Stuart Townsend (born 15 December 1972) is an Irish actor. He portrays the characters Lestat de Lioncourt in the 2002 film adaptation of Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned, and Dorian Gray in the 2003 film adaptation of Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
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 Organization 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 hemorrhage. Townsend has two half-siblings, Hugo and Ella, from his father’s second marriage, to Swedish-born 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, with Townsend stating, “We didn’t have a ceremony. 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 they came back on day two of a planned ten-day holiday in Mexico in January 2010.
In May 2015, Townsend’s brother confirmed that Stuart had settled down in Costa Rica, where he had bought some land and was living with a woman from that country, who was expecting their second child at that time. Townsend is the father of two children, Desmond Townsend and Ezra Townsend. According to sources, Stuart had quit his acting career and become a full-time owner of a car garage in Costa Rica, though he did return to television in 2017, with a role in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and in 2018 shot his scenes for the film The Martini Shot and signed to star in the film Grace and Grit.
Filmography
Films
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Godsuit | John Slattery | |
| 1996 | Trojan Eddie | Dermot | |
| 1997 | Shooting Fish | Jez | |
| Under the Skin | Tom | ||
| 1998 | Resurrection Man | Victor Kelly | |
| 1999 | Simon Magus | Dovid Bendel | |
| Wonderland | Tim | ||
| The Venice Project | Lark/Gippo the Fool | ||
| Mauvaise passe | Tom | ||
| 2000 | About Adam | Adam | |
| 2002 | Queen of the Damned | Lestat de Lioncourt | |
| Trapped | William Jennings | ||
| 2003 | Shade | Vernon | |
| The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | Dorian Gray | ||
| 2004 | Head in the Clouds | Guy Malyon | |
| 2005 | The Best Man | Olly Pickering | |
| 2005 | Æon Flux | Monican Rebel | |
| 2007 | Chaos Theory | Buddy Endrow | |
| 2008 | Battle in Seattle | Writer and director | |
| 2009 | Maggie Hill | Terrence James | |
| 2013 | A Stranger in Paradise | Paul | |
| 2021 | The Martini Shot | Philip | |
| 2021 | Grace and Grit | Ken Wilber |
Television
| Year | Series | 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 | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Salem | Dr. Samuel Wainwright | 7 episodes |
| 2017 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Declan Trask | Guest |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Group | Award | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Fantafestival | Best Actor | Won | Resurrection Man |
| 2003 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Actor in a Film | Nominated | People’s Choice Award |
| 2008 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Script for Film | Nominated | Battle in Seattle |
| 2013 | WorldFest | Best Actor | Won | XIII: The Series |