Toby Stephens
Toby Stephens is an English stage, television, radio and film actor who has appeared in films in both the UK and US as well as in India. He is known for the roles of Bond villain Gustav Graves in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day, Edward Fairfax Rochester in a BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre and in his role as Captain Flint in the Starz television series Black Sails. Stephens is a lead in the Netflix science fiction series Lost in Space, which began streaming in 2018.
Early life
Stephens, the younger son of actors Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens, was born at the Middlesex Hospital in Fitzrovia, London. He was educated at Aldro School and Seaford College. He then trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.Career
Stephens began his film career with the role of Othello in 1992, in Sally Potter's Orlando. He has since made regular appearances on television and on stage.He played 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 1996 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In 2002 he took on the role of Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day. Aged 33 at the time of film's release, he remains the youngest actor to have played a Bond villain.
In 2005 he played the role of a British Army captain in the Indian film, , 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 highly acclaimed BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre and The Wild West in February 2007 for the BBC in which he played General George Armstrong Custer in Custer's Last Stand.
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/actresses 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.
In February 2008, the Fox Broadcasting Company gave the go-ahead to cast Stephens as the lead in a potential one hour, prime time US television show, Inseparable, to be produced by Shaun Cassidy. Billed as a modern Jekyll and Hyde story, the show was to feature a partially paralysed 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 "y the time the network picked up the pilot... hold on Stephens had expired...."
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 dramatisation of the novel though Moonraker was on South African radio in 1956, with Bob Holness providing the voice of Bond. He has since appeared in a number of adaptations of other James Bond novels.
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. 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, organised 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 his 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 also aired on BBC America in the United States. Stephens' more recent television appearances include two episodes of a six-part television series, Strike Back, based on the novel by Chris Ryan. The series aired in May 2010.
In mid-2009, Stephens returned to the London stage in the Donmar Warehouse production of Ibsen's A Doll's House alongside Gillian Anderson and Christopher Eccleston.
In 2010, he starred in the made-for-television film, The Blue Geranium, a further sequel to the television series and films based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple character. The show was broadcast in the US on PBS in June 2010. Stephens also recently starred as a highly self-centred detective opposite Lucy Punch in a three-part comedy television series for BBC Two entitled Vexed.
Stephens took on a small supporting role in a short film, The Lost Explorer, the directorial debut of photographer Tim Walker. The film is based on a short story by author Patrick McGrath.
Meantime, on the London stage in the spring of 2010, Stephens received outstanding reviews for his performance as Henry in a revival of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, directed by Anna Mackmin at the Old Vic Theatre in London. Of debuting at the Old Vic, where his parents performed as part of Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre Company, Stephens said: "It's quite moving for me to do something there. It means it has an added fascination. It was an historic place but I never saw anything when were there, which is really sad, because I was just born. I'm a huge admirer of Stoppard's work."
In 2010, Stephens appeared as Georges Danton in Danton's Death. The play was another debut for Stephens, this time at London's Royal National Theatre.
Over the years, Stephens has continued to prolifically narrate audiobooks and perform in broadcast radio dramas; in the last three years, he has averaged four or five such performances per year. In January 2011, Stephens joined other stars in narrating portions of the King James Version of the Bible for BBC Radio 4 as part of a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Bible's publication. Stephens performed the role of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe in a radio serial, which debuted in February 2011. Stephens narrated another audiobook, Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery, released in February 2011.
In 2016, he was cast as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the film The Journey which featured Timothy Spall as firebrand preacher and eventual Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley with Colm Meaney playing Martin McGuinness. John Hurt also starred.
In 2018, he appears as John Robinson in Lost in Space, the Netflix remake of the 1965 TV series.
Personal life
Stephens and New Zealand actress Anna-Louise Plowman were married in 2001. Their first child, son Eli Alistair, was born in May 2007. The renowned British playwright Simon Gray was reported to be Eli's godfather. Their daughters Tallulah and Kura were born in May 2009 and in September 2010, respectively.Plowman and Stephens performed together as Sibyl and Elyot in Jonathan Kent's revival of Private Lives for the 2012 Chichester Festival, reprised at the Gielgud Theatre in 2013.
