From his acting origins at the Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama to headlining the latest DC comics adaptation Clayface, Tom Rhys Harries’ career is taking shape. Keiron Self has observed more of it than most, and offers an overview here.
It’s been a meteoric rise for Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries over the past few years. Hailing from South Glamorgan, the actor has been steadily accumulating credits since his first film role that he landed whilst still at drama school, 2011’s Hunky Dory. Bigger breakthroughs came onstage: Mojo, with Ben Whishaw and Rupert Grint, in the West End circa 2014, then The History Boys in Sheffield Theatre. More recently, Harries was seen in the 2022 remounting of Chekhov’s The Seagull, with Game Of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke.
In summer 2020, the pandemic made Netflix drama White Lines a hit, with Harries’ performance as DJ Axel Collins turning heads and leading to roles in Apple TV thriller Suspicion, an inevitable Doctor Who episode, and a turn in 2024’s non-Nolan Odyssey adaptation The Return – alongside Ralph Fiennes, and under the direction of Uberto Pasolini. Harries has range: a Welsh speaker with edge and movie-star looks.
As for 2026, it’s been a bumper year for the actor, who’s starred in two acclaimed Welsh films: Effi O Blaenau, as Effi’s duplicitous boyfriend Lee, and Madfabulous as a theatre impresario using his looks to get to the Marquis of Anglesey’s riches. And now he’s the lead in a massive horror superhero story.
Clayface, adapted from the DC Comics characters of the same name, has been shepherded by Superman director James Gunn plus Stephen King adaptor and current master of horror Mike Flanagan; it’s directed by James Watkins, who brought us visceral and haunting horrors Eden Lake, The Woman In Black and last year’s Speak No Evil. Harries is also toying with his handsomeness in Clayface – he plays Matt Hagen, a successful actor whose face gets mutilated, leading him to some questionable serum-injecting solutions. Botox has never gone so wrong.
Though Harries seems on the brink of superstardom, in Clayface his comparative anonymity gives him a believable rawness. Sure, it’s yet another superhero film, but hopefully one with quirks and depth which Harries can lead with confidence. He’s certainly come a long way since I saw him at his Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama showcase, doing a speech from Steve Martin’s The Jerk. Not bad for a Cardiff boy.
Clayface is in cinemas from Fri 23 Oct.
words KEIRON SELF
