Actor Matthew Rhys, who made history at the Emmys, expressed gratitude to the people of Wales for nurturing his talent. After winning two best lead Emmy awards in one night, he stated,

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"To the great and good people of Wales, who were as much a nurturer as anyone else. We are a small but mighty nation."
"Diolch yn fawr iawn," he added, meaning "thank you very much" in Welsh.

At 51, Rhys won best lead for the supernatural Apple comedy Widow’s Bay and the psychological Netflix thriller The Beast in Me. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), one of the UK’s most prestigious drama schools. Growing up in Whitchurch, Cardiff, he was inspired by Welsh film legends Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins.

Early Education and Influence

The seeds of his talent were sown at his Welsh-speaking schools, Ysgol Melin Gruffydd and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf. Rhys received not only an excellent education but also participated in numerous drama and school performances. Fellow pupil and BBC’s Morning Live host Gethin Jones recalled their performance together in an Elvis show at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf when Rhys was 17:

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"In the Welsh language there’s no ‘v’ so we all walked around in these shirts that said ‘Elfis’."
"[Rhys] was a remarkable talent, even then," said the school’s current headteacher, Matthew Evans.