Gwilym Lee

Gwilym Lee
Lee in 2018
Born	(1983-11-24) 24 November 1983 (age 41) Bristol, England
Alma mater	Cardiff University Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1997–present

Gwilym Lee (born 24 November 1983) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in Midsomer Murders (2013–2016), A Song for Jenny (2015), Jamestown (2017), Top End Wedding (2019), The Great (2020–2023), and for playing guitarist Brian May in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).

Early life

Lee was born in Bristol to Welsh parents, Tom and Ceinwen. He has three older siblings: Geraint, Owen and Rhiannon. When he was young the family moved to Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands,^[1] although he identifies strongly with his Welsh heritage.^[2][3] He studied English literature at Cardiff University and drama at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he received the Guildhall Gold Medal in 2008.^[1] Lee lives in London.^[4]

Career

Lee joined a drama group as a teen. He then starred in the 1997–1998 television adaptation of the Animal Ark books. Aged 16 he started working on Richard III with the Royal Shakespeare Company.^[4] Lee appeared in a leading role in the final series of Land Girls (2011) and had several guest roles on television (including Ashes to Ashes, Fresh Meat, Monroe and Henry V). He has also worked on radio (The Emerald Tiger, The Silver Turk and in an adaptation of The Cruel Sea).

Lee was commended in the 2008 Ian Charleson Awards for his appearance in the National Theatre's production of Oedipus and in 2009 played Laertes to Jude Law's Hamlet in the Donmar West End season.^[5]

He won first prize of the 2011 Ian Charleson Award for his role as Edgar in the 2010 King Lear production at the Donmar Warehouse.^[6] In 2012, Lee starred in the Donmar Trafalgar Studios production of Aleksei Arbuzov's The Promise.^[7]

At Christmas 2013, Lee began a television starring role as DCI Barnaby's new sergeant, DS Charlie Nelson, in the 16th series of Midsomer Murders, which also included the show's 100th episode, partially shot in Denmark in collaboration with the local national broadcasting corporation, DR.^[8] In early 2014 he appeared in Versailles at the Donmar Warehouse.^[5]

In April 2016, it was announced by ITV that Lee was not returning for season 19 of Midsomer Murders. Lee, on his Twitter account, indicated he would be involved in an upcoming series Jamestown.^[9] Lee played guitarist Brian May in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018),^[10] which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards.^[11]

In 2018, it was announced that Lee had joined the cast of the Hulu series The Great; on the series airing for three seasons from 2020 to 2023, Lee starred amongst the ensemble cast as Grigory "Grigor" Dymov, a composite character of Catherine the Great's historical lovers Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin, and a childhood friend of Peter III.^[12]

In 2023, it was announced that Lee had been cast in the second season of SAS: Rogue Heroes.^[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	The Escort		Short film
2010	The Tourist	Senior Technician Mountain
2011	Isle of Dogs	D.C. Block
2017	The Agency	Alistair	Short film
2018	The Last Witness	John Underwood
	Bohemian Rhapsody	Brian May
2019	Top End Wedding	Ned	Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019
2023	Tall Dark and Handsome	James	Short film
2024	Oddity	Ted
	Here	John Harter

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997–1998	Animal Ark	James Hunter	TV series, 13 episodes
2008	Mutual Friends	Young Man	TV series, episode: #1.5
2009	Lewis	Terry Bainbridge	Episode: "The Quality of Mercy"
	Waterloo Road	Steven	TV series, episode #4.11
	Ashes to Ashes	Young Summers	TV series, episode #2.7
2010	Doctors	Anatole Karpski	TV series, episode: "Idle Hands"
2011	Land Girls	Reverend Henry Jameson	TV series, 5 episodes
2012	The Hollow Crown	Williams	TV miniseries, episode: "Henry V"
	Fresh Meat	Giles	TV series, episode #2.1
	Monroe	Alex Scholfield	TV series, episode #2.3
	Restless	Sean Gilmartin	Television film
2013–2016	Midsomer Murders	DS Charlie Nelson	TV series, 15 episodes
2015	A Song for Jenny	James	Television film
2017	The Royal House of Windsor	Narrator	Documentary series
	Jamestown	Samuel Castell	8 episodes
2019	The Man	Mark Baxter	Episode #1.2
2020–2023	The Great	Grigory "Grigor" Dymov	Hulu series, main cast
2024	SAS: Rogue Heroes	Bill Stirling	BBC series, season 2

