Stuart Townsend facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Stuart Townsend
Townsend at the Beverly Hills special screening of Battle in Seattle on 22 September 2008.
Born	(1972-12-15) 15 December 1972 (age 52) Howth, County Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1993–present
Partner(s)	Charlize Theron (2001–2009)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Peter Townsend (father)
Relatives	Hugo Townsend (half-brother)

Stuart Townsend (born 15 December 1972) is an Irish actor. He is known for playing interesting characters in movies. For example, he played Lestat, a vampire, in Queen of the Damned (2002). He also played Dorian Gray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003). In 2007, Stuart Townsend also directed a movie called Battle in Seattle.

Early Life and Acting Career

Stuart Townsend was born in Howth, a town in County Dublin, Ireland. His mother, Lorna Hogan, was an Irish model. His father, Peter Townsend, was a professional golfer from England. Stuart's younger brother, Dylan, is also an actor.

Stuart studied acting at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. He first performed on stage in 1993. The next year, he made his professional stage debut in a play called True Lines. This play was shown in Kilkenny, then at the Dublin Theatre Festival, and later in London.

His first movie roles were in short Irish films. These included Godsuit and Summertime. Then, he got a role in a longer movie called Trojan Eddie in 1996. In 1997, he starred in the British film Shooting Fish.

In 2000, Stuart returned to the London stage. He acted in the play Orpheus Descending with famous actress Helen Mirren. After this, he got roles in several big movies. He played the vampire Lestat in Queen of the Damned. He also played Dorian Gray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Stuart was almost cast as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings movies. However, he was replaced by Viggo Mortensen just before filming started.

In 2005, he starred in Night Stalker. This was a TV show remake where he played an investigative reporter. The show was cancelled after only six episodes. Stuart also had a small, uncredited role in the movie Æon Flux (2005).

He starred with Ryan Reynolds in the movie Chaos Theory (2007). In the same year, Stuart directed his first movie, Battle in Seattle. This film showed the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting and the protests against it. Famous actors like Charlize Theron, Ray Liotta, and Woody Harrelson were in the movie. However, it was only shown in a few cinemas and was not a huge hit.

Stuart was also supposed to play Fandral in the movie Thor. But he was replaced in 2010 due to creative differences. He has appeared in several TV shows since then. These include Betrayal, Salem, and an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2017. More recently, in 2021, Stuart Townsend starred in the films The Martini Shot and Grace and Grit.

Personal Life

Stuart Townsend's father, Peter, was a golfer who played in big tournaments in 1969 and 1971. Stuart has a brother named Dylan and a sister named Chloe. They are from his father's first marriage. Stuart also has two half-siblings, Hugo and Ella, from his father's second marriage.

Stuart dated actress Charlize Theron after they met while filming Trapped in 2002. They lived together in Los Angeles and Ireland. They considered themselves married, even without an official ceremony. They broke up in January 2010.

In 2015, Stuart's brother shared that Stuart had moved to Costa Rica. He bought land there and was living with a woman from Costa Rica. They were expecting their second child at that time. In 2019, Stuart was living in Santa Monica with his wife and two children.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	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
	The Escort	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 only
2009	Maggie Hill	Terrence James
2013	A Stranger in Paradise	Paul
2021	Grace and Grit	Ken Wilber
2021	Christmas at Castle Hart	Earl Aidan Hart
2021	Apache Junction	Jericho Ford
2023	The Martini Shot	Philip	Completed

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Awards

See also

In Spanish: Stuart Townsend para niños