Daniel Jonathan Stevens, popularly known as Dan Stevens, is an English actor, writer and voice artist. He is mainly known for his role in the critically acclaimed period drama television series Downton Abbey and films like The Guest (2014), A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014), The Ticket (2016) and Beauty and the Beast (2017). Stevens is also the co-founder and editor of an online literary quarterly called The Junket, and has served as a member of the judging panel for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2012.

Early Life
The adopted child of a teaching couple, Dan Stevens was born in Croydon, London. The actor did his schooling at Tonbridge School in Kent before joining Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to pursue a degree in English Literature. At Cambridge, Stevens was a member of prestigious theatre clubs like The Marlowe Society and the University Footlights Dramatic Club. It was here that Stevens first caught the eye of legendary British theatre director Peter Hall, who drafted the actor into his theatre company.

Personal Life
Stevens married South African singer Susie Hariet in 2009. They have two children together: a daughter named Willow and a son named Aubrey.

Movie Career
Stevens made his feature film debut in 2009, with a supporting role in the German biopic Hilde, which chronicled the life and times of yesteryear German diva Hildegard Knef. He then appeared in the comedy horror film Vamps (2011), which opened to mixed reviews and proved to be a box office disappointment. In 2013, the actor appeared in the romantic drama Summer in February, on which he also served as an executive producer. However, the period piece proved to be a disappointment critically and commercially. In the same year, Stevens essayed a supporting role in the Benedict Cumberbatch starrer The Fifth Estate - a thriller based on the tumultuous WikiLeaks scandal.

The actor’s breakout role came in 2014, with the critically acclaimed thriller The Guest. The film, which currently holds a 90% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, earned Stevens a Saturn Award nomination for Best actor and an Empire Award nomination for Best Newcomer. This was followed by a supporting role in the crime-thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014), which was based on Lawrence Block’s novel of the same and had Liam Neeson playing the iconic lead role of Matthew Scudder. The film was met with positive reviews and was a moderate box office success. Stevens then appeared in the ensemble comedy adventure film Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014) alongside Ben Stiller, Robin Williams and Owen Wilson, where he portrayed Sir Lancelot - a renowned knight from the Arthurian legends. The movie was a box office juggernaut despite the mixed critical reception, earning over $360 million at the box office.

The drama film The Ticket, the Richard Gere starrer Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, the Disney romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast and the Anne Hathaway starrer Colossal are some of Dan Stevens’ projects in 2017. The actor will also be essaying the role of Charles Dickens in The Man who Invented Christmas and seen alongside Rebecca Hall in the romantic comedy Permission.

Television Career
After a prolific stint in theatre, Stevens made his television debut with a supporting role in the miniseries Frankenstein, which was based on Mary Shelley’s novel of the same name. The actor continued to appear in literary adaptations of novels like The Line of Beauty, Dracula, Agatha Christie’s Marple, The Turn of the Screw and Sense and Sensibility. Stevens’ breakthrough role came in 2010, when he was cast to play Matthew Crawley in the critically acclaimed period drama Downton Abbey. The show went on to win 3 Golden Globes, numerous Primetime Emmy Awards and BAFTA Awards in the course of its run, and Stevens’ career gained considerable mileage courtesy of his portrayal of Matthew Crawley.

In 2017, Stevens made his Marvel Universe debut when he took on the role of the eponymous character in the superhero television series Legion. The series, which opened to universal critical acclaim, follows the story of David Haller, the mutant son of Professor Charles Xavier whose superpowers drive him to the point of mental illness. Stevens’ portrayal of Haller/Legion received much praise from all quarters, and the series is set to return for a second season.