The Outlander actor from countless TV dramas but you might not know his name

Mark Lewis Jones has one of the most enviable CVs around with roles in everything from Outlander and The Crown to Game of Thrones and new ITVX drama Out There

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Mark Lewis Jones is one of those actors whose name might not be on the tip of your tongue but you will recognise him instantly as he's constantly on your TV delivering powerful performances in some of your favourite dramas. The Welsh star's credits include Netflix series The Crown, HBO's Chernobyl, blockbuster Game of Thrones and Scottish hit Outlander.

He can currently be seen alongside Martin Clunes on ITVX in the thriller Out There, the county lines drugs drama that threatens a Welsh farming community. Mark plays Caleb, the feuding brother of Clunes' character Nathan, and the pair end up covering up a murder.

But while he has a talent for playing such intimidating characters, including Iwan Bevan from the Jack Thorne drama The Accident and the gruff ex-criminal-cum-good Steve Baldini in Welsh drama Keeping Faith, he can also neatly turn his hand to comedy, such as Sky One's Stella, and deliver emotional performances in dramas like BBC's Men Up, which focused on impotency, and more nuanced roles like, of course, Tom Christie in Outlander.

Mark Lewis Jones, centre, as Tom in Outlander (

Image:

Starz)

Other notable parts include Welsh lecturer and proud nationalist, Dr Edward Millward, in The Crown on Netflix and Captain Canady - the First Order officer who shouts a lot and gets blown up - in 2017's Star Wars VIII.

And while you may not immediately know his name, it's this versatility that keeps him in demand as an actor and makes him instantly recognisable.

But it's not the blockbusters like Star Wars that get him the attention, it's the likes of caravan-dwelling, vest-wearing Steve Baldini in Keeping Faith and local-boy-done-good, Rob Morgan, in Stella, that have made the Bafta Award-winner an object of selfies - especially among fans in his Welsh homeland..

So what is it that they all love about Steve Baldini and also Rob Morgan from the comedy-drama that was co-created by Gavin & Stacey legend Ruth Jones?

Mark Lewis Jones as Steve Baldini in Keeping Faith (

Image:

BBC)

"The thing about him was he was from Pontyberry but he moved away. There’s something exotic about him," said Mark of Rob Morgan, during a previous interview with WalesOnline.

"He came back from Canada with loads of money and is a local boy made good and he’s very generous. There were lots of boxes ticked there. Steve Baldini lives in a caravan, ex-criminal come good, always attractive!"

Mark added: "You never see yourself like other people see you. It’ s bizarre. It’s always interesting when you go to the rugby and the trains come in from the valleys, and they’ve all had a drink on the train and there's a lot of Dutch courage....and they love Rob Morgan. My youngest son, Jacob, who’s 15 he’s like ‘shall I take the picture?’ He's so used to it."

Mark, now 60 and living in Cardiff, was born in the village of Rhosllannerchrugog, near Wrexham, and began acting as a teenager with the Clwyd Youth Theatre and trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Mark can currently be seen playing Caleb in Out There on ITVX (

Image:

ITV)

His stage work includes roles with the renowned Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London but it's in TV that his work has been prolific. Early roles include series like The Bill, Casualty, Soldier Soldier and A Mind To Kill. In 2016, the dad-of-four won a Bafta Cymru award for Best Actor in the 2015 film The Passing / Yr Ymadawiad.

Since then, he's starred in many major productions, including Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Game of Thrones and Outlander when he joined series six as Tom Christie. He also signed up for Netflix mega hit The Crown, playing notable Welsh lecturer and proud nationalist, Dr Edward Millward in series three - a role which Mark thoroughly enjoyed inhabiting, especially when he got to meet the man himself during filming.

Mark with his co-stars in BBC's Men Up which touched upon impotency

The episode, Tywysog Cymru sees a green Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor) parachuted into a scenic but gloomy Aberystwyth for a term at the university to learn Welsh. His tutor is a leading light in the Welsh nationalist movement, which finds its feet in the 1960s, Dr Millward.

"It definitely needed to be true for me," Mark told WalesOnline after filming. "Anything that was touched upon in terms of the Welsh movement at the time and Tedi and the role he played in that, had to be correct, for me.

"But the story of the episode is about two men whose lives collide. They come from different worlds and it’s how they are affected by meeting each other."

Mark, pictured at his Cardiff home, was thrilled with reaction to his role in The Crown

He continued: "Some of the characters I’ve been playing recently are either psychopathic or sociopathic. Tedi is neither of those, but what I did like about the character that was written about Tedi and I think it’s true of the man himself, is that there was a gentleness about him but there was this inward steel where his beliefs were absolutely firm and the passion for the Welsh language was as strong in him as anyone.

"And as gentle as he was on the outside there was this inner steel. If that intimated Charles I think it was because of that."

Speaking of fan reaction to the episode he said: "It’s been massive. They love it and a lot of Welsh speaking people love it and I hope that continues. I know every intention to get it right was there."

His latest drama, Out There, is also garnering plenty of attention from the fans and critics alike who have hailed it "gripping", "hypnotic" and "a fabulous advertisement for the Welsh countryside". And with it currently streaming on ITVX, fans can continue getting their fix of the extremely versatile Mark Lewis Jones.

Out There is available now on ITVX while Outlander season 7 is available to buy on Digital and is streaming on MGM+ via Prime Video

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