Before ‘Bridgerton’ Star Regé-Jean Page Was the Duke of Hastings, He Was in a Punk Rock Band
On Christmas Day, Bridgerton premiered on Netflix and immediately stole our hearts. Now that people have been binging the series, everyone wants to know more about the actors who brought the aristocracy of the Ton to life. Actor Regé-Jean Page may be gracing our screens as the Duke of Hastings now, but before that, he was actually in a punk rock band.
What is ‘Bridgerton’?
Bridgerton is the newest show from Shondaland, executive produced by Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes. The show follows the Bridgerton family throughout the social season in which Daphne Bridgerton makes her debut. The Bridgertons, as well as The Featheringtons and every other prominent house in the area, spend the season looking for advantageous matches for their daughters to marry them off. But this season, an anonymous author, by the name of Lady Whistledown, has come into town to report on all of the gossip.
The town is shaken up when Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings, played by Page, shows up after a long absence in order to handle his late father’s affairs. Daphne and Simon quickly strike up a deal to fool the rest of the town into thinking they are a couple in order to increase Daphne’s social standing and keep the women off of Simon’s back.
Obviously, as with any half-planned scheme, things go awry. The show follows as Daphne and Simon’s plan goes from a device to get what they each want and grows into something more.
With a diverse cast of exceptionally talented actors and actresses, Bridgerton has already been deemed a binge-worthy show.
Who is Regé-Jean Page?
For many people, this is their first time seeing Page onscreen. But it is not the 30-year-old actor’s first forray into the acting world.
Page grew up in Zimbabwe before breaking into acting.
“Zimbabwe was still a relatively young country when I was living there and its post-apartheid society was only newly formed,” he told The Guardian. “Being a mixed-race child in that environment means that you have to think about crafting your own identity and you question why you belong in that world.”
Before making it big, he and his brother started a punk rock band.
“As a teenager, the idea of running around, screaming at people was very appealing to me,” he once told The Fall Mag. “I found comfort in aggression, in breaking through false walls and challenging norms.”
What else has Regé-Jean Page been in?
Page got started acting as a teenager and first had a small recurring role on the British medical drama, Casualty. Later, he appeared on two episodes of the Channel 4 comedy, Fresh Meat.
He didn’t land a prominent role until he appeared in Waterloo Road as teacher Guy Braxton. He had a film role in the 2015 movie Survivor with Pierce Brosnan and Milla Jovovich. He also appeared in the film adaption of Mortal Engines as Captain Khora.
Page may be best known to American audiences from his role as Chicken George in the 2016 remake of 1977 miniseries Roots. He also had a role in another one of Rhimes’ shows, For the People, which was canceled after two seasons.
Bridgerton Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
