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Stuart Townsend
Townsend at the Beverly Hills Special Screening of "Battle in Seattle" - September 22, 2008.
Born	Stuart Peter Townsend 15 December 1972 (1972-12-15) (age 37) Howth, County Dublin, Ireland
Domestic partner(s)	Charlize Theron (2001-2009) (Separated)

Stuart Townsend (born on 15 December 1972 in Howth, County Dublin) is an Irish actor and director. His most notable portrayals are of 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.

Contents 1 Career 2 Personal life 3 Filmography 3.1 Films 3.2 Television 4 References 5 External links

Career

Like fellow Irish actor Colin Farrell, 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 Sail¹. His professional stage debut was in 1994's True Lines, directed by John Crowley, who later directed Intermission. True Lines was first performed in Kilkenny; it later moved to the Dublin Theatre Festival and on to Bush Theatre in London.

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

After his appearance as the outrageous 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.

In recent years he has appeared in big budget films including Queen of the Damned, opposite Aaliyah, 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 the day before principal photography began.² According to Townsend:²

“

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 Townsend 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. Again, 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 Townsend 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 recently starred alongside Ryan Reynolds in the 2007 comedy Chaos Theory.

Townsend made his directorial debut with the 2007 film Battle in Seattle which is a realistic portrayal of the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 World Trade Organisation which was successfully undermined by anti-globalization protesters. Despite the films A-list cast, including Charlize Theron (Townsend's partner of many years), Ray Liotta, Woody Harrelson and others, not to mention its being well received by critics, the film enjoyed only limited release and no blockbuster support.

Townsend had been cast as Fandral in Kenneth Brannagh's Thor, but was replaced in January 2010, due to unspecified creative differences.³

Personal life

Townsend's father, Peter, was a golfer, who played in the 1969 and 1971 Ryder Cups.⁴ His brother Dylan Townsend is a professional model.⁵

Townsend dated actress Charlize Theron after meeting her on the set of 2002's Trapped. The couple live together in Los Angeles and England. 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."⁶

Charlize has told friends she split from the Irish actor after a trip to Mexico over the Christmas [2009] period, and has now stopped wearing an antique commitment ring he had given her as a sign of his love.It was she who ended it."⁷

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	Supporting Role
2004	Head in the Clouds	Guy	Main Role
2005	The Best Man	Olly Pickering	Main Role
2007	Chaos Theory	Buddy Endrow	Main Role
2008	Battle in Seattle		As Director
2009	Maggie Hill	Terrence James	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	4 episodes

References

External links

• Stuart Townsend at the Internet Movie Database