Toby Stephens

Toby Stephens (born 21 April 1969) is an English stage, television and film actor, best known for playing supervillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day (2002) and Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre (2006).

Biography

Stephens, the son of actors Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens, was born in London, England. He was educated at Aldro and Seaford College and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He began his film career with the role of Othello in 1992's Orlando. He has since made regular appearances on television (including in The Camomile Lawn) and on stage.

He has gained acclaim as a stage actor of distinction, notably playing the title role in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Coriolanus shortly after graduation from LAMDA; that same season he played Claudio in Measure for Measure for the RSC. He also played Stanley Kowalski in a West End production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, and Hamlet in 2004. He has appeared on Broadway in Ring Round the Moon. He played the lead in the film Photographing Fairies and played Orsino in Trevor Nunn's film of Twelfth Night. In 2002 he took on the role for which he is most widely known, that of Gustav Graves in the James Bond movie Die Another Day.

In 2005 he played the role of a British army captain in the Indian film, Mangal Pandey: The Rising, portraying events in the Indian rebellion of 1857. The following year he returned to India to play a renegade British East India Company officer in Sharpe's Challenge.

In late 2006 he starred as Edward Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre (broadcast in the United States on PBS in early 2007) and The Wild West in February 2007 for the BBC in which he played General George Armstrong Custer in Custer's Last Stand.

In May 2007, Toby Stephens and his wife of six years, New Zealand actress Anna-Louise Plowman, had their first child, a son named Eli Alistair.^[1] The late Simon Gray, the renowned British playwright (who penned Japes, a stage play, and Missing Dates, a radio drama, both of which starred Stephens), was reportedly Eli's godfather.^[2] Stephens and his wife became the parents of a second child, a girl named Tallulah, in May 2009.^[3]

During mid-2007, Stephens played the role of Jerry in a revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal under the direction of Roger Michell. Later that year, Stephens also starred as Horner in Jonathan Kent's revival of William Wycherley's The Country Wife. The play was the inaugural production of The Theatre Royal Haymarket Company, which in addition to Stephens includes the actors Eileen Atkins, Patricia Hodge, David Haig and Ruthie Henshall. Various members of the Company are expected to star in upcoming productions at the Haymarket Theatre with various artistic directors. The formation of the Company is considered by many London theatre critics to be a bold move for West End theatre.^[4]

In February 2008, Fox Broadcasting Company gave the go-ahead to cast Stephens as the lead in a potential one hour, prime time U.S. television show, Inseparable, to be produced by Shaun Cassidy. Billed as a modern Jekyll and Hyde story, the show was to feature a partially paralyzed forensic psychologist whose other personality is a charming criminal. Stephens' casting was highly unusual, because Fox had not yet approved a script nor purchased a pilot for the show. However, in mid-May 2008, The Hollywood Reporter announced that "[b]y the time the network picked up the pilot . . . [the producers'] hold on Stephens had expired . . . ."^[5][6]

In May 2008, Stephens performed the role of James Bond in a BBC Radio 4 production of Ian Fleming's Dr. No, as part of the centenary celebration of Fleming's birth. The production was reportedly the first BBC radio dramatization of the novel though Moonraker was on South African radio in 1956, with Bob Holness providing the voice of Bond.^[7].

Also in May 2008, Stock-pot Productions announced that Stephens will have the lead role in a feature-length film entitled Fly Me, co-starring Tim McInnerny.^[8] Stock-pot was also the producer of One Day, a short 2006 film shown at international film festivals, in which Stephens played a small part as the boss of McInnerny's character.

On 5 October 2008, Stephens appeared onstage at the London Palladium as part of a benefit entitled "The Story of James Bond, A Tribute to Ian Fleming." The event, organized by Fleming's niece, Lucy Fleming, featured music from various James Bond films and Bond film stars reading from Fleming's Bond novels. Stephens took the part of James Bond himself in the readings.

In early December 2008, Stephens read from Coda, the last book written by his good friend Simon Gray, for BBC Radio 4. The excerpts from which Stephens read included Gray's description of Gray's participation as godfather at the christening of Stephens' son Eli.

Early in 2009, Stephens appeared as Prince John in Season 3 of the BBC series Robin Hood. The series is currently airing on BBC America in the United States. In the summer of 2009, Stephens also appeared on the London stage in the Donmar Warehouse production of Ibsen's A Doll's House alongside Gillian Anderson and Christopher Eccleston.

On 27 June 2009, the BBC Radio 4 broadcasted a radio drama entitled Journey Into Space: The Host, starring Stephens as Jet. The drama is based on a BBC Radio 4 programme of the same title which aired in the 1950's. Over the years, Stephens has continued to prolifically narrate audiobooks and perform in broadcast radio dramas; over the last two years, he has given 12 such performances. In March 2010, BBC Audiobooks will release a recording of Time and the Conways, a radio drama based on J.B. Priestley's play, in which Stephens was cast in the role of Robin. The drama aired on BBC Radio in 1994.

Stephens has reportedly finished filming a three-part comedic television series for BBC Two entitled Vexed, about "two detectives who share chemistry but have complicated personal lives."^[9] Most recently, according to IMDb, Stephens has been cast in two episodes of a six-part television series, Strike Back, based on the novel by Chris Ryan. The series is being filmed in South Africa and is expected to wrap up at the end of 2009. The show will reportedly air on Sky1 in Spring 2010.^[10]

Filmography

Television

Theatre

Radio and CD audio drama

Notes

Awards

• 1994—Ian Charleson Award (best classical actor under 30): Coriolanus
• 1994—Sir John Gielgud Award (best actor): Coriolanus
• 1999—Theatre World Award (debut performance on Broadway): Ring Round the Moon

Interviews and articles

• The New York Times - It's Not Romantic or Oedipal: It's Just the Family Business 24 April 1999
• The Independent - 1 Minute in the Mind of Toby Stephens 4 February 2001)
• The Independent - Theatre Debut - Toby Stephens (7 February 2001)
• The Evening Standard - Toby's Second Act (15 November 2002)
• The Times - My Cultural Life (23 November 2002)
• The Sunday Telegraph - Villain with a Past (16 December 2002)
• San Francisco Chronicle - Traitor? It's No Easy Gig (19 October 2003)
• Stephens on Hamlet, Essay for RSC Website (2004)
• The Times - Interview: Toby Stephens (4 July 2004)
• The Independent on Sunday - This Cultural Life (5 December 2004)
• The Independent - How do I look? (13 August 2005)
• The Telegraph - The Perils of Being Posh on TV (16 March 2006)
• The Independent - Toby Stephens (18 March 2006)
• The Times - Every Woman Has Her Own Idea of Mr. Rochester (29 August 2006)
• The Guardian - Prodigal Son (31 May 2007)
• The Times - Mr. Rochester Takes His Bow (3 September 2007)
• The Evening Standard - Restoring His Humour (2 October 2007)
• Angel & North - Charming Chameleon (2007)
• SFX - Meet the New James Bond (20 May 2008)
• The Daily Telegraph - Being Born into the Theatre was a Mixed Blessing (21 May 2009)

External links

• RSC Hamlet website Includes clips of Toby Stephens and the cast rehearsing the 2004 production of Hamlet.
• Toby Stephens at the Internet Movie Database
• Toby Stephens' theatrical agent, Kate Buckley, Independent Talent
• Toby Stephens' voiceover agents, United Agents