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Toby StephensBorn 21st April 1969, Middlesex, UK. Educated at Aldro and Seaford College, studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), he landed a part in the controversial adaptation of Mary Wesley's 'The Camomile Lawn', with Jennifer Ehle and Tara Fitzgerald.Toby and Tara acted together again in 'The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall' in 1996. And in 2006, both star in the BBC's new version of 'Jane Eyre'. He played the mysterious Edward Rochester. He has starred in films across a variety of genres, from Shakespeare's Twelth Night in 1996 to mystical fantasy Photographing Fairies and romantic drama Possession with Gwyneth Paltrow. Awards include: 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 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 Royal Shakespeare Company. 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'. He also starred as Vladimir Lensky opposite Ralph Fiennes in a 1999 version of the classic story 'Onegin'. He played Charles in 'Perfect Strangers', written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff (The Lost Prince). Nominated at the Royal Television Society and BAFTA awards, it also starred Michael Gambon (The Lost Prince) and Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks). He entered a select band of actors including Christopher Lee and Donald Pleasence when he starred as sadistic villain Gustav Graves in 2002 James Bond movie 'Die Another Day'. He's appeared as one of the 'Cambridge Spies' with Rupert Penry-Jones, Tom Hollander and Samuel West. He played Kim Philby, described by writer Peter Moffat as "the most successful spy of the lot, becoming Head of Counter-Intelligence in MI6." He narrates audiobooks and performs in radio dramas - from November 2007 to May 2008 he gave six such performances. In April 2008, his agent announced that Stephens will play the role of "Crawford" in a new three-part ITV television drama entitled Wired, to be directed by Kenny Glenaan some time in the future. Early details suggest it will concern various characters caught up in a fictional Internet banking scam. Filming has been taking place in the Manchester area. He is the son of acclaimed actress Dame Maggie Smith and Shakespearean actor Sir Robert Stephens. His wife is actress, Anna-Louise Plowman. [The above was sourced from the BBC website and Wikipedia combined] Following is an extracts from the book by Linda Blandford called "Sharpe Cut" about the making of "Sharpe's Challenge". Obviously the main focus is on Sean Bean but she does mention Toby and his description is revealing about the character of the man :- "And this is when the compliments start to be paid to the one actor who has so far attracted the least attention because he's given the least trouble. Sean, in spite of himself, is the magnetic centre of the unit: almost no-one can resist the force of his presence. But when other actors were reeling around, and almost into, the camp fire at Samode or jousting at hotel bars, Toby Stephens was almost invisible. Friendly to all, polite to crew and actors alike, always there when needed on set, totally prepared, virtually fluff-free - and hardly around the rest of the time. 'When I come into work, I work. You do the job. You get on with it, and when it's over, you get on with your own life. So people don't know much about you if you haven't been in the bar grinding on about your own life.' Complaining about hotels, for instance, is a given in India: food too slow, service incompetent, rooms too cold or too hot, ambience too noisy or too quiet. It's all about neediness, and its denial: the tougher the bloke, the more constant the grumbling. Not so, Toby. The Ajit Bhawan hotel is noise rampant? Without fuss, he books into the impressive heritage hotel on the hill and offers to pay for it himself. 'He's been a delight to deal with all along,' says Emma Pike, the production manager, who has the unenviable responsibility for hotel arrangements, amid a thousand others. 