Toby Stephens

I am practically obsessed with this man now. I adore him, I think he is so charming, chooses such good movies and he's damn sexy to boot. If you're kind of big on Shakespeare, classic novels and interesting, sometimes very complex characters (the way I am) -his career is certainly fascinating. And I will follow his career with great interest.

this is my desktop pic right now :P

You'd think it all began with Jane Eyre (2006) -and sure, it's true that's where I re-discovered him. But to be honest, it all really started when I was 12 years old and I saw him in the 1996 filmatization of Twelfth Night. Now, I was a strange kid. I listened to the Backstreet Boys, enjoyed Shakespearian prose and wrote my own poems at that age. And the first time I was ever sexually attracted to a man was when I saw Toby Stephens as Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night.

That first glance of him, lying there in a sofa, with his hand on his forehead, listening to a beautiful piece of music, made such an impression on me it stayed with me for years. Not to mension the scene when he takes a bath and is all wet and naked and sexy. LOL, you girls who have watched it know what I mean, right? (Sorry I couldn't find a picture of it when I googled, I'm very, very sorry)

Imogen Stubbs as Viola/Cesario

So imagine my surprise when I discovered, that the actor who played Mr. Rochester was the very same as one of my favorite characters of all time (Orsino) and I had an equal obsession with both!!

as Mr Rochester

When I think about it now, though Orsino and Rochester are widely different characters, what attracted me to them (besides they're being interpreted by Toby Stephens) was their passion. Their deep desire to love and be loved and also their darkness in that they are seemingly banned from this burning desire. And who can play these highly complex, beautiful characters better than Toby Stephens?

my favorite romantic hero of all time

(played by my favorite actor of all time)

The thing about Toby is that he gets it. He totally gets it, he gets his characters, he doesn't just show up and is like "it is what it is". I saw an interview with him where he expressed his thoughts concerning this character and everything I thought Rochester was about, he mensioned, plus a little more that I hadn't really thought of. He's not just good looking and talented, he's also clever. A triple threat ^_~

Like I said before, I will follow his career with interest. I've already seen some movies he's done, but I want to have seen everything, if he's my favorite actor after all, I have to have seen everything!

So far I've seen: Twelfth Night, Onegin, Jane Eyre and Die Another Day (and I was SUPER impressed that he spoke Korean, I listen to a lot of Korean music and watch a lot of Korean dramas and I can spot someone with a "bad" korean accent, but his was actually really good! Then again, I'm not Korean haha..)

as Gustav Graves

I thought I'd start from the beginning and "work my way up". Next on my list is the movie Orlando, it seems fairly strange, and I've never read anything by Virginia Woolf so that will be a mystery. And then I'm really excited to see miniseries The Camomile Lawn (from 1992) and a movie I've been dying to see lately is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall! I just have to finish the book and then I'll watch the movie immediately! I can't wait to see young Toby in 1840's fashions!!

He looks a little something like this:

as Gilbert Markham