Who is Stuart Townsend?
Stuart was born in Howth, County Dublin, Ireland, on 15 December 1972 – his zodiac sign is Sagittarius, and he holds Irish nationality. He’s an actor, film writer and director, with close to 40 acting credits to his name, while he’s perhaps still known best for his portrayal of the lead character Lestat in the 2002 horror fantasy movie “Queen of the Damned”, directed by Michael Rymer, and which also starred Aaliyah and Marguerite Moreau. The movie follows vampire Lestat who’s become a rock ‘n’ roll star, while his music’s now awoken the vampire queen; it was nominated for seven awards.
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Early life and education
Stuart was raised in Dublin alongside his younger siblings Dylan and Chloe, both of whom have also become actors, by their father Peter Townsend who was a British professional golfer, and their mother Lorna Hogan who was an Irish model; Stuart also has half-siblings Hugo and Ella Townsend.
He became interested in acting while attending a local high school, and went on to appear in nearly all the plays performed at the school. He was also into a couple of other activities during those four years, including playing soccer and basketball.
Upon matriculating in 1991, Stuart enrolled at the Gaiety School of Acting, and in 1993 appeared in his first theatre play “Tear Up the Black Sail”; the same year saw him make his debut film appearance, portraying John Slattery in the short science fiction “Godsuit”.
Stuart graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in acting in 1994.
Roles in movies
Stuart appeared in 10 movies in the ‘90s, while the most popular amongst these was perhaps the 1997 romantic crime comedy “Shooting Fish”, written and directed by Stefan Schwartz, and in which he starred alongside Dan Futterman and Kate Beckinsale. It follows two con artists who are planning to steal enough money to buy a horse; the movie won three awards.
A couple of Stuart’s following roles were in the 2000 romantic comedy “About Adam”, the 2002 action crime drama “Trapped” and the 2003 crime thriller “Shade”. The year 2003 also saw him play one of the lead characters Dorian Gray in the popular action adventure fantasy “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, directed by Stephen Norrington, and which also starred Sean Connery and Peta Wilson. Set in a different Victorian age world, the movie follows a group of famous book characters who’ve teamed up on a secret mission, and was nominated for 12 awards. A couple of Stuart’s other notable performances in the 2000s were in the 2004 romantic war drama “Head in the Clouds”, the 2005 action science fiction adventure “Æon Flux” and the 2007 romantic comedy drama “Chaos Theory”.
Three of Stuart’s most recent film roles have been in the biographical romantic drama “Grace and Grit”, the action crime adventure “Apache Junction” and the romantic drama “Christmas at Castle Hart”, all released in 2021; he’s currently shooting for the upcoming movies “The Martini Shot” and “Two Minutes to Midnight”.
Roles in TV series
Stuart made his debut TV series appearance in the 2005 episode “The Fabulous Baker Boy” of the romantic comedy “Will & Grace”, and gained recognition in 2006, with his portrayal of the lead character Carl Kolchak in the fantasy crime drama “Night Stalker”, created by Frank Spotnitz, and which also starred Gabrielle Union and Eric Jungmann. It follows investigative reporter Carl whose wife’s just been killed, and who’s now teamed up with three other people to investigate strange supernatural crimes in Los Angeles, California.
Stuart had only one other TV series role in the 2000s: he voiced Ron Weasley and various other characters in the short animated adventure “Robot Chicken” between 2005 and 2011.
In 2011 and 2012, he played XIII in the action crime drama “XIII: The Series”, starring alongside Greg Bryk and Stephen McHattie; it follows an amnesiac secret operative whose job is to cover up dirty CIA business, and the series won three of the four awards for which it was nominated.
Three of Stuart’s most recent roles have been in two episodes of the 2015 mystery crime drama “Elementary”, seven episodes of the 2015 fantasy horror drama “Salem” and the 2017 episode “Spellbound” of the mystery crime drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”.
Other credits
Stuart performed the song “O The Brickley Bush” in the 1996 romantic crime movie “Trojan Eddie”.
He wrote, produced and directed the 2007 historical action movie “Battle in Seattle”, which won one of the five awards for which it was nominated.
Stuart composed the theme music for the 2012 short comedy movie “Special Delivery”.
He’s made a guest appearance in many talk-shows, most recently in “Hollywood Insider”, “Made in Hollywood”, and “Celebrity Page”.
Awards and nominations
Stuart’s won two awards: a 1998 Fantafestival Award for Best Actor, for his performance in “Resurrection Man”, and a 2013 WorldFest Houston Gold Remi Award for Best Actor, for “XIII: The Series”.
He was also nominated for a 2003 Irish Film and Festival (IFTA) Audience Award for Best Actor in a Film, and a 2008 IFTA Award for Best Script for Film, for “Battle in Seattle”.
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Stuart as Aragorn in “Lord of the Rings”
Before Viggo Mortensen was cast to star as Aragorn in the critically acclaimed 2001 action adventure movie “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”, which today ranks amongst top 10 movies of all time, Stuart had been cast to play the role.
It was director Peter Jackson who had cast Stuart as Aragorn, however, when he flew to New Zealand for a screen test, Stuart didn’t attend training sessions, at which he was to learn sword fencing. He was insecure about the role, believing that he was too young and inexperienced to play Aragorn, and Peter thus let producers know that Stuart would have to be replaced.
Love life and relationships
Even though Stuart prefers to keep the details of his love life to himself, it’s still widely known that he was once in a long-term relationship with a famous actress, as well as that he’s in a relationship today.
In 2002, Stuart began dating South African and American actress Charlize Theron, who’s appeared in more than 70 movies and TV series, winning a 2004 Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the biographical crime movie “Monster”. The two lived together in Los Angeles, before moving together to Ireland, and it’s said that they were engaged; Stuart and Charlize split in 2009.
Since 2013, he’s been in a relationship with non-celebrity American Agatha Araya, and they have two children together, Desmond and Ezra; the family of four’s today living in Costa Rica.
Stuart hasn’t mentioned any other women whom he’s perhaps been with, so as of August 2022, he’s in a long-term relationship with Agatha Araya, and they have two sons together.
Hobbies and other interests
Stuart seems to be enjoying the attention which he’s receiving from his more than 20,000 Instagram followers, and has uploaded over 200 pictures onto the network, the majority of which feature him during his everyday life.
He prefers spending his spare time in nature, and most of his Instagram pictures show him and his friends having fun at some of Ireland’s most beautiful natural locations.
He’s passionate about travelling, and has been all around the world, mostly for work but also for pleasure; Stuart’s dream travel destination’s Iceland.
He’s physically quite active, and has multiple training sessions at the gym every week, mostly because it’s important for his acting career to stay in shape.
Stuart has his own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are Eddie Redmayne, Bruce Willis and Anne Hathaway, while a couple of his favorite films are “Les Miserables”, “Fight Club” and “One Day”.
Age, height and net worth
Stuart’s age is 49. He has short brown hair and brown eyes, his height is 6ft (1.8m) and he weighs around 155lbs (70kgs).
As of August 2022, his net worth’s been estimated at over $5 million.
