Rufus Frederik Sewell (/ˈsuːəl/; born 29 October 1967) is a British film and stage actor. In film, he has appeared in Carrington (1995), Hamlet (1996), Dangerous Beauty (1998), Dark City (1998), A Knight's Tale (2001), The Legend of Zorro (2005), The Illusionist (2006), Amazing Grace (2006), The Holiday (2006), Paris, je t'aime (2006), Judy (2019), The Father (2020), and Old (2021).

On television, he has starred in Middlemarch (1994), Arabian Nights (2000), Charles II: The Power and the Passion (2003), John Adams (2008), Eleventh Hour (2008–2009), Zen (2011), The Pillars of the Earth (2010), Parade's End (2012), Victoria (2016–2017), The Man in the High Castle (2014–2019), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2019). In 2020, he also had a starring role in the Agatha Christie TV adaptation The Pale Horse.

On stage, he originated the role of Septimus Hodge in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the role of Jan in Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll, with the latter earning him an Olivier Award win and a Tony Award nomination.

Early life
Rufus Frederik Sewell was born in Hammersmith, West London on 29 October 1967, the son of Jo, a Welsh artist, classically trained pianist and waitress, and William John Frederick Sewell (1924–1978), an Anglo-Australian animator and former builder's labourer. His father worked on the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" segment of animation for The Beatles' Yellow Submarine film. His parents divorced when Sewell was five. His father died when Rufus was 10, and his mother worked in a pub and sold vegetables to support her boys as a single mother, raising Rufus and his older brother Caspar. Sewell's mother subsequently lived at The Pelican, Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, formerly home to the parents of Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas. Sewell has said that he was a difficult teenager.

Sewell was educated at Trafalgar Junior School, a state junior school in Twickenham which he left in 1978. Whilst at Trafalgar Junior School he was a member of the drama club and he played the lead in Rumpelstiltskin which he acted on his knees throughout.

Sewell went on to Orleans Park School, a state comprehensive school in Twickenham, which he left in 1984, followed by West Thames College, where a drama teacher sent him to audition for drama school. He later enrolled at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.