Daniel Jonathan "Dan" Stevens (born October 10, 1982 in Croydon, England) is an English actor.
A fixture of period dramas and adaptations of classic literature in the early part of his acting career, Stevens first made a name for himself as Matthew Crawley in the ITV series Downton Abbey from 2010 to 2012. His character was infamously killed off at the height of its popularity (in a Christmas episode, no less) after Stevens decided to exit the series for other career opportunities.
After Downton, Stevens had another breakout in the titular role of the 2014 thriller The Guest, which he then followed as The Beast in Disney's 2017 live-action remake of Beauty and The Beast, Sir Lancelot in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, and Charles Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas.
Stevens returned to television in 2017 as David Haller, the lead role in FX's Legion, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. His next television role will be the voice of Korvo on Solar Opposites, replacing Justin Roiland after his dismissal due to allegations of domestic abuse and workplace harassment.
Selected filmography:
- Frankenstein (2004) as Henry Clerval
- Dracula (2006) as Lord Arthur Holmwood
- Agatha Christie's Marple (2007) as Michael Faber
- Sense and Sensibility (2008) as Edward Ferrars
- The Turn of the Screw (2009) as Dr. Fisher
- Downton Abbey (2010–12) as Matthew Crawley
- Vamps (2012) as Joey Van Helsing
- The Tomorrow People (2013) as TIM (voice)
- The Fifth Estate (2013) as Ian Katz
- The Guest (2014) as David Collins
- A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) as Kenny Kristo
- The Cobbler (2014) as Emiliano
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014) as Sir Lancelot
- SuperMansion (2015 — 2016) as Bunsen (voice)
- Legion (2017 — 2019) as David Haller
- Beauty and The Beast (2017) as Prince Adam / The Beast
- Colossal (2017) as Tim
- Marshall (2017) as Loren Willis
- The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) as Charles Dickens
- Apostle (2018) as Thomas Richardson
- The Rental (2020) as Charlie
- Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) as Alexander Lemtov
- The Call of the Wild (2020) as Hal
- Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (2020) as Scarlemagne / Hugo Oak (voice)
- Blithe Spirit (2021) as Charles Condomine
- Earwig and the Witch (2021) as Thomas (voice, English dub)
- I'm Your Man (2021) as Tom
- The Prince (2021) as Prince Charles / Prince Philip (voice)
- Central Park (2022) as Mr. Brandenham
- The Sea Beast (2022) as Admiral Hornagold (voice)
- Gaslit (2022) as John Dean
- Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022)
- Welcome to Chippendales (2022) as Paul Snider
- Solar Opposites (2023) as Korvo (voice, replacing Justin Roiland)
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
He provides examples of:
- Dyeing for Your Art: Dyed his hair black and lost ten pounds for A Walk Among the Tombstones.
- Fake American: In The Guest, A Walk Among The Tombstones, Marshall, and Legion.
- Fake Russian: Plays a flamboyant Russian singer in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
- I Am Not Spock: Since leaving Downton he has taken several steps to avoid this. This includes playing darker characters in The Guest and A Walk Among the Tombstones, starring in the Adam Sandler film The Cobbler and headlining Legion which is based off an X-Men comic. Even his cartoon counterpart in The Champions, where he's portrayed as a stand-in to provide clear dialogue for the usually unintelligible Harry Kane, takes exception to being called "Matthew Crawley from Downton Abbey".
- Real Life Writes the Plot: He wanted to leave Downton Abbey at the end of Season 3, so Matthew died in a car crash in the Christmas Special.
- Star-Making Role: Downton Abbey of course made him a household name.
- Typecasting: Even before playing Matthew Crawley, he found himself doing a lot of period dramas. Amusingly enough, in America he's found himself playing a lot of villains.
- Vocal Dissonance: From the usual pretty boys he plays, you might expect a more high pitched or even tempered tone. Instead, his voice is deep and sonorous. There's a reason he both provided the motion-capture and voice of the Beast.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: His playing The Beast showed he has the same eye colour as a cartoon.
