Early life

Stephens, the younger son of actors Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens, was born in London. He was educated at Aldro and Seaford College. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), with fellow actors including Ruth Wilson.

Career

Stephens 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 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 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 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, The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey, 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.

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, 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 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.

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,Stephens 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 U.S. 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.

He has recently been cast as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the film "The Journey" which features Timothy Spall as firebrand preacher and eventual Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley with Colm Meaney playing Martin McGuinness. John Hurt also stars.

Personal life

In May 2007, Toby Stephens and his wife of six years, New Zealand actress Anna-Louise Plowman, had their first child, son Eli Alistair. Simon Gray (d.2008), 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. Stephens and his wife became the parents of a second child, daughter Tallulah, in May 2009. The couple had their third child, a daughter named Kura, in September 2010. Stephens and Plowman performed together as Elyot and Sibyl in Jonathan Kent's revival of Private Lives for the 2012 Chichester Festival, reprised at the Gielgud Theatre in 2013.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1992	Orlando	Othello	Sally Potter	Written by Sally Potter, based on the novel Orlando by Virginia Woolf
1996	Twelfth Night	Duke Orsino	Trevor Nunn	Based on the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night
1997	Photographing Fairies	Charles Castle	Nick Willing	Based on the book by Steve Szilagyi
1998	Cousin Bette	Victorin Hulot	Des McAnuff	Based on the book Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac
1999	Onegin	Vladimir Lensky	Martha Fiennes	Based on the verse drama Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
1999	Sunset Heights	Luke Bradley	Colm Villa
2000	The Announcement	Ross	Troy Miller
2000	Space Cowboys	Frank	Clint Eastwood
2001	Possession	Fergus Wolfe	Neil LaBute	Based on the novel Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt
2002	Die Another Day	Gustav Graves	Lee Tamahori	Based on the characters of Ian Fleming
2003	Cambridge Spies	Kim Philby	Tim Fywell	4-episode PBS mini-series
2004	Terkel in Trouble	Voice of Justin	Kresten Vestbjerg Andersen, Thorbjørn Christoffersen, Stefan Fjeldmark	Animated film
2005	Midsummer Dream	Voice of Demetrius	Ángel de la Cruz, Manolo Gómez	Animated film Based on the play A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
2005	Mangal Pandey: The Rising	Captain William Gordon	Ketan Mehta	Bollywood historical drama set during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
2006	Dark Corners	Dr Woodleigh	Ray Gower	Written by Ray Gower
2006	Severance	Harris	Christopher Smith
2013	Believe	Dr. Farquar	David Scheinmann
2013	All Things to All Men	Riley	George Isaac
2013	The Machine	Vincent McCarthy	Caradog W. James
2016	13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi	Glen "Bub" Doherty	Michael Bay
2016	The Journey	Tony Blair	Nick Hamm	Filming

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 (Subterraneans, Parts I and II)
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 (first published in The Thirteen Problems)
2010, 2012	Vexed	Jack Armstrong	Written by Howard Overman
2012	Law & Order: UK	Prof. Martin Middlebrook	Series 6 episode 4 (Trial)
2012	Lewis	David Connelly	Series 6 episode 2 (Generation of Vipers)
2014-present	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

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	007 Legends	Gustav Graves	Voice-over

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Tartuffe	Damis	Directed by Sir Peter Hall (Playhouse); play by Molière; Stephens' West End theatre debut
1992	Tamburlaine	Celebinus/King of Argier	Directed by Terry Hands (RSC); play by Christopher Marlowe
1992	Antony and Cleopatra	Pompey	Directed by John Caird (RSC); play by Shakespeare
1992	All's Well That Ends Well	Bertram	Directed by Sir Peter Hall (RSC); play by Shakespeare Stephens received Ian Charleson Award Second Prize
1993	Wallenstein	Max Piccolomini	Directed by Tim Albery (RSC); play by Friedrich von Schiller
1994	Unfinished Business	Young Beamish	Directed by Steven Pimlott (RSC); play by Michael Hastings
1994	Coriolanus	Caius Marcius Coriolanus	Directed by David Thacker (RSC); 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 (RSC); play by Shakespeare
1994	Measure for Measure	Claudio	Directed by Steven Pimlott (RSC); play by Shakespeare
1996	A Streetcar Named Desire	Stanley Kowalski	Directed by Sir Peter Hall (The Haymarket); play by Tennessee Williams
1998/99	Phedre	Hippolytus	Directed by Jonathan Kent (Almeida & Brooklyn Academy); play by Jean Racine
1998/99	Britannicus	Nero	Directed by Jonathan Kent (Almeida & Brooklyn Academy); play by Jean Racine
1999	Ring Round the Moon	Hugo/Frederick	Directed by Gerry Gutierrez (Lincoln Center Theater NY); play by Jean Anouilh Stephens' Broadway debut; he received the Theatre World Award
2001	Japes	Japes	Directed by Sir Peter Hall (The Haymarket); play by Simon Gray
2001	The Royal Family	Anthony Cavendish	Directed by Sir Peter Hall (The Haymarket); play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber
2004	Hamlet	Hamlet	Directed by Michael Boyd (RSC); play by Shakespeare
2004	The Pilate Workshop	Jesus	Directed by Michael Boyd (RSC); play by Helen Edmundson, based on Ann Wroe's Pontius Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man
2007	Betrayal	Jerry	Directed by Roger Michell (Donmar); play by Harold Pinter
2007	The Country Wife	Mr. Horner	Directed by Jonathan Kent (Haymarket); play by William Wycherley
2009	A Doll's House	Thomas (Torvald, Nora's husband, in the original)	Directed by Kfir Yefet (Donmar); 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

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 (sometimes listed under the title of Part I, 'France 1910')
1997	Anna Karenina	Count Vronsky	BBC dramatised recording of the Leo Tolstoy novel, BBC Classic Collection Audiobook
1998	The Troy trilogy	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 (Japes)	BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of play by Simon Gray (a reworking of his play Japes, in which Stephens also played the title role, see Theatre above)
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 (to be released as an audiobook, April 2010)
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 (novel)	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 (novel)	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

Awards

• 1992—Ian Charleson Award Second Prize: for Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well (Swan Theatre)
• 1994—Ian Charleson Award (best classical actor under 30): for Coriolanus in Coriolanus (Royal Shakespeare Company)
• 1994—Sir John Gielgud Award (best actor): for Coriolanus in Coriolanus (Royal Shakespeare Company)
• 1999—Theatre World Award (debut performance on Broadway): for Hugo/Frederick in Ring Round the Moon (Lincoln Center Theater)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]