None of the Game of Thrones fans might have forgotten the High Sparrow. With his on-point and great performance, Jonathan Pryce keeps his roles forever in the viewer’s mind. The Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce was born on June 1, 1947, in Holywell in North Wales. Pryce began his acting career on stage. He graduated from London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the 1970s. Pryce beamed on the stage with heroic and interesting roles. His title role in the play Hamlet at Royal Court Theatre won the Society of London Theatre’s Olivier Award. With a background of stage dramas, the on-screen roles he had done were always secure in his hands. Experience and versatility are the two qualities that distinguish Pryce from others. To know more about this Welsh actor keep on reading until the end of the page.
Net Worth
Jonathan Pryce is active as an actor from the year 1970 itself. His family was mediocre, so all his fortune came from his career. He is an actor, singer, salesman, Voice Actor, and Film Score Composer. Over the years Pryce has accumulated not-so-small prosperity. As of 2021, Jonathan Pryce’s net worth is 5 million dollars.
Family and early life
Pryce’s father’s name is Issac Price and his mother’s name is Margaret Ellen. His father was a coal miner and they also had a grocery shop. Pryce was the youngest in the family with two older sisters. He had his elementary schooling at Holywell Grammar School. He trained to be a teacher at Edge Hill University. It was during his college years he discovered his talent in acting. One of his teachers advised him to go to drama school. Pryce joined London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and he also got a scholarship there. Later he joined Equity, a union of actors. His birth name was John Price, but there was also a fellow performer with the same name at equity. So he had to change his name to avoid confusion. He took “Jonathan Pryce” as his stage name.
Beating Tom Cruise for the key role in Brazil
The 1985 movie Brazil is a science fiction dystopian movie directed by Terry Gilliam. Pryce played the lead character Sam Lowry and the movie was a breakthrough in Pryce’s career. Initially, Tom Cruise was also considered for this role but Pryce was finalized. Pryce said that the role of Sam Lowry was the highlight of this career. Sam Lowry is a docile and desperate character in pursuit of the girl he had seen in his dreams. The movie is a black comedy about the dystopian future. It is more like the slapstick version of 1984 by George Orwell.
Wife and Children
Jonathan Pryce is married to actress Katherine Fahy also known as Kate Fahy. Kate is a stage and film actress from Dublin. They first met in Everyman Theatre while working together in 1972. They took their time before getting married. It was a decade-long relationship. After being together for a long time the couple decided to get married in 2015. Pryce loves his wife so much and he says Kate is an extraordinary person. The couple is planning to make their 50th-anniversary special. They have three children together and now settled in London. They have two sons (Patrick born in 1983 and Gabriel born in 1986) and a daughter (Phoebe born in 1990). Pryce had acted along with his wife and daughter. The two sons are not in the acting field. One of them owns a restaurant in London. “Rita’s bar and dining” is quite popular in London.
The Crown‘s next Prince Philip
In August 2020, Netflix has announced that Jonathan Pryce will play the role of Prince Philip in season 5 and season 6 of The Crown. Pryce is taking over the role of Tobias Menzies who played Prince Philip in the last two seasons of the show.
“The positive experience I had making The Two Popes has given me the confidence to tackle the daunting prospect of playing Prince Philip,”- Pryce on Twitter.
The show will cover the story of the royal family in 1990s and 2000s in the season five and six. Imelda Staunton will play the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the last seasons of the much-acclaimed show.
Career journey
Pryce debuted in film through the 1976 war film Voyage of the Damned playing the role of Joseph Manasse. The British science fiction series Doomwatch in 1972 made his television debut. During the mid-1970s, Pryce was active on the stages of London. He had important roles in plays such as Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra. Pryce started getting recognition on television during the 1980s.
His role as the manipulative journalist James Penfield in the 1983 movie The Ploughman’s Lunch made a good impression on the viewers. Pryce portrayed the character of Governor Swann in the 2003 movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl which was a great hit. He was also there in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007). Pryce grabbed the nomination for the Lead Actor in the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs for his role in the Netflix drama The Two Popes which came out in 2019. He amazingly portrayed the role of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in the drama.
Pryce also played an important role in Game of Thrones. He was nominated in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at Screen actors Guild Award in 2017 for his role as High Sparrow in Game of Thrones.
Pryce plays the role of Pope Francis in a Netflix drama because of his facial similarity with The Pope. Pryce loves to be addressed to be as Welsh more than being called as an English. Pryce is more resigned to the inevitabilities in life. This 74-year-old actor says that he isn’t afraid of old age and waiting for more promising roles.