Before portraying a criminal defense attorney on HBO’s Perry Mason (for which he was Emmy nominated in 2021 and is in the running again this year), Matthew Rhys played a man on the other side of the law on the FX drama The Americans.
The Welsh actor and Keri Russell were cast as Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, Russian spies who are paired in an arranged marriage and, in the 1980s, sent to the Washington, D.C., suburbs, where they engage in espionage while raising their two kids. THR‘s review of the show’s January 2013 debut describes its leads as “superb, giving eye-popping performances in which they convince as both sublimely ordinary parents and dangerous spies.”
Rhys and Russell, who became a real-life couple in 2014, were required to speak in multiple accents and often engage in violent scenes and action sequences. Rhys told THR in 2014 that he would “be a horrible spy. There is just no way I could ever deal with that level of pressure.”
The series was nominated for 18 Primetime Emmys over its six seasons and won four, including a best actor statuette for Rhys in 2018. In his acceptance speech, he called out director Gavin O’Connor and casting director Leslee Feldman, who “not only gave me the part and the opportunity of a lifetime, but by default you also gave me a son,” referring to his child with Russell, and “the woman who truly got me this award … Thank you, Keri Lynn. More to come.”
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
