Alexander Vlahos

Alexander Vlahos (born 30 July 1988) is a Welsh actor, writer and director best known for playing Philippe, Duke of Orléans, in the Canal+ television series Versailles. In 2012, Vlahos took over from Asa Butterfield in the role of Mordred, for the BBC One drama Merlin.

Alexander Vlahos
Born (1988-07-30) 30 July 1988
Llantrisant, Wales
OccupationActor
Years active2008–present

Early life

Vlahos was born in Tumble, Carmarthenshire,[1] before moving to Llantrisant, Mid Glamorgan. He is the son of a Greek father and a Welsh mother, and speaks both Welsh and English.[2] He played ice hockey from ages eight to 18.[3] He trained in acting at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, graduating in 2009.[2][4][5]

Career

He first appeared in the BBC Wales drama Crash in 2009, portraying Dylan. The following year, he appeared in the daytime medical soap opera Doctors in a week-long storyline entitled "Master of the Universe," in which he played the lead role of Lewis Cutler. The episodes were then nominated for "Best Single Episode" and "Spectacular Scene of the Year" at the British Soap Awards in 2010.[6] Also in 2010, he appeared in both Pen Talar and The Indian Doctor, and the film Bright Lights.

In 2012, he earned the role of Private Keenan in Privates, a mini-television series about conscripts in the National Service set in the 1960s, for which he shaved his head.[2] He also played the part of Mordred in series five of Merlin, a role originally played by Asa Butterfield in the first two series.[2][7]

From 2012 to 2016, he played the role of Dorian Gray in Big Finish Productions' audio series The Confessions Of Dorian Gray.[8] He has also written one of the episodes, "The Mayfair Monster," released in October 2013,[9][10] and the audio play, HMS Surprise for the Bernice Summerfield box set New Frontiers, which was released in April 2013.[11]

From 6 December 2013, Vlahos appeared in Fortune's Fool at The Old Vic. Mike Poulton's adaptation of Turgenev's play was directed by Lucy Bailey, in a new production which stars Iain Glen and Richard McCabe.[12]

In July 2015, it was announced that he would be playing Bertie Potts in the mini audiobook series The Diary of River Song set in the Doctor Who universe, alongside Alex Kingston.

Since 2015, he portrayed Louis XIV's brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, in the Franco-Canadian historical television series Versailles, about life at the French court, The first series premiered in November 2015. Series 2 was filmed in early 2016 and explores the lighter side to Philippe, the first time for Vlahos to portray a rather light-hearted character for an extended period of time.[10] On 14 September 2016, producer Claude Chelli confirmed that Versailles has been renewed for a third season, which began filming in April 2017.[13] In March 2018, Vlahos confirmed that the third season would also be Versailles' final one.[14]

In the 2016 docudrama Barbarians Rising, a global co-production for The History Channel, Vlahos played the Roman emperor Valentinian in one episode. He also portrayed the Romanian philosopher and mathematician Maurice Solovine in one episode of Genius, National Geographic Channel's first scripted series.[15]

From 11 February to 11 March 2017, Vlahos starred in Max Gill's La Ronde, a modernised, gender-neutral version of the play by Arthur Schnitzler. A cast of four played the 10 characters randomly selected onstage every night by a roulette wheel.[15] In the 2017 Big Finish Productions audio drama Hamlet, Vlahos played the title character.[16]

In summer 2018, Vlahos played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, and Catesby in Richard III at the Shakespeare's Rose Theatre in York,[17] before returning to the Park Theatre in London to portray Captain Hook and Mr Darling in a stage production of Peter Pan.

Television
List of television performances
Title Year Role Notes
Crash 2009–2010 Dylan
Doctors 2010 Lewis Cutler 5 episodes
All Shook Up! 2010 Dafydd Hibbard
Pen Talar 2010 Iolo 3 episodes
The Indian Doctor 2010 Tom Evans 5 episodes
The Tower 2011 Tom Television film
Merlin 2012 Mordred 12 episodes
Privates 2013 Private Keenan 5 episodes
Versailles 2015–2018 Philippe I, Duke of Orléans Main cast : 30 Episodes
Barbarians Rising 2016 Valentinian III 4th episode
Prisoner Zero[4] 2016 Zero Voice
Genius 2017 Maurice Solovine 3rd episode
Death in Paradise 2020 Max Newman 1 episode
Bang 2020 Dai 3 episodes

Filmography
List of film performances
Title Year Role Notes
Bright Lights 2010 Steff Short film
Truth or Dare 2012 Luke Also known in the United States as Truth or Die
Button Eyes[4] 2013 Boy Short film
The Head Hunter [4] 2016 Herbert Mullin

Audiobooks
List of audio series and audiobooks
Title Year Producer Role Notes
Gallifrey 2011 Big Finish Productions Season 4
The Confessions of Dorian Gray 2012-2016 Dorian Gray Seasons 1-5
Bernice Summerfield 2012 Gray Box set 3 "Legion"
2013 Writer of "HMS Surprise"
from Box set 4 "New Frontiers"
The Diary of River Song 2015 Bertie Potts Season 1
Doctor Who - The Lives of Captain Jack 2017 The Stranger
Hamlet 2017 Hamlet

Theatre
Title Year Role Director/Theatre
Fortune's Fool 2013 Pavel Yeletsky Lucy Bailey
Macbeth[18] 2013 Malcolm Kenneth Branagh
La Ronde 2017 Various Max Gill
Romeo and Juliet 2018 Romeo Shakespeare's Rose Theatre
Richard III 2018 Catesby Shakespeare's Rose Theatre
Peter Pan (play) 2018 Hook Park Theatre

References
  1. BJsRealm (24 October 2012), Merlin S5 | S4CsHeno: Alex Vlahos about 'Merlin', 'Privates' and a new movie role [no S5 spoilers], retrieved 26 August 2016
  2. Owens, Dave (21 October 2012). "Welsh actor Alexander Vlahos is casting a spell in Merlin". Wales Online. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  3. Walker-Arnott, Ellie (11 December 2012). "Alexander Vlahos webchat: "Merlin has changed my life"". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  4. "IMDb Bio"
  5. "Twitter"
  6. "The British Soap Awards 2010". ITV. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  7. Jeffery, Morgan (11 October 2012). "Alexander Vlahos 'Merlin' Q&A: 'Mordred might not be the villain'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  8. "The Confessions Of Dorian Gray". Big Finish Productions. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  9. "The Confessions of Dorian Gray - The Mayfair Monster". Big Finish Productions. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  10. Oebel, Nicole (8 September 2016). "'Versailles' interview with Alexander Vlahos". myFanbase. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  11. "New Frontiers - Bernice Summerfield: Box Sets". Big Finish Productions. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  12. "Fortune's Fool". Archived from the original on 9 October 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  13. Sitbon, Prescilia (14 September 2016). "C. CHELLI (CAPA Drama) : «Versailles saison 3 devrait entrer en tournage en avril 2017» - média+" (in French).
  14. Vlahos, Alexander (14 March 2018). "I'm just going to leave this here... #Versailles THE FINAL SEASON pic.twitter.com/nwp7d9sdoR". @vlavla. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  15. Oebel, Nicole (24 February 2017). "Alexander Vlahos Interview - From Versailles to La Ronde". myFanbase. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  16. Oebel, Nicole (14 December 2016). "'Hamlet' interview with Alexander Vlahos & Scott Handcock". myFanbase. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  17. Youngs, Ian (25 June 2018). "Shakespearean theatre pops up in York". BBC News. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  18. Rooney, David (5 June 2014). "Theater Review: Kenneth Branagh in 'Macbeth'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
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