32 Cool Cymru

Cool Cymru was a Welsh cultural movement centred around music, independent film, and other artistic endeavours by young Welsh figures prior to and during the new millennium. It was highlighted in 1999 when the BBC announced that year as the "year of Cool Cymru".

The Alarm are a Welsh rock band that formed in Rhyl, Wales, in 1981. Initially formed as a punk band, The Toilets, in 1977, under lead vocalist Mike Peters, the band soon embraced rock and included marked influences from Welsh language and culture. By opening for acts such as U2 and Bob Dylan, they became a popular new wave pop band of the 1980s.

August is a 1996 British drama film directed by and starring Anthony Hopkins as Ieuan (IPA:j/əɨ/a/n) Davies, and featuring Rhys Ifans in a small role in one of his earliest films, as Griffiths. It is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's 1899 play Uncle Vanya, with the character Ieuan Davies taking over the title role.

Joseph William Calzaghe is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, Ring magazine and lineal super-middleweight titles, and the Ring light-heavyweight title.

Cardiff Bay is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it serves as the river mouth of the River Taff and Ely. The body of water was converted into a 500-acre (2.0 km2) lake as part of a UK Government redevelopment project, involving the damming of the rivers by the Cardiff Bay Barrage in 1999. The barrage impounds the rivers from the Severn Estuary, providing flood defence and the creation of a permanent non-tidal high water lake with limited access to the sea, serving as a core feature of the redevelopment of the area in the 1990s.

Catatonia were an alternative rock band from Wales who gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s. The band formed in 1992 after Mark Roberts met Cerys Matthews. The first major lineup featured Dafydd Ieuan on drums, Paul Jones on bass, and Clancy Pegg on keyboards. With this line-up the band recorded two EPs, For Tinkerbell and Hooked.

Cool Britannia was a name for the period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom throughout the mid and second half of the 1990s, inspired by Swinging London from 1960s pop culture. This loosely coincided with John Major's conservative government and the 1997 United Kingdom general election where Tony Blair's New Labour government won in a landslide. The success of Britpop and musical acts such as the Spice Girls, Blur and Oasis led to a renewed feeling of optimism in the United Kingdom following the tumultuous years of the 1970s and 1980s. The name is a pun on the title of the British patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!"

Richard James "Richey" Edwards, also known as Richey James or Richey Manic, was a Welsh musician who was the lyricist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. Though he had little guitar ability, he was known for his dark, politicised and intellectual songwriting which, combined with an enigmatic and eloquent character, has assured him cult status. He has been cited as a leading lyricist of his generation, leading the Cool Cymru.

Feeder are a Welsh rock band formed in Newport in 1994. They have released 10 studio albums, 12 compilations, four EPs and 40 singles, spending a combined total of 183 weeks on the singles and albums charts as of 2019, while accumulating 25 top 75 singles between 1997 and 2012. At their peak of commercial success, Feeder won two Kerrang! Awards in 2001 and 2003; they were inducted into their Hall of Fame in August 2019.

Funeral for a Friend are a Welsh post-hardcore band from Bridgend, formed in 2001 and currently consists of Matthew Davies-Kreye, Kris Coombs-Roberts, Gavin Burrough, Darran Smith (guitars), Richard Boucher (bass), and Ryan Richards.

Goldie Lookin Chain are a Welsh comedy hip hop group from Newport, Wales. The group produces humorous, controversial and often explicit songs that satirise hip hop, today's consumer society, the "chav" culture and life in Newport and South Wales in general.

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were a psychedelic folk and alternative rock band which formed in Carmarthen, Wales, in 1991. The group performed music in both Welsh and English, and they had eight Top 75 singles on the UK Singles Chart during their career. They were prominent during the era known as Cool Cymru. The group disbanded in May 2006.

Ioan Gruffudd is a Welsh actor. He first came to public attention as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in Titanic (1997), and then for his portrayal of Horatio Hornblower in the Hornblower series of television films (1998–2003). Subsequent roles have included Lancelot in King Arthur (2004), Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in Fantastic Four (2005) and its sequel (2007), William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace (2006), and Tony Blair in W. (2008).

Hedd Wyn is a 1992 Welsh anti-war biopic, written by Alan Llwyd and directed by Paul Turner.

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins is a Welsh actor, film director, and film producer. He has received many accolades, including two Academy Awards for Best Actor, four BAFTAs, two Emmys, the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a British Academy Television Award. In 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003 and the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.

