Rather his fellow Irish actor, Colin Farrell, he attended the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin where he made his non-agency stage debut in the school's production of "Tear Up The Black Sail". His agency stage debut was within 1994's True Lines, directed by John Crowley, who recently directed Intermission. True Lines was 1st performed around Kilkenny however it then moved to the Dublwithin Theatre Festival & in to Bush Theatre in London.

He had his begaround in flick by having roles in brief Irish films like Godsuit & Summer however it wasn't until he landed the the share inside a 1996 UK / Ireland co-production called Trojan Eddie that he had into feature length film. Within 1997 he took a lead role in the British film Shooting Fish and it was with this a share that his career began to choose off.

Fallowing his appearance when a outrageous seductor in the name part of About Adam he started to exist as found in the United States by critics and a public similar. But, in the summertime of 2000 he briefly returned to the London stage in the Tennessee Williams play Orpheus Descending, starring himself as Val Xavier & Helen Mirren as Lady Torrance.

Withinside recent years he has appeared in the total of large budget films like Queen of the Damned, opposite the late Aaliyah, as a lamia Lestat de Lioncourt and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as Dorian Gray.

He presently lives within Los Angeles with his long term girlfriend Charlize Theron, whom he met while filming Trapped in 2001.

Trivia
He left a Peter Jackson production of the Lord of the Rings after just quadruplet years of cinematography, he maintains that he was mis-cast & was as well immature for the role of Aragorn. He was replaced by Viggo Mortensen.

His father, Peter Townsend, was the office golfer.

Due to his mother Lorna's profession - she was the top Irish model - there exists quite an big gap between himself & his more sib. His brother, Dylan, is Thirteen years immature than him & his sister, Chloe, is Xv years immature.

He has the half-brother known as Hugo, his father remarried within 1997 after Stuart's mother died in 1994.

Brief filmography
The Best Man (2006) (in post production) ... when Olly Pickering Head in the Clouds (2004) ... when Guy The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) ... when Dorian Gray Shade (2003) ... when Vernon Trapped (2002) ... when William Jennings Queen of the Damned (2002) ... when Lestat first state Lioncourt About Adam (2000) ... when Adam Mauvaise passe (1999) ... when Tom The Venice Project (1999) ... when Lark/Gippo a Fool Wonderland (1999) ... when Tim Simon Magus (1999) ... when Dovid Bendel Resurrection Man (1998) ... when Victor Kelly Under the Skin (1997) ... when Tom Shooting Fish (1997) ... when Jez Trojan Eddie (1996) ... Dermot