Dan Stevens

British actor Dan Stevens rose to widespread popularity in 2010, playing the role of Matthew Crawley on the hit ITV period drama <I>Downton Abbey. Born in Croydon, London, on October 10, 1982, Stevens began acting at Tonbridge School in Kent, earning the title role in William Shakespeare's <I>Macbeth at the age of 15. After studying at Cambridge, he landed his first professional acting role in 2004, playing Orlando in a prominent touring production of Shakespeare's <I>As You Like It. Over the next six years, Stevens split his time between stage and screen, appearing in BBC adaptations of classics like <I>Sense & Sensibility and <I>Dracula alongside popular theatrical productions like the 2009 West End revival of Tom Stoppard's <I>Arcadia. Stevens' rise into the popular zeitgeist occurred in late 2010 when he was cast in one of the central roles in Julian Fellowes' wildly successful television series <I>Downton Abbey. Playing the heir to an aristocratic Yorkshire estate in early 20th century England, Stevens' Matthew Crawley enchanted viewers in a love story that lasted three seasons before his character was written out at the end of 2012. Shifting his focus to the big screen, Stevens appeared in a variety of films from the 2014 action thriller <I>The Guest to playing Sir Lancelot in the comedy <I>Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. Tackling the American television market, he next took a lead role in FX's Noah Hawley-created sci-fi drama <I>Legion in 2016. A year later Stevens made his Disney debut alongside Emma Watson, appearing as the Beast in a live action adaptation of the romantic musical Beauty and the Beast, and also singing on its soundtrack. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi