Millions of women have fallen in love with “Downton Abbey’s” Matthew Crawley, known in real life as Dan Stevens. But Stevens, 28, is more than a gifted actor with piercing blue eyes and a disarming smile. He is also an accomplished writer, the editor-at-large of the new literary magazine “The Junket,” and regular contributor to the Telegraph newspaper’s "My Week" feature.
Stevens, who studied English Literature at Cambridge, is currently in the midst of filming the love story, “Summer in February,” on location in Cornwall, as well as the third season of "Downton Abbey."
“The dawn eventually thaws us to reveal a serene and clear blue day, while the rest of the country is dusted with snow, slush and chaos,” he wrote in this month's My Week piece, published on Tuesday. “There is always a risk in making a film called ‘Summer in February’ in a Cornish winter, but the gods are with us this particular day and beneath the weatherproofed hoods and wind-chapped faces of the crew you can detect a few glowing smiles through the frosted beards.”
Stevens' love for literature began at Cambridge University, where he studied English just around the time that his acting career started to blossom. He started a writing blog several years ago with four friends from his college days.
But while the blog was meant to encourage the group to write more often, procrastination got the better of them. Instead of putting their ambitions by the wayside, the men decided to start a quarterly literary magazine, figuring that it would require a commitment they couldn’t so easily shirk.
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“The Junket” put out its first issue last October, quickly developed a devoted readership of around 15,000, and has attracted more submissions than they can handle.
