Toby Stephens
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
It was perhaps only natural that this second son of Sir Robert Stephens and Dame Maggie Smith should follow in his parents' stead and pursue a career as an actor. Handsome, dark-haired Toby Stephens began to land key roles in stage and screen productions almost immediately after his 1991 graduation from LAMDA. He first made an impression with British TV audiences co-starring with Jennifer Ehle in "The Chamomile Lawn" in 1992, the same year he debuted on the big screen in "Orlando."
Stephens went on to a distinguished stage career, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company and becoming the youngest actor with the troupe to undertake the lead in the Bard's "Coriolanus" (1994). Daring to step into the shadow of Marlon Brando, he tackled the role of Stanley Kowalski opposite Jessica Lange in the 1996 Peter Hall-staged London production of "A Streetcar Named Desire." His rising status as a leading man was cemented with his turn as Orsino in "Twelfth Night" (1996), Trevor Nunn's feature adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy, and as Gilbert Markham, the Yorkshire farmer who falls for a married woman, in the small screen version of Anne Bronte's novel "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (also 1996). Although his next couple of films didn't fare too well at the box office, Stephens earned mostly good notices for his work, whether playing an early 20th-century photographer in "Photographing Fairies" (1997) or 19th-century men in "Cousin Bette" (1998) or "Onegin" (1999). After making his Broadway debut playing twins in the farcical "Ring Around the Moon" in 1999, the actor was tapped to portray the young incarnation of director-star Clint Eastwood's astronaut in "Space Cowboys" (2000). That same year, he tried to embody F. Scott Fitzgerald's elusive titular character in the A&E version of "The Great Gatsby," but while he cut the proper dashing figure, something was missing in his interpretation of the role. He fared better in his homeland playing a supporting role in the critically-acclaimed BBC2 presentation "Perfect Strangers" (2001) and a return to the stage alongside Dame Judi Dench in "The Royal Family." Director Neil LaBute tapped Stephens to play a self-serving academic in "Possession" (2002) before the actor landed a part that reach his wide audience yet-- the villainous Gustav Graves in "Die Another Day" (2002), the 20th James Bond film. Stephens held his own against Pierce Brosnan as 007, proving one of the more charismatic of the recent Bond bad guys and demonstrating a flair for physical combat in the action-packed fencing sequence with Brosnan.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1991
Made his West End debut opposite Jennifer Ehle in "Tartuffe", directed by Peter Hall
1992
Cast opposite Ehle in the British telefilm "The Chamomile Lawn", directed by Hall; project was filmed in 1991 before "Tartuffe"
1992
Made his feature film debut in "Orlando"
1993
Joined the Royal Shakespeare Company
1994
Became the youngest actor to play Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" at the RSC
1996
Had male lead in the British TV adaptation of "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall"
1996
Starred as Orsino opposite Helena Bonham Carter and Imogen Stubbs in the Trevor Nunn-directed feature film version of "Twelfth Night"
1996
Starred opposite Jessica Lange in a London West End production of "A Streetcar Named Desire"
1997
Was cast as a photographer asked to prove or disprove pictures taken by a young girl that allegedly showed sprites and other mystical beings in "Photographing Fairies"
1998
Co-starred with Jessica Lange in the film "Cousin Bette"
1998
Played opposite Diana Rigg in "Britannicus" and "Phedre", performed in repertory
1999
Had featured role in "Onegin"
1999
Made his Broadway debut as twins in "Ring Round the Moon"
2000
Cast in the lead of the British stage play "Japes"
2000
Starred in title role of the A&E adaptation of "The Great Gatsby"
2000
Portrayed Clint Eastwood's astronaut character as a young man in flashback sequences of "Space Cowboys"
2001
Co-starred in the London staging of the play "The Royal Family"
2001
Had featured role as the main character's cousin in the BBC2 production "Perfect Strangers"
2002
Appeared in the feature film "Possession"
2002
Was cast as the lead villain in "Die Another Day", the 20th James Bond film
2004
Played the title role in an RSC production of "Hamlet"
2006
Was cast as Rochester on a mini-series adaptation of "Jane Eyre"
2010
Had the recurring role of DI Jack Armstrong on the crime drama "Vexed"
2014
Played Captain Flint on the pirate-themed series "Black Sails"
2015
Played doctor Edward Armstrong on the mini-series "And Then There Were None"
2018
Was cast as John Robinson on Netflix's update of "Lost in Space"
Family
Companions
