Felixstowe actor Charlie Rich reveals involvement in Amazon Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series

A Suffolk actor has spoken of his involvement in a blockbuster series and overcoming setbacks in his career so far.

Charlie Rich, 35, from Felixstowe, has confirmed he is involved in season two of Amazon Prime’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power but cannot give any more information as he is under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

Set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's iconic The Lord of the Rings, the first season of the series cost Amazon a record-breaking £588 million and was watched by more than 100 million people.

Charlie is a fan of the franchise and said: “I have an enormous love for Lord of the Rings.

“Watching the making of the extended edition and listening to all the commentaries on it, made me want to make films because of the fun they had.

“The variety of talent all coming together to create this wonderful entertainment was like a modern circus and everyone was so skilled in their own art.”

Charlie, now living in London, graduated from Canterbury Christ Church in 2010 after studying American literature and film studies .

He auditioned for drama school in his first and second year at university, but failed to get in both times and a teacher even recommended he ‘explored other avenues of creativity’.

“Before my career even properly started I was told no and that annihilated all my self-belief of becoming an actor,” he said.

“It took me a while to calibrate and pick myself up again. When I was younger I thought I had to go to drama school and had to take particular avenues to become an actor, but it’s not like that.

“If you want to be a vet, you have to go to veterinary school but I haven’t been to drama school and I don’t have an agent, yet I’ve found a way to do what I love as a career.

“I hope my journey will inspire younger actors in Suffolk to never take no for an answer as people will say no to you. So keep going, be willing to take any job and immerse yourself as much as you can.”

In 2019, Charlie began turning things around for himself and managed to secure a part as a Nights Watch guard in a live performance at the Tower of London to promote the final season of Game of Thrones for Sky and Sky Atlantic.

He was particularly proud of being part of the cast for the film Cookster: The Darkest Days, which recently won best crime feature at the London Independent Film Festival 2024.

One of the highlights of Charlie’s career was receiving acting direction from director Sam Raimi, known for directing the Spider-Man trilogy, while playing a Kamar-Taj apprentice in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

He confirmed he will be taking up a stunt role for series 2 of HBO’s House of the Dragon and has just landed a lead role as the knight, Bedivere, in an independent fantasy movie coming out in 2025.

Moving forwards, Charlie hopes to continue his acting career.

“I want to make a living full-time acting and I feel very lucky to be able to do what I do already,” he said.

“I love the idea of creating imaginary worlds and making stories that people can lose themselves in.

“For example, to be playing the character Bedevere is so amazing. To be in a world like that and all the creativity surrounding me will be so epic and I’m just looking forward to what the future holds.”