After his starring role in “Bridgerton” season one, many fans were quick to point out that Regé-Jean Page had actually appeared in the “Harry Potter” film series.
Page made a short cameo as an uncredited extra during the early wedding scene in “Deathly Hallows Part 1,” standing right next to Emma Watson’s Hermione Granger and Dame Julie Walters’ Molly Weasley.
Page also had several other big roles before “Bridgerton” made him a star.
He starred in Shondaland’s “For The People” in the late 2010s, played Chicken George in the Emmy-nominated reboot of “Roots,” and also appeared in the “Mortal Engines” movie.
In interviews, Page has said he was born in London but he grew up in Zimbabwe in the early years of his life with his father, who was a preacher, and his mother, who was a nurse. He told GQ that he returned to London to attend high school in his teen years.
In his 20s, Page moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.
When asked about home, Page told Interview Magazine: “We were in Zimbabwe [until I was 14]. But throughout that period my family was rather spread out — I have family in South Africa, Australia, Sweden, Grenada, Florida — so you make pit stops and you grow your perspective. Home is a relative concept. Home is very much wherever it is that your people are and where you fit in.”
He continued: “I spent my whole life figuring out how to be different people. Zimbabwe’s one of the youngest countries in the world, it became independent from British colonialism in the 1980s. In America, you can still feel the echoes of slavery, and Zimbabwe is very much feeling the echoes of British colonial rule. It’s very hard to craft an identity in that environment as a young, mixed raced man. I learned from the age of three that I was a walking political statement.”
After Page returned to London, the “For the People” actor became interested in punk music.
He told Square Mile in 2020: “What else are you going to do as a teenager? You’re going to scream at people one way or another. You might as well do it in a productive way. Was my logic.”
Page also said that he formed a band with his brother and dyed his hair purple.
“It was good fun. It was a healthy place to have opinions, and have them very, very loudly,” the “Waterloo Road” actor said, but refused to reveal the name of the band.
In 2017, Page also told The Fall magazine that he was drawn to the idea that labels didn’t matter.
“When I got involved in the punk scene, my notion of what a career was changed. I realized that a career in the arts was actually about having the people and community to support you making your art,” he said. “I want to break down the boundaries of what is considered normal and do away with labels – gay, straight, brown, white… ”
Tabloids were able to find pictures of punk rocker Page after his big break in “Bridgerton.”
Page told Flaunt magazine that he first began acting at the age of 10. While he was a teen, Page went on to make small appearances in British series like “Casualty” and “Gimme 6.”
After university, Page said he went on to go to drama school at the Drama Centre London. This school has a number of famous alumni: Marvel stars Paul Bettany and Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and “Game of Thrones” stars Emilia Clarke and Gwendoline Christie.
After graduating, Page pursued acting as his full-time career.
In 2013, Page appeared in two episodes of the British comedy series “Fresh Meat.”
Last year, Zawe Ashton, who starred in the series alongside Page, told Insider that she kept in touch with the “Bridgerton” actor after his time finished on the show and even helped Page get to LA when he moved for his career.
“We just started talking and he was clearly extremely hard-working and really inspiring,” Ashton said. “We swapped contacts and I said, ‘Look, if you want a soundboard for the journey that you are on right now, it’s hard out there, especially for actors of color, so you just gimme a text.'”
Ashton continued: “And I actually helped him write this series of letters for when you’re applying for a US visa. Didn’t think any more about it. I just thought, ‘I hope that guy does what he wants to do.’ And then I turn on ‘Bridgerton’ and I’m like, ‘This is so phenomenal.’ Full-circle moment.”
Ashton later said she was inspired by “Bridgerton” to appear in a period drama, which she did with the 2022 movie “Mr. Malcolm’s List.”
Starring in the critically successful History Channel reboot of “Roots” in 2016 was Page’s first big break.
According to Shondaland executive Betsy Beers, the role was crucial in leading to his casting as the Duke of Hastings in “Bridgerton.”
She told Esquire that the “Roots” series brought Page to her attention and he was discussed when they were looking for their “Bridgerton” lead.
“It would be so great to get somebody like Regé. I wish there was somebody like Regé,” Beers said the atmosphere was like in the casting room.
She added: “Every time I came back to the ‘Bridgerton’ set, I looked at Regé’s face, and I felt like I was coming home,” Beers said. “When he speaks to you, he makes you feel like the only person in the world. Even on our busiest days, he always found moments to be unerringly delightful and solicitous and kind.”
“Bridgerton” also landed Page his next two gigs.
In 2022, he played a villain in the 2022 spy movie “The Gray Man.” And this year, Page stars as a heroic paladin in “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.”
Page told GQ in 2021 that both meetings went the same way.
“The conversation was, ‘So my wife saw this [‘Bridgerton’] and told me that I need to see it,'” the 34-year-old actor said.
He added that there is “something super interesting that powerful men had me recommended by the women in their lives, which I think says something about where the power actually lies.”
Last year, “The Gray Man” directors Joe and Anthony Russo told Insider the same thing.
“My wife is a huge ‘Bridgerton’ fan. That’s how we discovered him,” Joe said. “We did not pull him away from ‘Bridgerton.’ I don’t want anyone coming after us.”
Joe added that Page’s “Saturday Night Live” appearance also inspired the directing duo to cast him as the movie’s villain, Denny Carmichael.
“I saw him on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and I thought he was charismatic and really, really compelling and fun to watch and so we thought he’d be perfect as a villain,” Joe said.
In 2020, Page told InStyle that Tracy Chapman’s 1988 self-titled album has become his “Bible” after it was passed down by his parents.
When asked about the first album he owned, he said: “I was lucky enough to have parents with good taste, who passed that down to me. It’s still basically my Bible. I think there’s this incredible clarity and honesty that Tracy has in the album.”
He continued: “People overuse the phrase timeless but it’s completely timeless. There’s a pure, unfiltered humanity, and it’s the most moving thing I own still.”
Chapman is an American songwriter best known for her hit singles “Fast Car,” which was covered by Jonas Blue in 2015, and “Give Me One Reason,” which has been covered by Kelly Clarkson twice.