Filmography
Film
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1992 | The Camomile Lawn | Oliver | Based on the book The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley |
| 1996 | The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Gilbert Markham | Based on the book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë |
| 2000 | The Great Gatsby | Jay Gatsby | Based on the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald |
| 2001 | Perfect Strangers | Charles | |
| 2002 | Napoléon | Tsar Alexander I | Based on the book by Max Gallo |
| 2003 | Essential Byron | Reader | Dramatised documentary focusing on poet Lord Byron's work |
| 2003 | Cambridge Spies | Kim Philby | |
| 2003 | Agatha Christie's Poirot Five Little Pigs | Philip Blake | Based on the book Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie |
| 2004 | London | Casanova | |
| 2005 | Waking the Dead | Dr Nick Henderson | Season 5, Episodes 5 and 6 |
| 2005 | The Queen's Sister | Anthony Armstrong-Jones | |
| 2006 | The Best Man | Peter Tremaine | |
| 2006 | Secrets of the Dead: The Umbrella Assassin | Narrator | Season 5, Episode 5; an account of the murder of Georgi Markov |
| 2006 | Sharpe's Challenge | William Dodd | Based on Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series |
| 2006 | Jane Eyre | Edward Fairfax Rochester | Based on the book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë |
| 2007 | The Wild West – Custer's Last Stand | General George Armstrong Custer | Dramatised documentary |
| 2008 | Wired | Crawford Hill | Mini-Series |
| 2009 | The Best Job in the World | Narrator | Documentary based on Tourism Queensland's publicity stunt for a barrier islands' 'caretaker' |
| 2009 | Robin Hood | Prince John of England | Series 3 episodes 6–8 |
| 2010 | Strike Back | Arlington | Based on the book by Chris Ryan |
| 2010 | Lost: The Mystery of Flight 447 | Narrator | Documentary on Air France Flight 447 |
| 2010 | Agatha Christie's Marple The Blue Geranium | George Pritchard | A Miss Marple mystery based on the Agatha Christie short story |
| 2010, 2012 | Vexed | Jack Armstrong | Written by Howard Overman |
| 2012 | Prof. Martin Middlebrook | Series 6 episode 4 | |
| 2012 | Lewis | David Connelly | Series 6 episode 2 |
| 2014–2017 | Black Sails | James McGraw/Flint | 2014 series on the Starz network |
| 2015 | And Then There Were None | Dr. Edward Armstrong | Mini-Series based on the book And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie |
| 2018– | Lost in Space | John Robinson | Netflix remake of Lost in Space |
| 2019 | Summer of Rockets | Samuel Petrukhin | Stephen Poliakoff mini-series |
Video games
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1992 | Tartuffe | Damis | Directed by Sir Peter Hall ; play by Molière; Stephens' West End theatre debut |
| 1992 | Tamburlaine | Celebinus/King of Argier | Directed by Terry Hands ; play by Christopher Marlowe |
| 1992 | Antony and Cleopatra | Pompey | Directed by John Caird ; play by Shakespeare |
| 1992 | All's Well That Ends Well | Bertram | Directed by Sir Peter Hall ; play by Shakespeare Stephens received Ian Charleson Award Second Prize |
| 1993 | Wallenstein | Max Piccolomini | Directed by Tim Albery ; play by Friedrich von Schiller |
| 1994 | Unfinished Business | Young Beamish | Directed by Steven Pimlott ; play by Michael Hastings |
| 1994 | Coriolanus | Caius Marcius Coriolanus | Directed by David Thacker ; play by Shakespeare Stephens won the Ian Charleson Award and the Sir John Gielgud Award |
| 1994 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Lysander | Directed by Adrian Noble ; play by Shakespeare |
| 1994 | Measure for Measure | Claudio | Directed by Steven Pimlott ; play by Shakespeare |
| 1996 | A Streetcar Named Desire | Stanley Kowalski | Directed by Sir Peter Hall ; play by Tennessee Williams |
| 1998/99 | Phedre | Hippolytus | Directed by Jonathan Kent ; play by Jean Racine |
| 1998/99 | Britannicus | Nero | Directed by Jonathan Kent ; play by Jean Racine |
| 1999 | Ring Round the Moon | Hugo/Frederick | Directed by Gerry Gutierrez ; play by Jean Anouilh Stephens' Broadway debut; he received the Theatre World Award |
