Throwback Thursday Looks at the Work of Out Hottie Russell Tovey on His Birthday

November 14, 2024
HANK ORSO

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Y'all, seriously. Those eyes. Let's just sink into those baby blues for a while and dream the day away, shall we? Russell Tovey was born on this day, November 14th, 1981 in Billericay Essex, England. And he's been charming us ever since! So in honor of this cutie's birthday, Throwback Thursday would like to look back at just some of why we love this guy so much!

Tovey started out in his teens on various British television series and films, but it was in 2006's The History Boys where he reprised his stage role for the film that yer boy Hank here first took notice. (Yes, he was playing a much younger person than his actual 25 years, and I knew he wasn't actually a teen so settle down!)

Tovey discusses this and other plays he's appeared in:

From Dr. Who to The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret to the Muppets, Tovey seems to have spread his acting net far and wide. He made a huge splash creating more name recognition as the loveable werewolf "George Sands" in Being Human. For you literary types, you might recognize the joke of his character's name. George Sand was a nineteenth-century French female writer who advocated for women's rights and dressed in male clothing, smoked cigars, and thumbed her nose at gender conventions. She "transformed" herself. Get it?!

Here's a montage of his character's transformations. Jump to the 2:15 mark for the one that displays partial nudity!

Most American gays became aware of this hot British import when he appeared in the oft-derided guilty pleasure Looking which only made it to one season and a wrap-up movie. While viewers were of a mixed mind about the contemporary drama set in San Francisco's LGBTQIA community, its (sort of) multiracial cast of many out actors like Jonathon Goff, Daniel Franzese, and Murray Bartlett did receive kudos for its sexual frankness and reality-based look at complicated relationships. Giving a chubster hottie like Franzese an explicit nude sex scene? Yes, please!

Tovey's "Kevin" was one of the most frustratingly complicated among them all!

If you've never seen it, I highly recommend the BBC miniseries period drama Banished!

And then comes Angels In America. In 2017 England's National Theater mounted a stunning, blistering production of Tony Kushner's multi-award-winning drama about AIDS and politics in 1980's America. Tovey played the sexually confused Mormon Joseph Pitt, sharing the stage alongside other powerhouses like Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane. It's entire two-part, eight-hours was filmed for limited release in selected movie theater which is where I saw it. It's available to view with a subscription on the National Theater website. If it's any incentive, Tovey goes full-frontal at one point. I know! Live on stage!

Act 1:8 wherein his wife first confronts her husband with her suspicions.

As his fame grew, so did his meaty roles both queer and straight. He seems to relish playing questionably moral characters, and some downright cads. Entering the world of Ryan Murphy, he appeared in season eleven of American Horror Story: NYC. Talk about viewers having mixed feelings! You either loved or hated this creepy look at the AIDS crisis in 80's NY as it blended actual and fictional characters and storylines from NY's darker underbelly. But damn, did Tovey look good with that porn stache! Then earlier this year, he costarred in Murphy's wonderful Feud: Capote and The Swans. As Capote's abusive "straight" lover and hanger-on John O'Shea, Tovey was handsome and dangerous, a powderkeg of closeted rage and gay panic.

Besides being a talented actor and queer rights advocate, Tovey is also an avid artist and art collector. His award-winning podcast TalkArt in which he highlights and interviews visual and musical artists is pretty damn great!

Now, if someone can tell me just what the gay heck is going on here! Pedro Pascal and Tovey at a Pet Shop Boys concert!