Rhys-Davies was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, the son of Welsh parents Mary Margaretta Phyllis Jones, a nurse, and Rhys Davies, a mechanical engineer and colonial officer. He spent much of his childhood in his mother's home town of Ammanford, Wales although he was also raised in Africa. He was sent to Truro School in Cornwall. He was one of 87 students in the first intake of the University of East Anglia, where he founded the Dramatic Society. After teaching at Watton County Secondary School in Norfolk he won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Although appearing sporadically on U.K. television in the early 1970s (for instance, as gangster Laughing Spam Fritter opposite Adam Faith in Budgie), Rhys-Davies first gained widely spread fame for his performance as Praetorian officer Naevius Sutorius Macro in I, Claudius. He then began to appear more frequently, and not only in the U.K., with roles as a Portuguese captain Rodrigues in the 1980 television miniseries Shogun, and in the Indiana Jones movies. He has since appeared in numerous television shows and miniseries, including a leading role in the television series Sliders as Professor Maximillian Arturo from 1995 to 1997. He also made several appearances on Star Trek: Voyager as a holodeck version of Leonardo da Vinci. He also starred as an ally of James Bond in The Living Daylights and appeared in the movie One Night with the King. Davies has played the character Porthos in two separate projects; a two-part episode of the The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne and the Hallmark Channel movie La Femme Musketeer. He has also appeared in a number of Sci Fi Channel original movies.

He is also known for his popular portrayal of the dwarf Gimli in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. The filmography of that was complicated by the fact that Rhys-Davies is of unusually great height (6'1"),[5] whereas his character was supposed to be very short. Rhys-Davies is the only cast member who played a member of the Fellowship but did not receive a tattoo of the word "nine" written in the Tengwar script. The other members of the cast (Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, and Elijah Wood) got the same tattoo. Rhys-Davies' stunt double got the tattoo instead, because Rhys-Davies' allergy to the prosthetics only allowed him to work once about every three days while in them.

In addition to voicing the Ent Treebeard in Lord of the Rings, Rhys-Davies has also lent his distinctive deep, Welsh voice to many video games and animated television series, including playing the role of Hades in Justice League and numerous times in Gargoyles, as the character Macbeth. He appears in the full motion video cut scenes of computer games including Ripper (as Vigo Haman) (1996), Dune 2000 (as Noree Moneo) (1998), and the Wing Commander series (as James Paladin Taggart). He also lent his vocal talents to the games Freelancer and Lords of Everquest (both in 2003) and the game Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, which was released with his narration on a CD ROM version in 1995. In 2004, he was the unknowing subject of an internet prank that spread false rumours in several main-stream medial sources that he was scheduled to play the role of General Grievous in Star Wars Episode III.[6]He also made a vocal role on Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance as the character Jherek, and narrated a documentary called The Glory of Macedonia.

In 1966 he married Suzanne A.D. Wilkinson, a translator. They have two sons, Ben and Tom. Has lived with Lisa Manning (ex-host from television show Good Morning since 2004. They have a daughter, Maia. Although he separated from his wife in the early 1980s, he has not divorced her and has no plans to. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1995 and he remains close to her.

• The Naked Civil Servant (1975)
• I, Claudius (1976)
• The Nativity(1978) (TV)
• A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
• Shogun(1980)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Ivanhoe (1982)
• Victor/Victoria (1982)
• Sahara(1983)
• Sadat (1983)
• King Solomon's Mines(1985)
• The Living Daylights(1987)
• Waxwork (1988)
• Noble House (1988)
• War and Remembrance(1988)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989)
• Great Expectations(1989)
• The Lost World (1992)
• Return to the Lost World (1992)
• Sunset Grill (1993)
• Cyborg Cop(1993)
• The Seventh Coin (1993)
• The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter(1993)
• The Untouchables(TV series, 1993-1994)
• The High Crusade(1994)
• Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness(1994)
• Sliders(1995-1997)
• Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996)
• The Great White Hype (1996)
• Glory Daze(1996)
• Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) (voice)
• Marquis de Sade (1996)
• Cats Don't Dance (1997) (voice)
• Bloodsport 3 (1997)
• Secret Of The Andes (1998)
• Au Pair(1999)
• Britannic(2000)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• Sabretooth(2002)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (dual role)
• Endangered Species (2002)
• Scorcher(2002)
• Coronado(2003)
• Freelancer(2003) (voice)
• The Jungle Book 2(2003) (voice)
• The Medallion (2003)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (dual role)
• The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)
• La Femme Musketeer(2004)
• The Lost Angel(2004)
• The Privileged Planet (2004) (voice of Narrator)
• Dragon Storm(2004 TV Movie)
• The Game of Their Lives (2005)
• Chupacabra Terror
• a.k.a. Chupacabra: Dark Seas (2005)
• The King Maker(2005)
• One Night with the King (2006)
• The Legend of Sasquatch (2006)
• In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007)
• The Ferryman(2007)
• Catching Kringle(Short Film; 2007) (voice)
• Anaconda 3: The Offspring (2008)
• Fire & Ice: The Dragon Chronicles(2008)
• Prisoners of the Sun (2008)

You can edit this page to add links to blogs, sites, and other information... If this page has a "PageType" set above - that will determine where the page is listed on SideReel. You can add text, a picture, links or more by editing the page... Check out the links above if you need help.