Kai Owen
Born: 4th September 1975
Episodes Broadcast: 2006-2009, 2011
Born in Llanrwst, Wales, Kai Owen became involved in amateur dramatics
during his youth, while attending Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy. His passion for
performance led him to study acting and musical theatre at Mountview
Theatre School in London, from which he graduated in 1998. Owen soon won
regular roles on Welsh-language programmes including Treflan and
more than fifty episodes of Tipyn O Stad. After the turn of the
century, he branched out into English-language shows such as Fun At
The Funeral Parlour, Casualty and Rocket Man. During
2005, Owen made his West End debut in Ying Tong: A Walk With The
Goons. He married actress Sarah Annis, with whom he had son
Bobby.
In 2006, Owen could be seen in the Doctor Who spin-off
Torchwood, having been cast in the recurring role of Rhys
Williams, the affable boyfriend of Eve Myles' Gwen Cooper. Rhys was
originally kept in the dark about Gwen's involvement with Torchwood, and
the character was intended to be killed off in the season finale.
However, Owen's performance was so successful that his involvement was
instead expanded during Torchwood's second run in 2008, with Rhys
and Gwen ultimately married in Something Borrowed. He was
promoted to series regular for 2009's epic-length Children Of Earth, and he
maintained this status when Torchwood became an American
co-production for its fourth and final season in 2011. Owen also played
Rhys in two Torchwood radio dramas: 2009's The Dead Line
and 2011's The Devil And Miss Carew.
Following the end of Torchwood, Owen began an association with
Hollyoaks which would see him appear in more than seventy
episodes. Amongst his other credits during the 2010s were Being
Human, The Accident, and five episodes of Doctors in
which he played a character named after former Doctor Who actor
Matthew Waterhouse. In 2012, Owen portrayed Rickard Karne in the
Bernice Summerfield audio drama Vesuvius Falling for Big
Finish Productions. When the company launched its Torchwood
range, he soon reprised the role of Rhys, starting with 2015's
Forgotten Lives.
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