'He's direct and uncomplicated.' Damning praise in an industry which lavishes its most admiring attention on its imperilled and troubled souls. But then Toby Stephens knows all about those first-hand, and while he may be direct, he isn't for one second uncomplicated. He's masked by public school good manners, self-control and utter professionalism. At Jodhpur, the high-ups are booked into the Ajit Bhawan, the Maharajah's palace, the rest of the Brits etc into the Ranbanka, supposedly the lesser hotel next door. But the two are connected, we can walk to and fro. I use the fancy gym next door where I find Toby pounding for nearly an hour on the treadmill. The high-ups discover that our hotel is actually nicer, more open to the winter sky; the garden terrace, bar and restaurant have more space to unwind and the staff fuss less. At last, everyone is on a level playing field. It makes this final week even more precious. One afternoon, I finally sit down over a pot of tea with Toby, and bask in his soft-pedalled charm His good manners and professionalism are to be expected, perhaps, of the son of Dame Maggie Smith. He doesn't talk about his mother, and I don't ask, but he does tell the story of his time at drama school when it got out that her son was in his year. A fellow student called Matthew Smith started to be accosted by people saying, 'I love your mother'. 'Matt was baffled. His mother was a cleaner in Leeds.' It's an elegant way of closing that door, but he also is quick to add. 'I'm not ashamed of it but when people talk about "your breeding" you could end up feeling like a f.....g racehorse.' Fair enough, since he is also the son of that dangerously brilliant actor, Robert Stephens, who died 8 years ago of cirrhosis after a failed liver transplant. The incandescent actor of The Royal Hunt of the Sun turned into a troubled, unemployed liability. He walked out of rehearsals, out of productions and couldn't get work for years. A final flowering as Adrian Noble's Falstaff and then as his King Lear, both at the RSC, didn't come until almost the end of his life. So drinking isn't a game to Toby. Acting is work, life is reality and real men don't play at 'boy's stuff' because they get burned. 'I gave up drinking while my father was dying, to try to get him to stop. When he died, I took it up again. I was my father's son in that respect; I could drink and drink and drink and not be sick. My body had no warning signs. But as soon as I turned it off and gave it up, I had a life - the joy of reading a book before going to bed, to make a coherent call without it being bollocks. What a joy.' It couldn't have been an easy ride on any level. His mother and stepfather, scriptwriter Beverly Cross, lived what Toby calls 'a hermetic life in the country'. He was sent to a rough, sporty public school where to be creative was 'poofy'. I can hardly bear that here's yet another of those intelligent dreamers failed by the system. What kind of school was it to have turned out this highly disciplined, clever actor with 2 Cs and a D at 'A' levels? He couldn't have seemed very promising after that: every drama school he applied to turned him down, except for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. 'I was quite on the back foot for a lot of the time.' A slow starter, he emerged as a big enough LAMDA 'star' by his third year to be signed by an agent at ICM and walk straight into a major part in Camomile Lawn, the television adaptation of Mary Wesley's bestselling war-time novel. He was freckled and touchingly young - a long, long way from the taut, lethal Major Dodd of Sharpe's Challenge. He sums up what acting means to him: 'It's about an instinctive understanding of human nature.' Toby Stephens - what members say
Toby Stephens - filmography
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Toby Stephens facts5 most recent filmsJane Eyre - 4.0 stars Cambridge Spies - 3.5 stars Die Another Day - 3.0 stars Die Another Day - BLU-RAY Version - 3.5 stars The Great Gatsby - 2.5 stars 5 highest-rated filmsJane Eyre - 4.0 stars Sharpe's Challenge - 4.0 stars Cambridge Spies - 3.5 stars Twelfth Night - 3.5 stars The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall - 3.5 stars 5 lowest-rated filmsThe Great Gatsby - 2.5 stars Dark Corners - 2.5 stars The Wild West - 3.0 stars Sunset Heights - 2.5 stars Onegin - 3.0 stars Most frequent co-starsJudi Dench - 2 times - show films Rosamund Pike - 2 times - show films Rick Yune - 2 times - show films Martin Donovan - 2 times - show films Colin Salmon - 2 times - show films Most frequent directorsLee Tamahori - 2 times - show films Susanna White - 1 times - show films Ray Gower - 1 times - show films Ketan Mehta - 1 times - show films Mike Barker - 1 times - show films |
Really cool movie, excellent start! 22 June 2004
...d the role very well but the character
should have had more to do. what about Toby Stephens as Gustav Graves? well, i'm not keen to change and especially not with James Bo...
well done but still not quite there... 6 September 2005
