Background and career
John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944) is a Welsh actor known for portraying Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise. He has received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, with one win, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Rhys-Davies is also known for his performances in the films Sahara (1983), The Living Daylights (1987), Glory Daze (1995), The Medallion (2003) and One Night with the King (2006). He is also known for his extensive voice work including Cats Don't Dance (1997), Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (2000), SpongeBob SquarePants (2000–2002), and TripTank (2015–2016). Rhys-Davies also gained acclaim for his television roles as Macro in I, Claudius (1976), Vasco Rodrigues in Shōgun (1980), and Michael Malone in The Untouchables (1993). From 1995 to 1997, he portrayed Professor Maximillian Arturo in Sliders.
John Rhys-Davies was born in Salisbury on 5 May 1944, the son of Welsh parents. His mother, Phyllis Jones, was a nurse, while his father, Rhys Davies, was a mechanical engineer and colonial officer. Due to his father's work as a colonial police officer, Rhys-Davies was raised in Tanganyika (today part of Tanzania) before his family moved to the Welsh town of Ammanford. While in Tanganyika, his family lived in places such as Dar es Salaam, Kongwa, Moshi, and Mwanza. Rhys-Davies was educated at independent Truro School in Cornwall and then at the University of East Anglia, where he was one of the first 105 students admitted and became a co-founder of its drama club. After a stint teaching at a secondary school in Watton, Norfolk, Rhys-Davies won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Rhys-Davies appeared sporadically on UK television in the early 1970s, including his role as the gangster "Laughing Spam Fritter" opposite Adam Faith in Budgie. Later, Rhys-Davies played Praetorian officer Naevius Sutorius Macro in I, Claudius. He then began to appear more frequently, and not just in the UK, with roles as a Portuguese navigator Rodrigues in the 1980 television miniseries Shōgun, based on the novel by James Clavell. In 1989, Rhys-Davies played Marvel Comics character Kingpin in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. He also starred in another Clavell adaption, Noble House, set in Hong Kong, where Rhys-Davies plays Ian Dunross' corporate enemy, Quillan Gornt. He has since appeared in numerous television shows and miniseries, including Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables as well as a leading role in the television series Sliders as Professor Maximillian Arturo from 1995 to 1997.
Rhys-Davies also appeared in Reilly, Ace of Spies in 1983, made several appearances in Star Trek: Voyager as a holodeck version of Leonardo da Vinci, starred as an ally of James Bond in The Living Daylights, and appeared in the film One Night with the King. Rhys-Davies has played the character Porthos in two separate projects; a two-part episode of The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, and the Hallmark Channel film La Femme Musketeer. He appears in the full-motion video cut scenes of computer games including Ripper (as Vigo Haman) (1996), Dune 2000 (as Noree Moneo) (1998), and the Wing Commander series (as James Taggart, doubling as the voice of Thrakhath nar Kiranka in the third game of the series). In 2004, Rhys-Davies narrated The Privileged Planet, a documentary that makes the case for intelligent design. He also provided narration in the MTV series Wildboyz around this time. In 2013, Rhys-Davies appeared in the family history programme Coming Home, in which he discovered information about his grandfather's life in the Carmarthenshire coal mines. In 2014, Rhys-Davies joined the cast of the television show Métal Hurlant Chronicles to play Holgarth, an immortal alchemist. In October 2015, it was announced that he had a role in the single-player module Squadron 42, of the planned PC game franchise Star Citizen; the work consisted of full body motion capture, including facial expressions and his voice. In October 2024, with Squadron 42 in its 10th year of development, the developer suggested that it might be released in 2026.
Rhys-Davies played Sallah in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. He reprised the role of Sallah in two subsequent Indiana Jones films.
Rhys-Davies appeared as the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The cinematography of the films was aided in that Rhys-Davies is tall – 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), compared to the actors playing hobbits at around 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m). Therefore, although his character was supposed to be short, Rhys-Davies was properly in proportion compared to the hobbit actors. Had he been of more similar height, shots of the entire fellowship would have required three camera passes rather than two. Rhys-Davies is the only one of the nine Fellowship of the Ring actors who did not receive a tattoo of the word "nine" written in the Tengwar script; his stunt double, Brett Beattie, was offered the tattoo instead as Rhys-Davies was disinclined to get one himself and Beattie had spent so much time as his double that he almost received co-credit. Rhys-Davies suffered severe reactions to the prosthetics used during filming, and his eyes sometimes swelled shut. When asked whether Rhys-Davies would consider returning to the role for the film version of The Hobbit, he said, "I have already completely ruled it out. There's a sentimental part of me that would love to be involved again. Really I am not sure my face can take that sort of punishment any more." Rhys-Davies added that this time around, "[t]hey've got a different set of problems ... because you've got 13 dwarves, a whole band of them ... You're trying to represent a whole race ... You're trying to do for dwarves what The Lord of the Rings did for hobbits." He offered help as a dwarf advisor in 2011, but ruled out returning as Gimli in The Hobbit because of the punishing makeup required.
