Stuart Townsend Biography | Stuart Townsend Actor | Stuart Townsend Pictures

Stuart Townsend

Stuart Townsend was born on December 15, 1972 in Howth County, Dublin, Ireland. Although his father was Protestant, his mother was Catholic so he was raised as a Catholic. His father, Peter Townsend, was a professional golfer. Stuart has one full brother, Dylan who is 13 years younger than he is. He also has one full sister, Chloe who is 15 years younger than he is. He also has one half-brother, Hugo who was born in 2000 and one half-sister, Ella who was born in 2005 from his father’s second marriage after his mother died in 1994.

Townsend knew he wanted to pursue acting from an early age and attended the Gaiety School of Acting which is located in Dublin. Before Townsend became famous, he founded a theatre group based in Dublin with some of his friends. Through the group they re-enacted the play, Manege Enchante, Le, which translates into The Magic Roundabout. In the play Stuart plays a cow named Ermintrude.

Townsend made his professional stage debut in 1994 with the play, True Lines. He then began starring in Irish short films like Godsuit and Summertime. Stuart’s first feature film was Trojan Eddie (1996) that was produced in the UK. The film that shot Townsend into stardom was Shooting Fish (1997) which was also a British film. The first film Townsend starred in that caught the attention of U.S. audiences was About Adam (2000) which co-stars Kate Hudson.

Following his initial success in the United States, Townsend decided to return to London in order to star in the Tennessee Williams play, Orpheus Descending. He played the title role of Val Xavier while his co-star, Helen Mirren, played Lady Torrance.

Some of his recent film credits include: Queen of the Damned (2002) opposite Aaliyah, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) alongside Sean Connery, and Night Stalker (2005) co-starring Gabrielle Union. Townsend has also made a guest appearance on the sitcom, Will & Grace in which he played a pansexual.

Townsend has been dating South African born actress, Charlize Theron since they met on the set of Trapped back in 2001. He has since made a second movie with Theron: Head in the Clouds (2004). They have made it public knowledge that they refuse to marry until same-sex marriages are legalized in the United States. The couple currently resides together in Los Angeles. In the past, Townsend has also been linked with actress Parker Posey.