Ten fun facts about Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Fact 1
He belonged to a working-class family and during his growing-up years worked as a farmhand. His mother was a voluntary worker and his father was a musician. By his own admission, he made an awful farmer.

Fact 2
The 16-year-old Jonathan was expelled from his school for truancy. It was at this point that he moved in with a nouveau riche farmer family who had expansive farms in the Irish countryside. He said that at that point of time it seemed like it was the best thing to do.

Fact 3
While working as a farmhand, Jonathan spent all his spare time hanging around pool halls. Casting agents who was scouting for boys to play bit roles in “War of the Buttons” spotted him and asked him to audition. He was rejected but one of the agents encouraged him to pursue an acting career.

Fact 4
Jonathan Slater’s first acting part was in a Knorr soup TV commercial.

Fact 5
His first big break was in the 1998 movie “Velvet Goldmine” in which he played the role of a rock star. It has been inspired by David Bowie.

Fact 6
In 2005, he went onto acting as Elvis Presley in a CBS mini-series. The role earned him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination.

Fact 7
In the movie “Velvet Goldmine” Rhys Meyers did most of his own singing.

Fact 8
He has been the face of Hugo Boss fragrances for a very long time.

Fact 9
He was notorious for his violent nature and his alcoholism. In one incident he got violent with several American Airline employees at New York’s JFK airport and was consequently barred for life from flying with the airline.

Fact 10
In June 2011 paramedics found him slumped on the floor of his London home and said that he had consumed an unidentifiable drug. Rumor has it that it was a suicide attempt.

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