John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944 in Salisbury, England) is a Welsh actor and voice actor.
He is best known for his roles as Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Maximillian Arturo in Sliders and Gimli in The Lord of the Rings. His characters are often jolly, heavyset Boisterous Bruisers, or intimidating, hammy villains. He is also the voice of Cassim from Disney's Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Man Ray from SpongeBob SquarePantsnote , Hades in Justice Leaguenote , Macbeth from Gargoyles, Thor in the '90s Marvel cartoons (Fantastic Four: The Animated Series and The Incredible Hulk), and the voice of the narrator in the game Quest for Glory IV.
Bizarrely, he has also been a go-to veteran actor for super-cheesy, low-budget science fiction and horror films, especially Syfy original movies such as Anaconda 3 and Chupacabra. Before that, he was in the Indiana Jones ripoff 1985 version of King Solomon's Mines. In 2016, he played a major role as the king in the MTV fantasy series The Shannara Chronicles.
Notable film credits:
- Indiana Jones - Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir
- Ivanhoe (1982) - Front-de-Boeuf
- Victor/Victoria (1982) - Andre Cassell
- Sahara (1983) - Rasoul
- King Solomon's Mines (1985) - Dogati
- Firewalker (1986) - Corky Taylor
- The Living Daylights (1987) - General Leonid Pushkin
- Waxwork (1988) - Werewolf
- Sunset Grill (1993) - Stockton
- Cyborg Cop (1993) - Professor Joachim Kessel
- The Great White Hype (1996) - Johnny Windsor
- Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) - Cassim (voice)
- Cats Don't Dance (1997) - Woolie (voice)
- The Lord of the Rings - Gimli
- The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Two Towers (2002) - Gimli, Treebeard (voice)
- The Return of the King (2003)
- The Jungle Book 2 (2003) - Ranjan's Father (voice)
- Vlad (2003) - Narrator (voice)
- The Medallion (2003) - Commodore Hammerstock-Smythe
- The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2003) - Viscount Mabrey
- One Night with the King (2006) - Mordecai
- In the Name of the King (2007) - Merick
- Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes (2010) - Dr. Watson (voice)
- Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map (2013) - Gnarlybeard (voice)
- Time Lapse (2014) - Mr. Bezzerides (deleted scenes)
- Aquaman (2018) - The Brine King (voice)
- Grizzly II: Revenge (2020) - Bouchard
Notable television credits:
- Crossroads (1964) - Gareth
- Dixon of Dock Green (1972) - Dunlop
- Fall of Eagles (1974) - Zinoviev
- The Sweeney (1975) - Ron Brett
- I, Claudius (1976) - Macro
- Z Cars (1978) - Terry Larkin
- Enemy at the Door (1980) - George Trenett
- CHiPs (1982) - Nakura
- Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983) - Tanyatos
- Robin of Sherwood (1984) - King Richard
- Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1984) - Lord Ralph Bromfield
- Murder, She Wrote (1988-89, 1994) - Lancaster, Harry Waverly, Harry Mordecai
- Great Expectations (1989) - Joe Gargery
- Tales from the Crypt (1991) - Duval
- Batman: The Animated Series (1992) - 'Baron' Waclaw Jozek, "The Cape And Cowl Conspiracy" (voice)
- The Legend of Prince Valiant (1992-93) - King Donovan, King Hugo (voice)
- The Untouchables (1993-94) - Agent Michael Malone
- Animaniacs (1993) - Tympannini (voice)
- A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994) - Charles Brickens (voice)
- Fantastic Four: The Animated Series (1995) - Thor (voice)
- Sliders (1995-97) - Professor Maximillian Arturo
- Gargoyles (1995-96) - Macbeth (voice)
- Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh (1996) - Narrator (voice)
- The Incredible Hulk (1996) - Thor (voice)
- Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996) - Asgarth (voice)
- Freakazoid! (1997) - Professor Beasthead (voice)
- Star Trek: Voyager (1997) - Leonardo da Vinci
- Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1997) - Head Judge, Zivdo (voice)
- Pinky and the Brain (1998) - Narrator (voice)
- Au Pair (1999) - Nigel Kent
- House of Mouse (1999, 2002) - Oberon (voice)
- The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (2000) - Alexandre Dumas, Porthos
- SpongeBob SquarePants (2000-01) - Man Ray (voice)
- Justice League (2002) - Hades (voice)
- Peak Practice (2002) - Mike King
- The Zeta Project (2002) - Edgar Mandragora (voice)
- Arli$$ (2002) - Davey Owen Jones
- Sabretooth (2002) - Anthony
- Fillmore! (2002) - Lenny (voice)
- Dragon Storm (2004) - King Fastrad
- 12 Days of Terror (2004) - Captain
- Revelations (2005) - Prof. Lampley
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (2006) - Captain Proteus (voice)
- Anaconda 3: Offspring (2008) and Anaconda: Trail of Blood (2009) - Peter "J.D." Murdoch
- Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (2009) - Grimshank
- Legend of the Seeker (2010) - Horace
- Psych (2012) - Curator
- Metal Hurlant Chronicles (2014) - Holgarth
- Once Upon a Time (2014) - Grand Pabbie (voice)
- The Adventures of Puss in Boots (2015) - Goodsword (voice)
- Harvey Beaks (2015-16) - Elder Bug, Britney (voice)
- TripTank (2015-16) - Cyclops, Squirrel, Priest, King, Wavy Arm Blowy Guy (voice)
- The Shannara Chronicles (2016) - Eventine
- The Lion Guard (2016) - King Sokwe (voice)
- Wizards (2020) - Galahad (voice)
Notable video game credits:
- Wing Commander - General James "Paladin" Taggart (voice)
- Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (1994) - Also as Prince Thrakhath, In-flight Kilrathi (voice)
- Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1995)
- Quest for Glory IV (1994) - Narrator (voice)
- Ripper (1996) - Vigo Haman (voice)
- Dune 2000 (1998) - Noree Moneo
- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (2001) - Jherek (voice)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) - Gimli (voice)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - Gimli, Treebeard (voice)
- Freelancer (2003) - Richard Winston Tobias, Esq. (voice)
- Risen (2009) - Don Esteban, Ursegor (voice; English dub)
Tropes:
- Plays Great Ethnics: While he's often playing British characters, he was also cast as Egyptians and Turks in his career.