Rhys Ifans morphs into his iconic Notting Hill character Spike

Rhys Ifans turned into his iconic Notting Hill character Spike on Thursday while in Soho, London.

The actor, 55, who recently starred in House of the Dragon, looked disheveled as he sported shaggy blonde locks and a full beard.

He looked casual in a khaki jacket and matching beanie, while finishing the look with jeans and trainers.

He tried to keep a low profile by wearing dark sunglasses during his walk in the sun.

Rhys previously revealed how he lived a double life studying at an elite drama school while busting down doors to live illegally in about fifteen squats for months on end.

Lookalike: Rhys Ifans turned into his iconic Notting Hill character Spike on Thursday while in Soho, London

Low-key: The actor, 55, who recently starred in House of the Dragon, looked disheveled while sporting shaggy blonde locks and a full beard

The Welsh actor said he would remove steel doors from vacant council buildings and replace the locks before using them as his accommodation for more than four years.

The Notting Hill star recalled his ‘great life’ while studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the 1990s, but added that he knew it was ‘illegal and dangerous’.

He told Rob Brydon’s podcast: ‘I was in London for a year before going to drama school. I moved downstairs with a buddy of mine.

‘I lived in squats all my time at drama school. I lived in about fourteen, fifteen different squats.

“Of course it was illegal and, in hindsight, dangerous. But it was a great life.

‘They would be council houses, council flats. You take out the steel door in the middle of the night and as soon as you change the locks you put a note on the door.

‘They then had to turn on the gas and the electricity and it could take you weeks or months to do it.’

He added: ‘But it was a constant case of us moving around a lot with a group of boys and girls from Belfast I’d met at a Cramps gig and we lived together in and out of different squats for four or five years. of different levels of comfort and discomfort.

“In a way, I had a real double life, which was great.

“I had this kind of highbrow, great life in college and then this extraordinary kind of hobo existence when I went home every night.

“It was easy to do then. It’s almost impossible to break a squat now, but it was relatively easy back then.”

Rhys, who is best known for his role as Spike in the Notting Hill, will next appear on screen in the Game Of Thrones prequel series House Of The Dragon.

The prequel, which also stars Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy, is set 300 years before the main action of the HBO hit.

House Of The Dragon was created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal, who also wrote the pilot script that earned the series a 10-episode production order.

Great times: The star recalled his ‘great life’ while studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the 1990s, but knew it was ‘illegal and dangerous’ (pictured in 1999)

Miguel Sapochnik will join Condal as showrunner and direct the pilot and additional episodes. Sapochnik is no stranger to the Reach, earning an Emmy for his work on the original Game Of Thrones.

The spin-off began shooting sometime last month, with the stars filming in rural Cornwall, England.

House Of The Dragon will depict the war of succession between Daenerys Targaryen’s ancestors, Rhaenyra and Aegon II, two dragon-wielding heirs to the Iron Throne, in a civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.

Casting began last year and the prequel will be released in spring 2022.

One to watch: Rhys stars in the Game Of Thrones prequel series House Of The Dragon alongside Olivia Cooke (pictured) which takes place 300 years before the HBO hit