Iwan Rheon has appeared in Misfits, Vicious and Game Of Thrones (Picture: PA)

Actor Iwan Rheon, 28, has been in Misfits and Vicious, as well as Game Of Thrones, in which he played baddie Ramsay Snow. He’s releasing a new EP.

What can people expect from the EP? It’s quite stripped-back and acoustic. It’s quite intimate. I’ve started working on the album, which will be a longer process, but I’ll hopefully get it done by the end of the summer.

What are the songs about? Bang! Bang! is the story of two people meeting, having eye contact. It’s about a waitress and a man in a restaurant who have this special feeling between them but they never meet again. So it’s a bit depressing, really.



Who are your musical influences? I was a huge Radiohead fan growing up. I listen to a lot of reggae. The first CD I had was Definitely Maybe by Oasis and I had a tape of Parklife by Blur when I was nine. I had an older brother who said: ‘You should listen to this,’ because I was listening to the crap pop stuff that was around at the time. I went to see Pulp when I was ten. It was just after Jarvis Cocker had mooned Michael Jackson at the Brit Awards and I was worried the gig would be cancelled if he was arrested.


What’s the worst gig you’ve done? I did a charity event for my mate at a drama school, which was more of a comedy night, so my music didn’t fit in and I couldn’t hear myself. They had some drama school-type people doing embarrassing spoken-word stuff pretending they were from the street, whereas they were actually from Rada.

Why are you still doing music when your acting career is going so well? I’ve just always done it. It just so happens there’s now an audience who might be interested, which is nice. When you write a song there’s no point keeping it to yourself.

Why did you want to become an actor? When I was four my dad played St David on St David’s Day in St David’s Cathedral in Wales – it was proper amateur dramatics. I was being a really loud little kid, asking my mum why everyone was shouting, and she kept telling me to shut up. Then St David dies at the end and I was like: ‘What the f***, Mum?! Dad’s dead?!’ and she explained they were just acting, which sparked something in me, a real fascination with how you can create something to entertain people. Then, when I was 14, I saw the film House Of America, which Matthew Rhys was in. He was amazing in it and I thought: ‘I wouldn’t mind doing that.’

What role has had the biggest impact on your career? Simon in Misfits. It brought me to prominence and was an amazing opportunity to do a really cool show. It put me on the map. And then Moritz in the musical Spring Awakening had a big impact.



You won the Olivier for that. Does winning something like that early in your career put pressure on you? I don’t think so, it’s just a really cool way to start. It’s so prestigious and people take it seriously – you can’t blag one of those. It was inspiring.

What was doing Vicious like? Great. Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi are great guys and it’s a real honour to work with people like them. They gave me useful bits of advice – they’re legends so I’m more than happy to get some tips, things like: ‘If you look at me on that line it’ll make more sense.’

Did they regale you with tales from their showbiz careers? Yeah, they’ve got loads of anecdotes and stories about other actors. They talk about Gielgud and Olivier because they worked with them – to me those names are legends but to them they’re people they’ve worked with. It shows you that at one stage they were like me, working with people they admired.

A sitcom about a couple of gay pensioners is an unusual show for primetime ITV, isn’t it? Those big studio sitcoms are still massive in the States but we haven’t done them here for a while. And it’s groundbreaking subject matter. It’s about how you live with someone for 50 years and have a very particular kind of relationship. It’s a warm, fun thing to watch.

Did you have fun doing Game Of Thrones? It was hard work but it was a laugh. I really enjoyed the character, he’s a right scumbag, which was fun to play. It’s freeing because he’s so extrovert and there’s nothing contained about him – and he’s a really happy character because he really enjoys torturing people.


Are you going back for the next series? I am. God knows what he’ll be doing next. I’m sure it will be something terrible.

What are your career ambitions? I’d just like to keep doing interesting jobs and go back and do some stage work. Something cool at the Royal Court or Donmar maybe – hint, hint. It’d be nice to do a cool play. The best thing about the job is you don’t know what’s coming next, which can be scary but is also quite thrilling.

Rheon’s EP, Bang! Bang!, is out now.