House of America is a 1997 British film directed by Marc Evans. The film, set in a depressed Welsh mining town, centres on a dysfunctional family unit of brothers Boyo and Sid, their sister Gwenny and their controlling mother. The film tackles issues such as Welsh identity, its need for indigenous heroes and the nation's perceived inferiority complex.

Human Traffic is a 1999 British-Irish independent coming of age comedy drama film written and directed by Welsh filmmaker Justin Kerrigan. It is a cult film of the Cool Cymru era of arts in Wales.

Rhys Ifans is a Welsh actor, producer, and singer. Ifans was the former frontman of Welsh rock music bands The Peth and the Super Furry Animals. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Notting Hill (1999), Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000), Enduring Love (2004), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), where he portrayed Xenophilius Lovegood, and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) as supervillain Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard. Other roles include Hector DeJean in the Epix thriller series Berlin Station seasons, and Mycroft Holmes in the CBS series Elementary.

Colin Ray Jackson, is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion twice, World indoor champion once, went undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and was a two-time Commonwealth champion. His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110m hurdles stood for over a decade and his 60 metres hurdles world record stood for nearly 27 years.

Lostprophets were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997 by singer and lyricist Ian Watkins, guitarist Mike Lewis, guitarist Lee Gaze, and drummer Mike Chiplin. The band was founded as a side project of the band Public Disturbance, and was part of the Cardiff music scene.

Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh rock band formed in Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore, plus Nicky Wire. They are often colloquially known as "the Manics". They form a key part of the 1990s Welsh Cool Cymru cultural movement.

Dennis Howard Marks was a Welsh drug smuggler and author who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases. At his peak he claimed to have been smuggling consignments of the drug as large as 30 tons, and was connected with groups as diverse as the CIA, the IRA, MI6, and the Mafia. He was eventually convicted by the American Drug Enforcement Administration and given a 25-year prison sentence; he was released in April 1995 after serving seven years. Though he had up to 43 aliases, he became known as "Mr. Nice" after he bought a passport from convicted murderer Donald Nice. After his release from prison, he published a best-selling autobiography, Mr. Nice, and campaigned publicly for changes in drugs legislation.

Cerys Matthews is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the "Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s.

Mclusky, originally known as Best, are a three-piece post-hardcore group formed in Cardiff, Wales. The group consisted of Englishman Andrew Falkous from Newcastle upon Tyne, Jonathan Chapple and Jack Egglestone (drums), who replaced previous drummer Matthew Harding in late 2003.

Hywel Rhodri Morgan was a Welsh Labour politician who was the First Minister of Wales and the Leader of Welsh Labour from 2000 to 2009. He was also the Assembly Member for Cardiff West from 1999 to 2011 and the Member of Parliament for Cardiff West from 1987 to 2001. He was, as of 2018, the longest-serving First Minister of Wales. He was Chancellor of Swansea University from 2011 to 2017.

Terry Morris is a Welsh artist who is primarily known for his photography, particularly his association with the Cool Cymru arts movement.

The music of Cardiff has been dominated mainly by rock music since the early 1990s with later trends developing towards more extreme styles of the genre such as heavy metal and metalcore music. It, along with the nearby music scene in Newport, has brought a number of musicians to perform or begin their careers in South Wales.

The Newport music scene, in and around Wales' third city, has been well documented and acclaimed for cultivating bands, singers, and famous music venues. It has been traditionally a rock city since the 1970s, but it has evolved over the years into forms of punk, 1990s alt-rock, and more recently metal and hip-hop.

Julian Richards is a Welsh film director. He is associated with the Cool Cymru era of culture and arts in Wales.

Solomon & Gaenor is a 1999 Welsh film written and directed by Paul Morrison. It stars Ioan Gruffudd as an Orthodox Jewish man named Solomon Levinsky who falls in love with a gentile woman named Gaenor Rees, played by Nia Roberts. They enter into a forbidden love affair, which has tragic consequences. It was filmed twice, once with principal dialogue in English and once with it in Welsh. In the English-language version, there are some scenes in Welsh and in both versions there are scenes in Yiddish. The Welsh-language version was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 72nd Academy Awards.

Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales. The band consists of Kelly Jones, Richard Jones, Adam Zindani, Jamie Morrison and touring member Tony Kirkham (keyboards). The group previously included Stuart Cable (1992–2003) and then Javier Weyler (2004–2012) on drums. Stereophonics have released eleven studio albums, including seven UK number one albums. A successful compilation album, Decade in the Sun, was released in November 2008 and charted at number two on the UK Album Chart.

Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. Since their formation, the band had consisted of Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran, Dafydd Ieuan and actor Rhys Ifans.