26 Fun And Interesting Facts About Toby Stephens

Toby Stephens, born April 21, 1969, is an English stage, television, and film actor who has appeared in movies in both Hollywood and Bollywood. He’s known for the roles of Bond villain Gustav Graves in the James Bond movie Die Another Day, Edward Fairfax Rochester in a BBC television adaption of Jane Eyre and in his role as Captain Flint in the Starz television series Black Sails. Take a look below for 26 more fun and interesting facts about Toby Stephens.

1. Stephens plays one of the lead roles in the science fiction series Lost in Space, which was released on Netflix on April 13th, 2018.

2. He’s the younger son of actors Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens.

3. Stephens was born at the Middlesex Hospital in Fitzrovia, London.

4. Stephens was educated at Aldro and Seaford College, where he states that he was incredibly unhappy.

5. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

6. Stephens began his movie career with the role of Othello in 1992, in Sally Potter’s Orlando. He has since made regular appearances on television and on stage.

7. Stephens is the stepson of Patricia Quinn.

8. He has the uncanny ability to master the American accent which, along with his smile and look, helped set him apart from the other actors reading for the part of Jay Gatsby and ultimately helped him land the role, a role he said he had the most fun playing and would do the part again in a heartbeat.

9. He was considered for the role of Robin in Batman Forever.

10. Stephens has turned down Hollywood movies many times as he concentrates mainly on theater.

11. After his parents’ divorce when he was four years old, Stephens and his brother, actor Chris Larkin, grew up traveling back and forth across the Atlantic with their mother for her many acting engagements.

12. His family has been involved in three of Britain’s most successful literary and film franchises. Toby played a James Bond villain in Die Another Day, and later went on to play Bond himself on the radio. His father, Robert Stephens, played Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings on the radio. His mother, Maggie Smith, played Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies.

13. He and his mother, Maggie Smith, have both worked with Ian McKellen. Smith appeared with him in Richard III, while Stephens worked with him in a BBC Radio adaption of Goldfinger. McKellen also played “Smith” when he hosted Saturday Night Live. In addition, both McKellen and Robert Stephens have appeared in adaptions of The Lord of the Rings.

14. In 1992, Stephens and Tara Fitzgerald co-starred in the television miniseries The Camomile Lawn. In 1996, they again co-starred in the adaption of Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Both appeared again in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, but didn’t share screen time.

15. He performed in Harold Pinter’s play “Betrayal” at the Donmar Warehouse, London as the character “Jerry.”

16. Stephens became a father for the first time at age 38 when his wife Anna-Louise Plowman gave birth to their son Elijah Alistair Stephens on May 16, 2007.

17. His daughters, Tallulah and Kura, were born in May, 2009, and in September, 2010, respectively.

18. Simon Gray, the renowned British playwright, who wrote Japes, a stage play, and Missing Dates, a radio drama, both of which starred Stephens, is reportedly the godfather of Stephens’ kids.

19. Stephens and his wife performed together as Elyot and Sibyl in Jonathan Ken’t revival of Private Lives for the 2012 Chichester Festival.

20. In 2016, Stephens was cast as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the movie The Journey, which featured Timothy Spall as firebrand preacher and eventual Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley with Colm Meaney playing Martin McGuinness.

21. Over the years, Stephens prolifically narrates audiobooks and performs in broadcast radio dramas. In the last three years, he has averaged four or five such performances per year.

22. In 2010, Stephens appeared as Georges Danton in Danton’s Death.

23. In 2005, he played the role of a British Army captain in the Indian movie, The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey, portraying events in the Indian rebellion of 1857.

24. 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 the book included Gray’s description of his participation as godfather at the christening of Stephen’s son Eli.

25. Aged 33 during the release of the James Bond movie Die Another Day, Stephens remains the youngest actor to have played a Bond villain.

26. Stephens took on a small supporting role in a short movie, The Lost Explorer, the directorial debut of photographer Tim Walker. The movie was based on a short story by author Patrick McGrath.

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