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 (including in The Camomile Lawn, 1992) and on stage.
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 "[b]y the time the network picked up the pilot (...) [the producers'] hold on Stephens had expired (...)"[7][8]
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.[9] 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.[10] Stock-pot was 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 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 aired on BBC America in the United States. Stephens appeared in two episodes of a six-part television series, Strike Back, based on the novel by Chris Ryan.[11] The series aired in May 2010.
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.[13] The show was broadcast in the US on PBS in June 2010. Stephens starred as a highly self-centred detective opposite Lucy Punch in a three-part comedy television series for BBC Two entitled Vexed.[14]
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.[15]
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.[16] 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 [my parents] were there, which is really sad, because I was just born. I'm a huge admirer of Stoppard's work."[17]
Over the years, Stephens has continued to prolifically narrate audiobooks and perform in broadcast radio dramas. 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.
Stephens and New Zealand-born actress Anna-Louise Plowman were married in 2001. Their first child, a son, was born in 2007.[25] The British playwright Simon Gray (who wrote Japes, a stage play, and Missing Dates, a radio drama, both of which starred Stephens) was reported to be Eli's godfather.[26] Their daughters were born in 2009[27] and 2010, respectively.[28]
^"Julia McKenzie returns as the fictional sleuth Miss Marple, in her seventh film The Blue Geranium for ITV1", ITV.com, 21 January 2010 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Katherine Rushton, "Greenlit Gets First BBC Order with Cop Comedy", "Broadcast", 23 July 2009 [4]
^"Slumdog's Danny Boyle Returns to the Stage as Frankenstein," Theatre News, London Evening Standard, 21 January 2010. [6]
^Terri Paddock, "20 Questions with... Toby Stephens," whatsonstage.com 19 November 2001. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 January 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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