My parents aren't artists or anything, but growing up in Wales, especially in a Welsh language school and community, they have this thing called the Eisteddfod where people compete in singing and acting and dancing and oratory all sorts of things. From a very young age, it's been a part of my upbringing.

Iwan Rheon

Categorized in : School Artist Growing Up

The characters I tend to play are a little more interesting than the standard heroes. Romantic leads can be a little more straightforward, I guess. But it just seems to be the parts I get, I don't know what that says about me. I enjoy interesting characters and interesting people, I suppose.

hero play character

Probably. It's a weird thing with accents.When I was in drama school my accent probably got stronger because of that sense of identity when you leave home and go to somewhere where there are loads of people from different places. Holding on to being Welsh and where I was from was a real crutch for me.

real home drama

I walked past Noel Gallagher on the street once and everyone was like, "Go speak to him! He's one of your heroes!" I thought I'd leave him. I don't know what I'd say to him.

noel hero past

I think drama school really teaches you how to annunciate; you're conscious that people might not understand you if you speak too fast and too Welsh.

drama school thinking

Um, well my main profession is acting and music is what I love doing. It's kind of nice like that in a way because it means I'm under no real pressure with the music. I have got complete creative control and I can make whatever I want. So, that takes a lot of the pressures off because there's no financial pressure. And it's something I've always loved doing.

nice real mean

When you write a song, there's no point keeping it to yourself. by Iwan Rheon

When you write a song, there's no point keeping it to yourself.

no-point writing song

I wasn’t, you know, Mr Popular. I was somewhere in the middle ground. I was quite alternative, the things I liked to do. Skateboarding, at the time. Playing in a band as opposed to playing in the rugby team. You know, that kind of thing.

skateboarding alternatives team

I’m still secretly a bit of a punk. Love The Clash and a bit of the Pistols. I guess as I’ve got older I’ve chilled out a bit. But, my teenage angst is still stirring somewhere!

pistols punk teenage

But acting is my main profession so it's about finding the right balance. I don't know how, if I went any further with the music, I would manage to do both - I would have to take time off from acting because I couldn't do both at same time. I could do six months on and six months off perhaps. But I'm really proud of the record. I've worked on it for a while and I'm really glad to finally get the album out, having done three EPs prior to its release.

balance six acting

Weirdly, when I was in drama school my accent probably got stronger because of that sense of identity when you leave home and go to somewhere where there are loads of people from different places. Holding on to being Welsh and where I was from was a real crutch for me.

real home drama

It's a weird thing with accents. When I go home it gets a lot stronger, when I've had a few beers it gets a lot stronger.

stronger beer home

When you're doing the same scene over and over, all day long, you need to keep your levels up for your own performance and for the other actors.

actors long needs

I was a huge Radiohead fan growing up. by Iwan Rheon

I was a huge Radiohead fan growing up.

radiohead growing-up fans

The music is mine. Theres nothing to hide behind. Thats where you... by Iwan Rheon

The music is mine. Theres nothing to hide behind. Thats where you see the real person.

behinds music-is real

I'd done two years on a soap opera where I was shooting things every day and they gave me a hard time about that, which I think is the wrong way to teach a young actor. They just made me really, really self-conscious about everything I did, which is the opposite of what you need to be when you're filming.

hard-times self thinking

I just want my music to be put out there, not shoved in peoples f... by Iwan Rheon

I just want my music to be put out there, not shoved in peoples faces. I want to keep it relaxed.

relaxed faces want

There was so much great music around in the 60s, stuff like The Small Faces, but I also love The Jam.

jam faces stuff

I have no ambitions to be a pop star. by Iwan Rheon

I have no ambitions to be a pop star.

pops stars ambition

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a rock star, not an actor. It means I can do what I want on my own terms.

own rock-star my-own i-can

The first CD I had was 'Definitely Maybe' by Oasis, and I had a tape of' 'Parklife' by Blur when I was nine.

maybe first blur oasis