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Dan Stevens: ‘My guiltiest pleasure? Vegan cheesecake.’
Dan Stevens: ‘My guiltiest pleasure? Vegan cheesecake.’ Photograph: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Dan Stevens: ‘My guiltiest pleasure? Vegan cheesecake.’ Photograph: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

Dan Stevens: ‘I’d like to say sorry to Downton Abbey fans for ruining Christmas in 2012’

This article is more than 6 years old

The actor on Yosemite national park, robot vacuum cleaners and vegan cheesecake

Born in Surrey, Stevens, 35, starred in the TV adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line Of Beauty in 2006 and played Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey from 2010. This year, he starred in Disney’s remake of Beauty And The Beast and he plays Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas, which opens in cinemas on 1 December.

When were you happiest?
My wedding day, eight years ago.

What is your earliest memory?
Trying to close my front door in the great storm of 1987 – I was five and we were living in Essex.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Inability to make decisions.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Lack of empathy.

What was your most embarrassing moment?
Giggling like a fool on Good Morning Britain when I was promoting The Guest. Susanna Reid was surprised that a Brit was playing the role and said, “Did you have to beat off a lot of American men to get the part?” My response was to laugh hysterically.

What is your wallpaper?
My kids, Willow, Aubrey and Eden, who are eight, five and one.

What would your super power be?
Teleportation.

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?
My cat Timmy from when I was a kid.

Who would play you in the film of your life?
Bill Milner from Son of Rambow.

What is your favourite smell?
My kids when they were babies.

What is your favourite word?
Palimpsest.

Which book changed your life?
Leaves Of Grass by Walt Whitman. It woke me up to the power of poetry.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Jobs that I saw on television, until I realised they were all played by actors – then I wanted to be an actor.

What is the worst thing anyone’s said to you?
No.

What is top of your bucket list?
Yosemite national park.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Vegan cheesecake.

What do you owe your parents?
A great deal and probably quite a bit of money.

To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?
Downton Abbey fans for ruining Christmas in 2012.

What does love feel like?
Like somebody’s painted the world a different colour.

What was the best kiss of your life?
With my wife, Susie.

If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Nothing.

When did you last cry, and why?
At the end of Professor Marston & The Wonder Women.

How do you relax?
I go for walks in Griffith Park in LA.

What is the closest you’ve come to death?
Probably on a Los Angeles freeway.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
One of those robot vacuum cleaners.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My three kids.

What keeps you awake at night?
My three kids.

What song would you like played at your funeral?
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.

Tell us a joke
Why did the baker’s hand smell?
Because he kneaded a poo.

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