Early life

Born in Neath

Neath

Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...

, Gwilym is the brother of actor Robert Gwilym

Robert Gwilym

Robert Gwilym , sometimes known as Bob Gwilym, is a Welsh actor.Robert Gwilym is from Neath in south Wales, where his family owned a clothes shop...

, son of Arthur Aubrey Remington Gwilym and Renée Mathilde Eugénie Léonce Dupont. His parents were the proprietors of a women's clothing chain in Wales. Mike's Belgian maternal grandfather was the oil industrialist Edmond Jules Dupont from Liège. Mike Gwilym's interest in acting began while at Wycliffe Preparatory School, but he began his acting career while at university at Oxford with the Oxford University Dramatic Society

Oxford University Dramatic Society

The Oxford University Dramatic Society is the principal funding body and provider of theatrical services to the many independent student productions put on by students in Oxford, England...

, and went on to join the Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 Citizens' Theatre.

Career

His stage debut was as 'Prince Hal' in Henry IV, Part 1

Henry IV, Part 1

Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...

at the Playhouse Theatre, Sheffield, UK in 1969.

Gwilym joined the Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

 in 1974; his debut in London was with that company in that year as 'Vlass' in Summerfolk, at the Aldwych Theatre

Aldwych Theatre

The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

. He starred in many of their productions during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors (1976 musical)

The Comedy of Errors is a musical with a book and lyrics by Trevor Nunn and music by Guy Woolfenden. It is based on the William Shakespeare play of the same title, which previously was adapted for the musical stage as The Boys from Syracuse by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and George Abbott in 1938...

, King Lear

King Lear

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...

, Troilus and Cressida

Troilus and Cressida

Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...

, and Love's Labour's Lost

Love's Labour's Lost

Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...

. He made his television debut in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's 1975 adaptation of How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, telling the story through narration of the main character, of his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed to have based the book on his own knowledge of the Gilfach Goch area, but this was proven...

. His most high-profile role was as Sid Halley in The Racing Game, a six-part Yorkshire Television

Yorkshire Television

Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...

 series based on Dick Francis

Dick Francis

Richard Stanley "Dick" Francis CBE was an English jockey and crime writer, many of whose novels centre around horse racing.- Personal life :...

's 1965 novel Odds Against. He subsequently returned to playing classical roles on stage and screen. In the BBC Television Shakespeare

BBC Television Shakespeare

The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985.-Origins:...

 series, he starred in Coriolanus

Coriolanus (play)

Coriolanus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus.-Characters:*Caius Martius, later surnamed Coriolanus...

(as Aufidius), in Love's Labour's Lost

Love's Labour's Lost

Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...

(as Berowne), and Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio...

in the title role.

Gwilym retired from the professional stage to the South of Spain (province of Malaga), where his parents had a summer home in the 1990s. From the year 2001 he has shared a home with his partner in Sotogrande

Sotogrande

Sotogrande is the largest resort and privately owned residential development in Andalusia. A large part of the resort is administered by NH Hotels and it is considered part of the NH World...

 in the province of Cadiz.

External links