|
Background:
“I can tell you that Stuart Townsend is very highly praised for a stage
production that he did in London. He got wonderful praise from the New Yorker
Magazine. Also, one person I know, who saw the production, said he was
fabulous.” Anne Rice on Stuart Townsend
Irish actor Stuart Townsend became famous after playing sexy vampire Lestat in
the box office bonanza Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned (2002), opposite the late
R&B star Aliyah. His role in the Shooting Fish (1997) helped set Townsend’s
career on the rise, and he won a Fanta Festival Award for brilliantly starring
as psychotic murderer Victor Kelly in Marc Evans’ Resurrection Man (1998). The
attractive performer also gathered a number of critical praise and acclaim for
his performances in the movie About Adam (2000), and in the Tennessee Williams
play “Orpheus Descending” (2000).
“We only had two scenes together, but we got to spend three months together
making the movie. So our’s wasn’t a case of us falling in love on screen and
transferring that to real life. This way, we know it’s for real.” Stuart
Townsend on Charlize Theron
Off camera, 5’ 11” tall, brown-eyed Townsend got much publicity for dating the
screen beauty Charlize Theron. Townsend met her while on the set of the big
budget film Trapped (2002) and quickly became romantically involved. The paired
rejoined in the film Head in the Clouds (2004), and Townsend was featured a year
later in Theron vehicle Æon Flux. They currently live in Los Angeles. Townsend’s
love life has also been linked to Parker Posey (together from1998 until summer
1999).
Tear Up The Black Sail
Childhood and Family:
In Howth, a small town outside of Dublin, Ireland, Stuart Townsend was born on
December 15, 1972, to Peter Townsend (professional golfer) and Lorna Townsend
(Irish top model). Although his dad is a Protestant, young Stuart was raised
Catholic, following in his mom’s religion. He has a brother named Dylan, who is
13 years younger than him, and a sister named Chloe, who is 15 years his junior.
These large age gap is caused by his parents’ occupation. In 1997, three years
after the death of his mother, Stuart’s father married to a woman named Sofia.
From his father’s second marriage, he has two half-siblings: brother Hugo (born
in 2000) and sister Ella (born in 2005).
Stuart attended the same school as fellow Irish actor Colin Farrell, Gaiety
School of Acting in Dublin. He made his first non-professional stage debut there
with the school’s production of “Tear Up The Black Sail.” He completed his drama
studies in 1994.
Resurrection Man
Career:
Stuart Townsend became interested in acting after a drama student girlfriend of
his invited him to go with her to a workshop at Dublin’s Gaiety School of
Acting. He then began training there, and appeared in various art house student
films as well as on some school productions. Upon graduation in 1994, Townsend,
along with friends, founded a theater company called Ether for Lunch, and got
his professional stage debut in John Crowley’s “True Lines,” that same year. He
did not kicked off his wide screen career until in 1996, when he landed the
supporting role of Richard Harris’ nephew Dermot in Gilles MacKinnon’s Trojan
Eddie, a UK / Ireland co-production which was released theatrically in the USA
in 1997.
Though small, the role won Townsend attention from a British agent who offered
him subsequent film role as a gorgeous shy guy/con man named Jez in the comedy
Shooting Fish (1997). Costarring along side Dan Futterman and Kate Beckinsale,
the young actor added fascination to the Edinburgh Film Festival-screened film
that made it unforgettable. Townsend’s career started to take flight after the
performance. The same year, he appeared as Tom, the Irishman who ignites a
sexual passion in bothered Iris (played by Samantha Morton), in Carine Adler’s
spellbinding Under the Skin.
A year later, Townsend showed off his versatility and remarkable talent as
psychotic killer Victor Kelly in the bloodthirsty Resurrection Man, for director
Marc Evans. The chilling performance brought the actor praise and a Fanta
Festival for Best Actor. A second lead as a young man who introduces Daniel
Auteuil’s 45-year-old escapee to the world of gigolo in French film Mauvaise
passé/ The Escort (1999) followed.
1999 also found Townsend in such films as the British-German co-production
mystery Simon Magus (portrayed the innovative dairy farmer Dovid Bendel),
director Michael Winterbottom’s applauded Wonderland (as the ultimately
inadequate romantic hope for Gina McKee’s lonesome waitress) and the Robert
Dornhelm-helmed comedy/drama The Venice Project (appeared as 17th-century court
clown Lark/Gippo the Fool). The latter film was screened at Venice Film Festival
and starred Lauren Bacall and Dennis Hopper.
However, it was Townsend’s portrayal of the invigorating titular character in
the Sundance-screened About Adam (2000) that won him the attention of both
American audiences and critics alike. The dark-haired player received further
recognition when he returned to his theatrical roots with the Tennessee Williams
play “Orpheus Descending” at the Donmar Warehouse in the summer, that same year.
Starring as Val Xavier, opposite the English veteran actress Helen Mirren as
Lady Torrance, Townsend’s performance was critically applauded, and he won a
number of praise.
Returning to filmmaking, Townsend verified 2002 would be a banner year for him
with two high-profile films under his belt. He first portrayed the starring role
of the sexy vampire Lestat de Lioncourt in the Anne Rice vampire movie Queen of
the Damned, which for a time was the No.1 hit in America. The big-budgeted,
which featured him alongside the late R&B singer Aliyah, was originally slated
for video but was released following the tragic and early death of Aliyah.
Townsend got another big break when he was paired with his current flame,
actress Charlize Theron, as a couple whose child is kidnapped in the Luis
Mandoki-directed crime/thriller Trapped, which also starred Kevin Bacon and
Courtney Love.
Townsend’s next major outing came in the next year when director Stephen
Norrington cast him in the supporting role of Dorian Gray in the comic book
action adventure The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, opposite Sean Connery.
The same year, he also appeared in the little-seen independent gambling drama
Shade, along side Sylvester Stallone, Melanie Griffith and Gabriel Byrne. He
reunited with Theron for the WWII drama Head in the Clouds (2004), for
writer/director John Duigan. After guest starring in series “Will & Grace” and
“Robot Chicken” (voiced Lucky Charms Leprechaun), Townsend took on the starring
role of Olly Pickering in the comedy movie The Best Man (2005), along side Amy
Smart and Seth Green, and made an uncredited cameo as Monican in the Charlize
Theron starring vehicle Æon Flux (2005). The Irish thespian also had a starring
role opposite Gabrielle Union in the ABC thriller series “Night Stalker” (2005),
a remake of the 1974 series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.” The show found
Townsend as the supernatural detective Carl Kolchak, who emerges to investigate
the murder of his wife.
Unfortunately, Night Stalker was hastily cancelled after six episodes.
34-year-old Townsend is set to play a role in the directed Marcos Siega
forthcoming comedy-romance movie Chaos Theory (2006). Among his costars are Ryan
Reynolds, Lisa Calder, Sarah Edmondson, Christopher Jacot and Elisabeth Harnois.
Awards:
- Fanta Festival: Best Actor, Resurrection Man, 1998
|
