Since moving into the palatial Yorkshire estate on TV’s Downton Abbey, British actor Dan Stevens has gained worldwide heartthrob status—even earning the nickname, “The Downton Dreamboat.” Stevens got his start in BBC adaptations of Sense and Sensibility and Dracula, and in West End mountings of Hay Fever (opposite Judi Dench) and Arcadia. Now, he’s arrived in the States to make his Broadway debut in The Heiress as dashing fortune hunter Morris Townsend opposite Academy Award nominees Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn. But acting isn’t Stevens’ only passion: He’s Editor-at-Large of the online literary quarterly The Junket and served as a judge for the Man Booker Prize—requiring him to read 145 novels in the past year. Broadway.com chatted with Stevens about his new life in New York City, meeting American fans at The Heiress, and whether he’d play Matthew Crawley if a Downton Abbey musical came to Broadway.
Congratulations on your debut! How did The Heiress first cross your radar?
I knew the book from years ago—I love Henry James. Then I was approached and they said, “There’s this adaptation of Washington Square.” I read the play and thought it was ...