Rege-Jean Page is soaking up the silence while he still can. The week before we speak, he was walking the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival, all smiles in paparazzi photographs as a guest of Armani. But right now, he’s in London, apologizing for being so out of breath. For the time being, he’s swapped life in front of a camera lens for tiring, but comparatively low-maintenance, work: He’s helping a friend renovate their house. “It’s been screwdrivers and shovels today,” he says. “Normally, it’s air travel and tickets and itineraries.”
In a few months’ time, the British actor—who you’ll know best for his star-making turn in —will be back at it, in preparation for the upcoming release of the blockbuster the first offering in a franchise based on the epically popular role-play game. These pockets of respite have become important to Page, especially over the past two years. It was December 2020—Christmas Day, to be exact—when Page’s public perception altered in a manner few actors can relate to. One day, he was an underseen star in successful American; ) and British soap operas (). The next, you couldn’t move without hearing someone say his name, or the name of his now near-iconic character: ’s Duke of Hastings. The period drama series, headed up by Shonda Rhimes, arrived on Netflix like a balm in the midst of an uncertain second wave of Covid-19. Smoldering, sensual, and intelligent, it was a unifying gift for fans of salacious TV drama. It just so happened that this one took place in a reimagined Regency-era England. Page’s Duke, the love interest of Daphne Bridgerton, found himself at the carnal center of it: so fawned over by folks of all generations that he became a household name. The kind of actor whose name alone carries enough currency to walk into big budget movies, having proven their worth already.