| 2001 | Japes | Japes | Directed by Sir Peter Hall ; play by Simon Gray |
| 2001 | The Royal Family | Anthony Cavendish | Directed by Sir Peter Hall ; play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber |
| 2004 | Hamlet | Hamlet | Directed by Michael Boyd ; play by Shakespeare |
| 2004 | The Pilate Workshop | Jesus | Directed by Michael Boyd ; play by Helen Edmundson, based on Ann Wroe's Pontius Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man |
| 2007 | Betrayal | Jerry | Directed by Roger Michell ; play by Harold Pinter |
| 2007 | The Country Wife | Mr. Horner | Directed by Jonathan Kent ; play by William Wycherley |
| 2009 | A Doll's House | Thomas | Directed by Kfir Yefet ; play by Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Zinnie Harris |
| 2010 | The Real Thing | Henry | Directed by Anna Mackmin; play by Tom Stoppard |
| 2010 | Danton's Death | Georges Danton | Directed by Michael Grandage; play by Georg Büchner |
| 2012/13 | Private Lives | Elyot Chase | Directed by Jonathan Kent; play by Noël Coward |
| 2017 | Oslo | Terje Rød-Larsen | Directed by Bartlett Sher; play by J. T. Rogers on the Lyttelton Stage at Royal National Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre |
| 2019 | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | Bri | Directed by Simon Evans; play by Peter Nichols at Trafalgar Studios |
Radio drama and audio books
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 1994 | Time and the Conways | Robin | Radio drama based on the play Time and the Conways by J.B. Priestley: released as a BBC Audiobook in March 2010 |
| 1995 | The Prince's Choice | Coriolanus, Hamlet, Henry V, Henry IV and Edward Poins | A selection from Shakespeare's works; narrators include the Prince of Wales and Stephens' parents, Sir Robert Stephens and Dame Maggie Smith, Hodder & Stoughton Audio Books |
| 1997 | As You Like It | Orlando | BBC dramatised recording of Shakespeare's play |
| 1997 | The Lifted Veil | Latimer | BBC dramatised recording of the novella by George Eliot |
| 1997 | The Guns of Navarone | Mallory | BBC two-part dramatised recording of the novel by Alistair MacLean, BBC Radio Collection Audiobook |
| 1997 | Birdsong | Stephen Wraysford | BBC three-part drama based on the Sebastian Faulks novel |
| 1997 | Anna Karenina | Count Vronsky | BBC dramatised recording of the Leo Tolstoy novel, BBC Classic Collection Audiobook |
| 1998 | Troy | Achilles | 3 x 90-minute plays by Andrew Rissik for the BBC with Paul Scofield King Priam and His Sons; The Death of Achilles; Helen at Ephesus |
| 1999 | Tales from the Arabian Nights | Narrator | Includes Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, Sinbad and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Naxos Audiobooks |
| 1999 | Macbeth | Macbeth | Voice of Macbeth for the Movingstage Marionette Company's production of the Shakespeare play |
| 2000 | Conversations with Napoleon | Reader | The words of Napoleon Bonaparte |
| 2001 | King Lear | Edmund | Paul Scofield is King Lear in a dramatised reading of Shakespeare's play, Naxos Audiobooks |
| 2001 | On the Road | Narrator | BBC radio reading of the Jack Kerouac book |
| 2002 | The Riddle of the Sands | Narrator | Novel by Robert Erskine Childers, Penguin Audiobooks |
| 2002 | The Woman in White | Walter Hartright | BBC dramatised recording of novel by Wilkie Collins, BBC Radio Collection Audiobook |
| 2002 | Aeneid | Aeneas | Virgil's Classical Poem abridged by James Burbidge with Paul Scofield, Naxos Audiobooks |
| 2003 | Dionysos | Pentheus, King of Thebes | BBC radio drama by Andrew Rissik with Paul Scofield |
| 2004 | Will in the World | Reader | Based on Stephen Greenblatt's book, a reconstruction of Shakespeare's life & era |
| 2005 | Much Ado About Nothing | Benedick | BBC dramatised recording of Shakespeare's play |
| 2006 | Shylock | Bassanio | BBC Radio 3 dramatised recording of play by Sir Arnold Wesker |
| 2007 | Heart of Darkness | Narrator | Novel by Joseph Conrad, Silksoundbooks Audiobook |
| 2007 | Flashman on the March | Narrator | Novel by George MacDonald Fraser, HarperCollins Audiobook |
