Jonny Owen

This article is about the Welsh actor. For the Welsh boxer, see Johnny Owen. For other people, see John Owen (disambiguation).
Jonny Owen
Born Jonathan Tudor Owen
(1971-07-04) 4 July 1971
Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
Other names Jonathan Lewis Owen, Jonathan Owen, Lewis Owen, Jonny Owen
Occupation Actor, producer, voice over artist, comedian, musician, songwriter
Years active 1991–2001 (as Musician)
2001–present (as Actor)
Partner(s) Vicky McClure
Website jonnyowen.com

Jonny Owen (born Jonathan Tudor Owen on 4 July 1971) is a Welsh producer, actor and writer who has appeared TV shows including Shameless, Murphys Law and My Family. Jonny won a Welsh Bafta for his documentary The Aberfan Disaster which he co-produced in 2006.

As a teenager he was a Welsh Boys Club Boxing champion. In his later teens he was in the 1990s indie band The Pocket Devils as bass player and lead singer/songwriter.[1] Signed to Sanctuary Records in the UK and Pop Music Records in the US they finally split after Owen landed the part of Richey in the Welsh drama series Nuts and Bolts in 1999.

From Nuts and Bolts he landed parts in UK Network series including Murphy's Law with James Nesbitt and Dirty Work with Neil Pearson. It was his meeting with Irvine Welsh when filming the Gene video "Is it over?" that proved pivotal in Owen's career. He has since worked with Welsh (and his writing partner Dean Cavanagh) on several dramas including Dose for the BBC, Wedding Belles for C4 and Good Arrows for ITV (Owen was also producer).

His 2006 film Little White Lies,[2] won several film festival awards and was featured at the Moscow Film Festival. He played a BNP thug, receiving positive reviews. In 2007 he appeared as Banana Boat in Russell T Davies's Torchwood.

Owen has also worked extensively as a writer and producer for ITV Wales, including winning the 'Gwyn Alf Williams Award'[3] at the Welsh Bafta's for the 40th anniversary documentary of the Aberfan disaster.[4] It was revealed during shooting that Owen's father was one of the first Welsh miners on the scene in the recovery operation. Owen also did a piece for Cardiff City's appearance in the FA Cup final for Match of the Day in 2008. It received positive reviews in the broadsheets (The Guardian saying it was the best part of the days coverage) and from football fans across the country.[5]

In 2009 he appeared as regular character Ady in Channel 4's Shameless.[6] Owen has continued in the role of Ady in 2010.

2009 also saw the release of the independent film A Bit of Tom Jones?,[7] with Owen in the lead role. The film spread from a limited release in Wales to being shown in selected markets throughout the UK by Vue.

He is the writer and creator of Svengali[8] the cult internet series which the Evening Standard and NME called 'the best series on the net'. He plays the manager of an up-and-coming band. It is based on his own experiences in the music industry to the point he has named the character 'Dixie' after the manager of his own band. The female lead is played by Smack the Pony's Sally Phillips. Former Creation Records head Alan McGee plays the Svengali 'Dixie' pursues in an effort to get the band he manages signed. In 2013 Svengali was turned into a feature-length film, directed by John Hardwick and written by Jonny Owen. The film stars Owen, Martin Freeman, Vicky McClure, Matt Berry, Michael Socha, Michael Smiley and Natasha O'Keeffe and is the debut release from Root Films. It has been selected to show at the 67th Edinburgh International Film Festival. It has also been nominated for the Michael Powell Award, a prize which honours the best British feature film.

Owen has written for The Guardian, Telegraph, Metro and Western Mail. He also was the Voice for ITV Wales's Soccer Sunday programme from 2002–2008 and did weekly reports from France for ITV during the 2007 Rugby World Cup. In 2014 he plays in the new Jack Thornes' series Glue.

Filmography

TV
Film
Voice
Producer
Others

References

  1. ↑ Williams, Sally (16 October 2009), "'Svengali' Owen about to sign a major TV deal", Wales Online, retrieved 17 March 2010
  2. ↑ Price, Karen (18 October 2008), "Darkly comic film set to be highlight of festival", Western Mail/WalesOnline, retrieved 13 March 2010
  3. ↑ BAFTA Cymru Winners 2006, retrieved 23 March 2010
  4. ↑ "'Good fun' being a Gullible husband and wife team", Western Mail, 5 May 2007, retrieved 17 March 2010
  5. ↑ Kelner, Martin (19 May 2008), "People's Final at dangerous level of specialness", The Guardian, retrieved 23 March 2010
  6. ↑ Mainwaring, Rachel (24 January 2009), "Merthyr born actor Jonathan Owen lands great role in Channel 4's latest series of Shameless", WalesOnline, retrieved 18 January 2010
  7. ↑ Morse, Steven (22 November 2009), "It is unusual: low-budget Welsh film outperforms big hitters", The Guardian, retrieved 12 March 2010
  8. ↑ Youngs, Ian (5 May 2009), "Rock stars sign up for web comedy", BBC News, retrieved 12 March 2010

External links

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