Early Life
Richard Lloyd Owen was born on 14 April 1966 at the Charing Cross Hospital in Westminster, London, England. He was brought up in the nation's capital, although both of his parents were Welsh – his father, actor Glyn Owen (1928–2004), was from Caernarfon, Gwynedd, in northwest Wales, while his mother, actress Patricia Mort, was from Morriston in Swansea, Wales. His sister is the actress Cathy Owen.
When he was at Highgate School, because his father was an actor, his teachers thought that he should be able to act, too. However, at first he was not interested. "I was always made to read plays at school but I never wanted to. Then I was made to take part in a school play and I didn't want to do that either but I started to get approval for my acting. I was reasonably academic, good at sport, but somehow with the acting, people said 'that was fantastic'. So I thought 'maybe that's what I'll do then'. It went from there." Growing up in a theatrical family, as a child Owen met many icons who were his father's friends, including John Conteh, Tommy Cooper, Ken Dodd, Ronnie Fraser, Richard Harris, Danny La Rue and Peter O'Toole. On one occasion, he met Albert Finney and told him he wanted to be an actor. Finney advised him: "Keep your head down and work hard."
At 16, Owen went straight from school to the National Youth Theatre, and subsequently received some formal training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. While there he managed to get an acting job and an Equity card, but when he told the principal of RADA he needed a term off, the request was denied and he was expelled from the Academy after just a year. Fortunately, Owen landed a job with Cheek by Jowl and followed the theatre company on tour around the world performing Shakespeare plays. Owen has said that he wished he had gone to university, and that he had been "in too much of a rush".
Read more about this topic: Lloyd Owen
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“In early times every sort of advantage tends to become a military advantage; such is the best way, then, to keep it alive. But the Jewish advantage never did so; beginning in religion, contrary to a thousand analogies, it remained religious. For that we care for them; from that have issued endless consequences.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“I am so tired of taking to others
translating my life for the deaf, the blind,
the “I really want to know what your life is like without giving up any of my privileges
to live it” white women
the “I want to live my white life with Third World women’s style and keep my skin
class privileges” dykes”
—Lorraine Bethel, African American lesbian feminist poet. “What Chou Mean We, White Girl?” Lines 49-54 (1979)