| 2008 | Flashman and the Dragon | Narrator | Novel by George MacDonald Fraser, HarperCollins Audiobook |
| 2008 | Missing Dates | Jason | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of play by Simon Gray |
| 2008 | The Good Soldier | Narrator | BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime reading of the novel by Ford Madox Ford |
| 2008 | Dr. No | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
| 2008 | Let's Murder Vivaldi | Ben | BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play, adaptation of David Mercer's television drama |
| 2008 | Coda | Simon Gray | BBC Radio 4 reading of Simon Gray's autobiographical book |
| 2008–2009 | The Dark Flower | Narrator | BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime featuring the novel by John Galsworthy |
| 2009 | My Dark Places | James Ellroy | BBC World Service radio drama based on the autobiographical book by James Ellroy |
| 2009 | Journey into Space: The Host | Jet | BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play, written by Julian Simpson, based on BBC Radio show Journey into Space by Charles Chilton |
| 2009 | King Solomon's Mines | Narrator | Novel by H. Rider Haggard, BBC Worldwide Audiobook |
| 2009 | Becket | King Henry II | BBC Radio 3 adaptation of Jean Anouilh's play |
| 2010 | Dick Barton Special Agent: The Mystery of the Missing Formula | Narrator | Novel by Mike Dorrell, based on the character Dick Barton of the BBC Light Programme of the 1940s; BBC Audiobook |
| 2010 | Goldfinger | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
| 2010 | No Place Like Home | Jonathan | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play by Robert Rigby and Nick Russell-Pavier |
| 2011 | King James Version of the Bible | Narrator | BBC Radio 4 celebration of the 400th anniversary of publication of the KJV |
| 2011 | Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery | Narrator | Novel by Francis Durbridge; BBC Audiobook |
| 2011 | Paul Temple and the Margo Mystery | Narrator | Novel by Francis Durbridge; Audiobook |
| 2011 | Paul Temple Intervenes | Narrator | Novel by Francis Durbridge; Audiobook |
| 2011 | The Lady in the Lake | Philip Marlowe | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the novel by Raymond Chandler |
| 2011 | The Big Sleep | Philip Marlowe | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the novel by Raymond Chandler |
| 2011 | Farewell, My Lovely | Philip Marlowe | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the novel by Raymond Chandler |
| 2011 | Playback | Philip Marlowe | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the novel by Raymond Chandler |
| 2011 | Carte Blanche | Narrator | Novel by Jeffery Deaver; Hodder & Stoughton Audiobooks |
| 2011 | The Long Goodbye | Philip Marlowe | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the novel by Raymond Chandler |
| 2011 | The High Window | Philip Marlowe | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the novel by Raymond Chandler |
| 2011 | The Little Sister | Philip Marlowe | BBC Radio 4 dramatization of the novel by Raymond Chandler |
| 2011 | Poodle Springs | Philip Marlowe | BBC Radio 4 dramatizarion of the novel by Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker |
| 2012 | From Russia, with Love | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
| 2014 | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
| 2015 | Diamonds Are Forever | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
| 2016 | Thunderball | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
| 2018 | Moonraker | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
| 2019 | Live and Let Die | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
| 2020 | The Man with the Golden Gun | James Bond | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of novel by Ian Fleming |
Awards
- 1992—Ian Charleson Award Second Prize: for Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well
- 1994—Ian Charleson Award : for Coriolanus in Coriolanus
- 1994—Sir John Gielgud Award : for Coriolanus in Coriolanus
- 1999—Theatre World Award : for Hugo/Frederick in Ring Round the Moon
Interviews and articles