Toby Stephens

At 55 years old, Toby Stephens has this physical status:

Toby Stephens (born 21 April 1969) is an English stage, television, and film actor who has appeared in films in the United Kingdom and the United States as well as India.

He is best known for his portrayal of Bond villain Gustav Graves in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day (for which he was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor), Edward Fairfax Rochester in a BBC television version of Jane Eyre and his role as Captain Flint in the Starz television series Black Sails.

Stephens is a lead in the science fiction film Lost in Space, which premiered on Netflix on April 13, 2018.

Early life

Stephens, the younger son of actors Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephen Stephens, was born in Fitzrovia, London, on April 21st. He was educated at Aldro School and Seaford College. He later studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Personal life

Anna-Louise Plowman, a New Zealand actress, was married in 2001. In May 2007, the couple's first child, Eli Alistair, was born. Simon Gray (who penned Japes, a stage play, and Missing Dates, a radio drama, both of whom starred Stephens) was considered Eli's godfather. Tallulah and Kura's daughters were born in May 2009 and in September 2010, respectively.

Plowman and Stephens appeared in Jonathan Kent's revival of Private Lives, Sibyl and Elyot's revival of Private Lives, the Noel Coward play in which his mother appeared on Broadway in 1975—the 2012 Chichester Festival's revival of Private Lives — the Noel Coward play in which his mother appeared in 1975 on Broadway—and the Giel Coward Theatre was revived in 2013.

Source

Career

Stephens began his film career in 1992 with the role of Othello in Sally Potter's Orlando. He has appeared on television (including in The Camomile Lawn 1992) and on stage.

He appeared in a Coriolanus production shortly after graduating from LAMDA; the same year he appeared in Measures for the RSC. In a West End production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, he appeared Stanley Kowalski, as well as Hamlet in 2004. He has appeared in Ring Round the Moon on Broadway. In Trevor Nunn's 1996 film version of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, he appeared in the film Photographing Fairies and played Orsino. In the James Bond film Die Another Day, he played Gustav Graves. He was the youngest actor to have played a Bond villain at the time of the film's debut.

In 2005, he appeared as a British Army captain in The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey, portraying events during the 1857 Indian revolt. In Sharpe's Challenge, he returned to India in the following year to play a renegade British East India Company officer. Edward Rochester appeared in early 2006 and The Wild West in the United States, where he appeared as George Armstrong Custer in Custer's Last Stand.

Stephens appeared in a revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal under Roger Michell's direction in mid-2007. Stephens appeared in Jonathan Kent's revival of William Wycherley's The Country Wife later this year. It was the inaugural performance of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company.

The Fox Broadcasting Company announced in February 2008 that Stephens will lead a one-hour, prime time American television show Inseparable, which will be produced by Shaun Cassidy. The show was supposed to feature a partially paralysed forensic psychologist whose other life is a loving criminal, and it was billed as a modern Jekyll and Hyde story. Stephens' casting was particularly odd because Fox had not yet approved a script nor purchased a pilot for the program. However, in mid-May 2008, The Hollywood Reporter reported that "[b]y the time the network picked up the pilot (...) [the producers'] hold on Stephens had expired (...)"

Stephens appeared in James Bond in a BBC Radio 4 production of Ian Fleming's Dr. No. 15, as part of Fleming's centennial celebration. Moonraker was on South African radio in 1956, with Bob Holness as the voice of Bond. He has since appeared in a number of adaptations of other James Bond books.

Stephens will star Tim McInnerny co-starring Stephens in a full-length film called Fly Me in May 2008. Stock-pot was the producer of One Day, a short 2006 film in which Stephens appeared in a small role as McInnerny's boss.

Stephens appeared onstage at the London Palladium on October 5th, 2008, as part of a benefit titled "The Life of James Bond," a salute to Ian Fleming. Lucy Fleming's niece and nephew attended a matinee reading from Fleming's Bond books. In the readings, Stephens took the role of James Bond himself.

Stephens listened from Coda, the last book written by colleague Simon Gray for BBC Radio 4. Gray's account of his involvement as a godfather at the christening of Stephens' son Eli was included in the excerpts from which Stephens read.

Stephens appeared as Prince John in season 3 of the BBC series Robin Hood in 2009. In the United States, the series aired on BBC America. Stephens appeared in two episodes of a six-part television series based on Chris Ryan's book "Strike Back." In May 2010, the series premiered.

Stephens appeared in The Donmar Warehouse revival of Ibsen's A Doll's House, alongside Gillian Anderson and Christopher Eccleston in mid-2009.

In 2010, he appeared in The Blue Geranium, a subsequent sequel to Agatha Christie's Miss Marple role. In June 2010, PBS in the United States debuted the program. In a three-part comedy television series called Vexed, Stephens starred as a self-centred detective opposite Lucy Punch.

Stephens appeared in a short film titled The Lost Explorer, Tim Walker's directorial debut, with a small supporting role. The film is based on a short story by author Patrick McGrath.

Stephens received raves for his performance as Henry in a Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing revival, directed by Anna Mackmin at the Old Vic Theatre in London in the spring of 2010. Stephens, who made his debut at the Old Vic, where his parents performed as part of Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre Company, said: "It's very sad for me to do something there." It means that it has an enhanced fascination. It was a historic place, but I never saw anything when [my parents] were present, which is really sad because I was just born. "I'm a huge fan of Stoppard's work."

Stephens Danton appeared as Georges Danton in Danton's Death in 2010. Stephens made his debut at the Royal National Theatre in London, this time at the Royal National Theatre in London.

Stephens has continued to narrate audiobooks and appear in broadcast radio dramas for the past 20 years. Stephens appeared alongside other celebrities in narrating portions of the King James Version of the Bible for BBC Radio 4 in January 2011 as part of the Bible's 400th anniversary of publication. In a radio serial that premiered in February 2011, Stephens played Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Stephens narrated another audio book, Paul Temple and the Geneva Mysteries, which were both released in February 2011.

Stephens appeared in Starz' television series Black Sails, a prequel to Treasure Island set in the early 18th century during the Golden Age of Piracy.

In the film The Journey, he was portrayed as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2016.

In Lost in Space, the Netflix spinoff of the 1965 TV series, he appeared as John Robinson from 2018 to 2021. Damian Cray appeared in the second season of Alex Rider in 2021.

Source

Awards

• 1992—Ian Charleson Award Second Prize: for Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well (Swan Theatre)
• 1994—Ian Charleson Award (best classical actor under 30): for Coriolanus in Coriolanus (Royal Shakespeare Company)
• 1994—Sir John Gielgud Award (best actor): for Coriolanus in Coriolanus (Royal Shakespeare Company)
• 1999—Theatre World Award (debut performance on Broadway): for Hugo/Frederick in Ring Round the Moon (Lincoln Center Theater)