Background
Born John Price in Carmel, Flintshire, he is the son of Margaret Ellen (née Williams) and Isaac Price, a former coal miner who, along with his wife, ran a small general grocery shop. Price has two older sisters.
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Born John Price in Carmel, Flintshire, he is the son of Margaret Ellen (née Williams) and Isaac Price, a former coal miner who, along with his wife, ran a small general grocery shop. Price has two older sisters.
He was educated at Holywell Grammar School (today Holywell High School), and, at the age of 16, he went to art college and then started training to be a teacher at Edge Hill College (now Edge Hill University) in Ormskirk. While studying, he took part in a college theatre production.
An impressed tutor suggested he should become an actor and, on Pryce's behalf, applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for an application form; Pryce was awarded a scholarship to RADA. When he joined Equity he used Jonathan Pryce as his stage name because Equity will only have one actor with any particular name on its books. While at RADA Pryce worked as a door-to-door salesman of velvet paintings. Pryce was part of a 'new wave' of actors to emerge from the Academy. Others included Bruce Payne, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Kenneth Branagh and Fiona Shaw.
Despite finding RADA "straight-laced", and being told by his tutor that he could never aspire to do more than playing villains on Z-Cars, when he graduated he joined the Everyman Theatre Liverpool Company, eventually becoming the theatre's Artistic Director and went on to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the Nottingham Playhouse.
To gain his Equity card to work in Liverpool, he made his first screen appearance in a minor role on a 1972 episode of the British science fiction programme Doomwatch, called "Fire & Brimstone". He then starred in two television films, both directed by Stephen Frears, Daft as a Brush and Playthings. After the Everyman, Pryce joined the director Sir Richard Eyre at the Nottingham Playhouse and starred in the Trevor Griffiths play Comedians in a role specially written for his talents, Gethin Price. The production then transferred to London's Old Vic Theatre and in 1976 he reprised the role on Broadway, this time directed by Mike Nichols, for which he won the 1977 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, his first Tony Award. It was around this time that he appeared in his first movie role, playing the character Joseph Manasse in the film drama Voyage of the Damned, starring Faye Dunaway. He did not, however, abandon the stage, appearing from 1978 to 1979 in the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of The Taming of the Shrew as Petruchio, and Antony and Cleopatra as Octavius Caesar.
In 1980, his performance in the title role of Hamlet at the Royal Court Theatre won him an Olivier Award, and was acclaimed by some critics as the definitive Hamlet of his generation. That year, Pryce had a small but pivotal role as Zarniwoop in the 12th episode of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series, one that he reprised for the Quintessential Phase which was broadcast in 2005. In his original role as Zarniwoop, Pryce's character questions the "ruler of the Universe", a solipsist who has been chosen to rule arguably because of either his inherent manipulability, or immunity therefrom, on his philosophical opinions. Around the same time, he also appeared in the film Breaking Glass (1980). Pryce played the role of the sinister Mr. Dark in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), based on the Ray Bradbury novel of the same title. After appearing mostly in films, such as the Ian McEwan-scripted The Ploughman's Lunch, and Martin Luther, Heretic (both also 1983), he achieved a breakthrough with his role as the subdued protagonist Sam Lowry in the Terry Gilliam film, Brazil (1985). After Brazil, Pryce appeared in the historical thriller The Doctor and the Devils (also 1985) and then in the Gene Wilder-directed film Haunted Honeymoon (1986). During this period of his life, Pryce continued to perform on stage, and gained particular notice as the successful but self-doubting writer Trigorin in a London production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in late 1985. From 1986 to 1987 Pryce played the lead part in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth, which also starred Sinéad Cusack as Lady Macbeth. Also in 1986 he starred in the film Jumpin' Jack Flash.
After a series of major dramatic roles on stage, including Vanya and Macbeth, Pryce decided he wanted to do musicals after seeing his friend Patti LuPone in the original London production of Les Misérables. He would successfully return to the stage originating the role of The Engineer, a Eurasian pimp, in the West End musical Miss Saigon. His performance was praised in England where he won the Olivier and Variety Club awards, but when the production transferred to Broadway the Actors' Equity Association (AEA) would not allow Pryce to portray The Engineer because, according to their executive secretary, "the casting of a Caucasian actor made up to appear Asian is an affront to the Asian community." Cameron Mackintosh, the show's producer, decided to cancel the $10 million New York production because, he said, he would not let the freedom of artistic expression be attacked. Realizing that its decision would result in the loss of many jobs, and after Pryce received much support from the acting community (both Charlton Heston and John Malkovich threatened to leave the union if Pryce was not allowed to perform) the AEA decided to make a deal with Mackintosh, allowing Pryce to appear in the production. He would then, in 1991, win a Tony Award for his performance. Made in the same period, Pryce starred in the ITV mini-series Selling Hitler (1991) as Gerd Heidemann. Pryce returned to the London stage the following year to star for one night only at the Royal Festival Hall for an AIDS charity alongside Elaine Paige and Lilliane Montivecchi in the 1992 revival of the Federico Fellini-inspired musical Nine.
During the early 2000s Pryce starred and participated in a variety of movies, such as The Affair of the Necklace (2001), Unconditional Love (2002), What a Girl Wants (2003), and Terry Gilliam's aborted project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. While the success of some of these films was variable, the 2001 London stage production of My Fair Lady and his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins was acclaimed by observers. This production turned out to be very stressful for Pryce because Martine McCutcheon, who portrayed Eliza Doolittle, was sick during much of the show's run. McCutcheon was replaced by her understudy Alexandra Jay, who would also fall sick hours before a performance, forcing her understudy, Kerry Ellis, to take the lead. Pryce was understandably upset and on her first night introduced Ellis to the audience before the show by saying "This will be your first Eliza, my second today and my third this week. Any member of the audience interested in playing Eliza can find applications at the door. Wednesday and Saturday matinee available." Pryce ended up dealing with four Elizas during the course of 14 months. Despite the difficulty, the show was nominated for four Laurence Olivier Awards on 2001: Best Actress in a Musical for Martine McCutcheon, Outstanding Musical Production, Best Theatre Choreographer and Best Actor in a Musical for Pryce. Pryce lost to Philip Quast, although ironically McCutcheon won in her category having played fewer performances than any of her understudies. Pryce did express interest in doing My Fair Lady in New York, but when asked if he would do it with McCutcheon he said that "there's as much chance of me getting a date with Julia Roberts as doing My Fair Lady in New York with Martine McCutcheon."
In 2015 he joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 5 as the High Sparrow. Pryce admitted that one of the main reasons he took on the role was because of how influential the character is plot-wise. While initially being quite sceptical about "sword and sorcery" shows, Pryce later had a change of heart after his positive experiences on the Thrones sets. In 2015 he also appeared at The Globe Theatre as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. His real life daughter Phoebe played Shylock's daughter Jessica. In 2015, he joined the cast of The Healer starring with Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Camilla Luddington, and Jorge Garcia.
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While working at the Everyman Theatre in 1972, Pryce met actress Kate Fahy. They based their home in London, where they currently live. They have three children: Patrick (born 1983), Gabriel (born 1986) and Phoebe (born 1990).