Early life and career

Townsend was born in Howth, County Dublin, the son of Lorna Hogan, an Irish model, and Peter Townsend, an English professional golfer.

He attended the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin where he made his non-professional stage debut in the school's 1993 production of Colin Teevan's Tear Up The Black Sail. His professional stage debut was in 1994's True Lines, directed by John Crowley. True Lines was first performed in Kilkenny; it later moved to the Dublin Theatre Festival and on to the Bush Theatre in London.

Townsend's early film roles were in Irish short films such as "Godsuit" and "Summertime". His first part in a feature length film was Trojan Eddie, a 1996 Anglo-Irish co-production. In 1997 he landed a lead role in the British film Shooting Fish.

After his appearance as the seducer in the title role of About Adam, he started to be noticed in the United States by critics and the public alike. In mid-2000, he briefly returned to the London stage in the Tennessee Williams play Orpheus Descending, starring as Val Xavier, alongside Helen Mirren as Lady Torrance. He appeared in big budget films, including Queen of the Damned, as the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as Dorian Gray.

Townsend was hired to play the part of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, but was replaced by Viggo Mortensen the day before principal photography began. According to Townsend:

“

I was there rehearsing and training for two months, then was fired the day before filming began. After that I was told they wouldn't pay me because I was in breach of contract due to not having worked long enough. I had been having a rough time with them, so I was almost relieved to be leaving until they told me I wouldn't be paid. I have no good feelings for those people in charge, I really don't. The director wanted me and then apparently thought better of it because he really wanted someone 20 years older than me and completely different.

”

In 2005, he starred alongside Gabrielle Union in Night Stalker, the remake of the 1974 ABC TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. He played the part of Carl Kolchak, an investigative reporter looking into his wife's murder. Night Stalker was abruptly cancelled by ABC after six episodes due to bad viewing figures. He was cited as "too young" by many reviewers and fans of the original series comparing him to Darren McGavin in the original series.

The same year, he played a guest starring role on NBC's Will & Grace as the pansexual pastry chef of Karen Walker who seduces her, Will Truman, and later Karen's maid Rosario. He also made an uncredited cameo in 2005's live-action Æon Flux film. Townsend starred alongside Ryan Reynolds in the 2007 comedy Chaos Theory.

He made his directorial debut with the 2007 film Battle in Seattle which is a portrayal of the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 World Trade Organisation which was undermined by anti-globalisation protesters. The film's cast included Charlize Theron, Ray Liotta and Woody Harrelson, but enjoyed only limited release and no blockbuster support.

He was set to play Fandral in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, but was replaced in January 2010, due to unspecified creative differences.

Townsend also starred in the ABC thriller, Betrayal and starred in the second season of Salem.

Personal life

Townsend's father, Peter, was a golfer, who played in the 1969 and 1971 Ryder Cups.

Townsend has a brother, Dylan Townsend, and sister, Chloe Townsend, from his father's first marriage to Lorna Townsend, who died in 1994 of a brain haemorrhage. Townsend's father has two children, Hugo and Ella, by his Swedish wife, Sofia.

Townsend dated actress Charlize Theron after meeting her on the set of 2002's Trapped. The couple lived together in Los Angeles and Ireland. They said they considered themselves married without an actual marriage. "We didn't have a ceremony," he added. "I don't need a certificate or the state or the church to say otherwise. So no there's no big official story on a wedding, but we are married.... I consider her my wife and she considers me her husband."

Theron split from Townsend when she came back from a holiday in Mexico in January 2010.

In May of 2015, Townsend's brother claimed that the actor had bought some land, settled down with a woman in Costa Rica and "put acting on the back burner". Townsend is also reportedly expecting the birth of his second child.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1993	Godsuit	John Slattery	Main role
1996	Trojan Eddie	Dermot	Main role
1997	Shooting Fish	Jez	Main role
	Under the Skin	Tom	Main role
1998	Resurrection Man	Victor Kelly	Main role
1999	Simon Magus	Dovid Bendel	Main role
	Wonderland	Tim	Main role
	The Venice Project	Lark/Gippo the Fool	Main role
	Mauvaise passe	Tom	Main role
2000	About Adam	Adam	Main role
2002	Queen of the Damned	Lestat de Lioncourt	Main role
	Trapped	William Jennings	Main role
2003	Shade	Vernon	Main role
	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	Dorian Gray	Main role
2004	Head in the Clouds	Guy Malyon	Main role
2005	The Best Man	Olly Pickering	Main role
2005	Aeon Flux	Monican Rebel	Minor role
2007	Chaos Theory	Buddy Endrow	Main role
2008	Battle in Seattle		As director
2009	Maggie Hill	Terrence James	Supporting role
2013	A Stranger in Paradise	Paul	Supporting role

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995	Summertime	Andrew	Main role
2005	Will & Grace	Edward the pastry Chef	1 episode
2005	Night Stalker	Carl Kolchak	Main role
2005-2009	Robot Chicken	Announcer, Lucky Charms Leprechaun, Ron Weasley	4 episodes
2011-2012	XIII: The Series	XIII	Main role
2013	Betrayal	Jack McAllister	Series regular
2015	Elementary	Del Gruner	Guest Appearance
2015	Salem	Dr. Samuel Wainwright	7 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Group	Award	Result	Notes
1998	Fantafestival	Best Actor	Won	Resurrection Man (film)
2003	Irish Film and Television Awards	Best Actor in a Film	Nominated
2008	Irish Film and Television Awards	Best Script for Film	Nominated	Battle in Seattle
2013	WorldFest	Best Actor	Won	XIII: The Series

[ Source: Wikipedia ]