Hans Matheson (born 7 August 1975) is a Scottish actor and musician. In a wide-ranging film and television career he has taken lead roles in diverse films such as Doctor Zhivago, Sherlock Holmes, The Tudors, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Clash of the Titans and 300: Rise of an Empire. In addition to acting, Matheson sings and plays guitar, violin and harmonica, and released an album of his songs in 2019.

Early life

Matheson was born in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. His parents were Sheena, a therapist, and Iain (Ado), a folk musician and painter. His late younger brother, William Matheson, was also an actor. He disliked school and prompted by his mother enrolled and studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, London.

Career

His first screen appearance was as a youth being interviewed by the police in an episode of The Bill in 1995; he was then cast in other UK TV dramas before he made his feature film debut as Johnny Silver in Jez Butterworth's directorial debut, Mojo. He had created the same role in the stage premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in July 1995. He followed the film Mojo with Stella Does Tricks, playing a young male prostitute hooked on drugs who befriends Stella, a 15 year old prostitute.

Matheson then played Marius in Bille August's film version of Les Misérables, appearing alongside Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush and Claire Danes, where he "was determined to play him as a heartfelt revolutionary, demanding power for the people". When he went to New York it was the first time he had left the UK in what he described shortly after as "an unbelievable turn of events". In 2000 he starred in Canone Inverso set in the 1930s, as Jeno Varga, a young man who falls in love with a pianist; he learnt the violin for this role. The actor visited Pasternak's niece in Oxford, and on reading some of the Russian poetry (in translation by his sister) was "inspired beyond belief"; and saw it as a "great opportunity to play a wonderful character with such a huge range of emotions". Despite inevitable comparisons with the 1965 Lean film, his portrayal - "intense, playful, assured and able to convey a very effective sense of trouble brewing" was praised, and another critic commended the "outstanding performances", noting how "Matheson's sunken eyes capture the toll Zhivago's travails exact upon him, both spiritually and physically".

Matheson played a private in the trenches in the 2002 horror war film Deathwatch, then in early 2004 he starred as an alcoholic in rehab in the television docu-film Comfortably Numb, which he later described as "his proudest role". one described Matheson's performance as "as affecting as it was understated", adding "I haven't seen anyone command the small screen so effectively in a long time. In 2006, Matheson co-starred as a lighthouse-keeper who has a romance with murder mystery author Demi Moore in the film Half Light. He then portrayed the Earl of Essex in a BBC production about Queen Elizabeth I of England called The Virgin Queen, broadcast in the US in 2005 and the UK in 2006. For this role, he sought to emulate the swagger of Marc Bolan, listening a lot to Bolan and Kurt Cobain (for his aggression) in the dressing room; he added "I really, really loved playing this character ...with Essex I felt I had to constantly come outside of my safety zone, which was very liberating for me". Another period drama followed when he appeared as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in the second season of the Showtime series The Tudors in 2008.

The same year Matheson played Alec Stoke-d'Urberville, "calculating and spoilt, but also friendly and charming" in the four-part BBC adaptation of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. His was not the one-note villain, rather a damaged and misguided individual; "I tried to find something in his story. I don't think that he ever intended to hurt Tess and I think he believed he loved her, but in reality it was more of an obsession", Matheson commented later. while another critic added that the "relationship between Tess and Alec is extremely well portrayed". Matheson then played Argive archer Ixas in the 2010 Clash of the Titans remake. he starred in The Christmas Candle as Reverend David Richmond. He considered the film more as a "romantic comedy", and not a message of Christian faith, and was drawn to the idea of an authority figure, vicar, who humbly realises that there is much more for him to learn. He acknowledged that he was occasionally nervous when performing, wishing that he could be in control of himself, adding that in acting one has to "let go" and that "you can't guarantee what happens". and in 2002 he again expressed his concern at becoming "a media face, someone who's well known by people he doesn't know". Seeing acting more as a vocation than a career, he stated that "You've got to realise that it's not everything, making films", and that what he does in his life should have some meaning to him, not just a way to pay the rent; "...my music is really more essential to me for my soul". and The Healing Waves – Songs of Loss Longing Love and Liberation (vocals, percussion, drums, viola) in 2019, Matheson released his own first album in 2019 entitled Sail the Sea with ten songs composed by him (vocals, guitar).

He also sings on the 1998 soundtrack album of Still Crazy (1998), and one song on the soundtrack of Mojo.

References

  • British Film Institute page 'Hans Matheson'
  • Hans Matheson online a website with biography, comments on productions, and photo galleries
  • YouTube channel of Hans Matheson (songs)