Jonathan Pryce's Real Name: John Price

Quick answer: The actor is known professionally as Jonathan Pryce. Encyclopedia.com and BBC Wales independently give the original name John Price and date his birth to June 1, 1947, in Holywell, with BBC Wales specifying Holywell, Flintshire (Encyclopedia.com; BBC Wales).

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented original name John Price. Encyclopedia.com identifies his parents as a coal miner and shopkeeper and a shopkeeper, and says he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and also studied art at a college near Liverpool. BBC Wales, in a profile last updated July 13, 2010, independently says he was the son of a coal miner and shopkeeper, was educated at Holywell Grammar School, went to art school from the age of 16, then trained to become a teacher at Edge Hill College in Ormskirk, took part in a college theatre production, and was awarded a scholarship to RADA. Britannica independently dates the birth to June 1, 1947, in Wales, and records the RADA training, without using the longer original name or naming Holywell.

Career highlights

Britannica says one of his first major roles, Gethin Price in the play Comedians, earned him a Tony Award in the United States and a Theatre World Award in Britain in 1977, and that he was perhaps best known to United States audiences as Sam Lowry in the 1985 film Brazil. BBC Wales independently calls Brazil his big-screen breakthrough and says he won an Olivier Award in 1980 for Hamlet at the Royal Court Theatre. Britannica independently says his performance as the Engineer in Miss Saigon earned him a Laurence Olivier Award as best actor in a musical.

Both Britannica and BBC Wales describe the 1990 Actors' Equity dispute over his Broadway casting as the Engineer, a Eurasian role, in Miss Saigon, and BBC Wales says that after the union backed down he won a Tony Award for the performance. BBC Wales also names later credits including a Cannes best-actor award in 1995 for Carrington, the role of Juan Perón in Evita, and Weatherby Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and its sequels. Encyclopedia.com independently lists Carrington, Evita, and Pirates of the Caribbean among his film credits.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Jonathan Pryce or John Price are looking for the same Welsh actor. Independent sources support the original name used in the title. Britannica's article on him uses the professional name only.