Read below a very nice collection of accounts from residents on Michael’s contribution to Welsh community:
Michael Sheen’s dream role? The leader of a free Wales
Residents of Port Talbot adore the actor for his enthusiastic support for charities, the arts and its football club, discovers Jonathan Dean
Halfway down the Forge Road in central Port Talbot, south Wales, is a florist called The Flower Box — a vibrant, gorgeous little shop displaying hyacinths, tulips and a huge painting of Michael Sheen. The actor was raised in the town and moved back to the region after his epic Easter 2011 production of The Passion, which involved most of the residents. He is a local hero, then, but the painting by artist Karl Davies takes up half the front window. It looks like a shop selling Michael Sheen.
“We’ve been trying to get it signed,” laughs Lisa Griffiths, who runs the store with Ken Marten. Griffiths went to the same school as the actor and they caught the same bus. This happens a lot — everyone in Port Talbot has a Sheen story. The Passion changed him. He has, in his words, “turned myself into a social enterprise, a not-for-profit actor”.
Further up Forge Road is an even bigger painting of Sheen — for the town’s ARTwalk trail. The mural takes up an entire wall, with his wild locks of greying hair and beard. The beautiful art deco Plaza Cinema, where Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and Sheen visited as boys — they do actors well around here — boasts a wall of photos dedicated to Sheen’s finest roles Rumour has it Sheen lives half an hour’s drive away in the Upper Swansea Valley, with his partner Anna Lundberg and their two young children.
Sheen was born in Wales in 1969 but has never seemed more Welsh than he does now. He left the country for career reasons,moving to LA in 2002 to be near his first daughter Lily, who he had with US-based actress Kate Beckinsale.
He lived over the Hollywood Hills and was in a relationship with the comedian, Sarah Silverman for four years. When Lily headed off to university and he and Silverman broke up in 2018, it was time to come home. “The weather’s nice, but it’s not my country,” he said. “It’s not my tribe, you know?”
This week, he starred in a video pushing the rebranding of Brecon Beacons as Bannau Brycheiniog. A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “This is a positive step in normalising the use of Welsh. ” In the film, in a jaunty hat, the actor flits between English and Welsh as he walks. This is not a renaming, supporters insist, but a reclamation.
“A new name,” he bellows. “Or, rather, an old one — Bannau Brycheiniog!”
It is rather like his extraordinary oratory on a TV panel show just before last year’s World Cup, when Sheen delivered a wild plea for bravery so moving that one YouTube comment reads: “It made me proud to be Welsh — and I’m Spanish!”
Owen Williams, managing director of a social media consultancy and member of YesCymru — campaigners for an independent Wales — believes key turning points for Sheen were The Passion in Port Talbot, plus the 2017 Raymond Williams Memorial lecture he gave to the Open University in Wales, for which Sheen read Williams’s book Who Speaks for Wales? which tackles national culture and politics. It taught Sheen a lot about the shared history of Wales and the British state and led to him handing back his OBE.
“He has a revolutionary vibe,” say Williams. “Nye Bevan meets Che Guevara. People think, ‘I’d walk through fire for him’, and while the picture is bland politically on this island with Rishi Sunak, Kier Starmer and Ed Davey, certain individuals can rise above it. I can imagine him as head of state in an independent Wales.”
Before that dream though, comes the reality, and the work Sheen is doing on the ground right now. Samantha Drohan is the workforce development manager for Adferiad Recovery, a charity for people with mental health and substance issues in south Wales. Sheen has been their patron since 2011, making himself available on email, Skype and in person when needed. He raised £20,000 via an auction for the group, while also recording a video — “In full make-up!” — to thank volunteers. He has visited people who use Adferiad Recovery. It “thrilled” them. He does a lot.
“The first time he came in, I asked if he wanted a needle exchange because I had absolutely no idea who he was,” says Drohan. “But he’s been really supportive of our organisation — it gives Port Talbot a massive boost.”
Port Talbot Town FC is a club with a small stadium with two stands, decked out in the club’s bold blue and yellow. The clubhouse has a Gareth Bale lager on tap and a blow-up sheep on the wall. Rhiannon Reynolds, general manager, grew up in house overlooking the ground. It is part of her life and, yes, she is fully aware her name sounds like the actor who is in charge of that other Welsh football club, Wrexham. She even has a cousin called Ryan.
Sheen became club president in 2021. He does a lot of fundraising, but just having his name attached helps the community-based club. Their kit manufacturer, VX3, got in touch because Sheen was involved. He also funds the club’s disability team.
“A few months ago,” says Reynolds, “we hosted a pan-disability tournament and teams came from across Wales. They were saying, ‘Wow, we’re in a stadium!’ We couldn’t have dreamt of putting that on if it wasn’t for Michael Sheen.”
He is also filming a documentary in the town, about the cost of living. “Most of this area is deprived,” sighs Reynolds. “There’s a lot of regeneration, but people are struggling Sheen shot part of the film in the clubhouse and even mucked in with some redecorating.
Good local news stories keep on coming. This June, he will direct a film, The Way, written by James Graham, about a civil uprising. It takes place in Port Talbot. He is using locals for extras and backroom jobs. Sophia Betsworth, marketing officer at Port Talbot’s Princess Royal — a grand 798-seater theatre — says that Sheen boosts artistic groups too.
“Most regional theatres do not have a world-renowned actor supporting their productions,” she says.
Amy Kingdom, who works as both an auxiliary nurse and painter decorator, stars in his documentary about cost of living. “He’s such a keen representative,” she explains. “I love it here — I’ve always lived here. But it’s not the most appealing of places, is it? Yet, he’s never lost that local passion.
She smiles, remembering when he went on The Graham Norton Show and talked about the town. That meant a lot to everybody too. “Graham Norton!” gasps Kingdom. “Nobody knows where Wales is most of the time. Let alone Port Talbot!”