Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is one of this year’s most anticipated shows, and Morfydd Clark is at the center of this fantasy storm. The story takes place during the Second Age and will show Sauron’s rise to power as he manipulates the Elves to forge the One Ring. The series will explore many locations such as the Misty Mountains, Lindor, Númenor, and so much more.
Clark plays Galadriel in the prequel series, the mightiest of the Elves in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic. Her powers include healing, creation, strengthening and beautifying realms, and possesses the ring of power Nenya, the Ring of Water, which greatly increased her abilities. When the series begins, the Elven ruler of Lothlórien and commander of the Northern Armies is committed to avenging her brother Finrod’s (played by Will Fletcher) death. Galadriel certainly holds main character status in the series, but Clark has an impressive history of her own.
Before she became an actress, the Swedish-born Clark moved with her family to Penarth, Wales at the age of two. She’s fluent in English and Welsh, and at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, she recited the Welsh alphabet to rousing applause, proving that attending a Welsh-language school at seven years old didn’t go to waste. She attended Drama Centre London, a British drama school in King’s Cross, London, and soon after began her acting career.
Clark’s first on-screen credit was a miniseries in 2014 titled New Worlds where she played Amelie. After years of various roles across movies and television, Clark lands the leading role of Maud in Saint Maud, a reclusive nurse who responds to personal trauma by going down a supposedly righteous path. She takes care of a retired dancer named Amanda (Jennifer Ehle) who’s battling cancer and Maud believes she’s the one to save her. Saint Maud was nominated for BAFTA Film Awards, namely Outstanding British Film of the Year, and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer. Clark won the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress in 2021.
Rings of Power isn’t the first time Clark has acted in the fantasy genre. She played Sister Clara in HBO’s His Dark Materials, based on the trilogy by Philip Pullman. The series follows Lyra (Dafne Keen), a young girl seeking to break the Magisterium’s control over magic and daemons by exploring a new way of living. Sister Clara was an ally of Lyra’s and a nurse at Bolvangar. Her daemon was a white dog named Nicholas and she advises the kidnapped children to flee to the north for safety.
Morfydd Clark might not be a household name yet, but once Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power drops, she’s bound to draw a lot of attention. With the series already confirmed for five seasons and Clark booking high-profile roles like Ophelia in Aneil Karia’s modern adaptation of Hamlet, we’ll undoubtedly be seeing even more of her in the future.