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue/Company	Notes
1999	Richard III	Edward, Prince of Wales	Royal Shakespeare Company
2008	Oedipus	The Messenger and Understudy Oedipus	National Theatre	with Ralph Fiennes
2009	About Tommy	Tommy	Southwark Playhouse
	Hamlet	Laertes	Kronborg Castle and Broadhurst Theatre	with Jude Law
	Hamlet	Guildenstern	Donmar Warehouse
2010	The Fairy-Queen	Demetrius	Opera-Comique and Off-Broadway
	Danton's Death	Lacroix and Understudy Danton	National Theatre
2010–2011	King Lear	Edgar	Donmar Warehouse
2011	Othello	Cassio	Sheffield Crucible	with Lily James, Dominic West
2012	The Promise	Leonidik	Donmar Warehouse at Trafalgar Studios
2014	Versailles	Leonard	Donmar Warehouse	with Tom Hughes
2017	Diminished	Adam	Hampstead Theatre

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Cloud Chamber	Tom
2015	Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below	Psaro the Manslayer	English voice
2015	Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward	Cid	English voice
2019	Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers	Cid	English voice
2020	South of the Circle	Peter	Voice, 3D motion capture
2021	Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker	Cid	English voice

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2008	Guildhall School of Music and Drama	Drama Gold Medal		Won	[14]
	Ian Charleson Awards	Commendations	portraying the Messenger in Oedipus at National Theatre	Won	[15]
2010		First Prize	portraying Edgar in King Lear at Donmar Warehouse	Won	[15]
2019	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Bohemian Rhapsody	Nominated	[16]
2021	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	The Great	Nominated	[17]

References

1. McCrum, Kirstie (13 December 2013). "Actor Gwilym's got murder in mind at Midsomer". Wales Online.
2. Lee, Gwilym (17 February 2016). "Two contrasting birthday cards from family and friends illustrating the difficulty of growing up Welsh in England...pic.twitter.com/sHsNKywJZG". @Gwilymlee. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
3. Lee, Gwilym (7 July 2018). "Apparently, it's coming home. (I know I'm Welsh - but just for this one day.....) #itscominghome #worldcup". @Gwilymlee. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
4. Kebble, Mark (16 December 2013). "Why Gwilym Lee is one to watch". The Resident. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
5. "Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse 2009". Archived from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
6. Wise, Louis (19 June 2011). "Award for young actors". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013.
7. "Photo Flash: First Look at Max Bennett, Gwilym Lee and More in Donmar Warehouse's The Promise". 20 November 2012.
8. Cole, Tom (15 April 2013). "Midsomer Murders: Gwilym Lee joins as Barnaby's new partner". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
9. "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
10. Queen Pic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Finds Bandmates In Ben Hardy, Gwilym Lee & Joe Mazzello, Retrieved 22 August 2017.
11. Nordyke, Kimberly (12 December 2018). "SAG Awards: Full List of Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
12. Bohemian Rhapsody's Gwilym Lee Joins Hulu Pilot 'The Great', Retrieved 13 May 2023.
13. Filming begins on SAS Rogue Heroes series two, as new and returning cast are announced, Retrieved 13 May 2023.
14. "Drama Gold Medal awarded to Gwilym Lee". Guildhall School. 12 December 2018. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
15. Wise, Louis. "Award for young actors". Sunday Times. 19 June 2011.
16. "Screen Actors Guild Props Up Popular Players in Film, Ignores Critical Darlings". Variety. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
17. France, Lisa Respers (4 February 2021). "SAG Award 2021: See the full list of nominees". CNN. Retrieved 4 February 2021.

External links

• Gwilym Lee at IMDb
• Gwilym Lee on Twitter
• CV at Hamilton Hodell Talent Management