element that a lot of reviewers struggled to get past. House of America takes a lot of big swings and, as a result, you will either absolutely love it or think it’s a complete waste of time.
Rhys was only 23 years old when House of America came out. It was the first big project of his burgeoning career and allowed him to work alongside Phillips, one of the most acclaimed actors Wales has ever produced. It’s no wonder that he still holds it in such high regard, even if the critics weren’t so convinced.
