Ever wonder what would happen if Jane Austen and Gossip girl had a baby?
Well, they’d make Bridgeton, the fabulous and jaw dropping new Netflix series that’s swept
the world off of its feet. Would you expect anything less from a Shonda Rhymes production?
Absolutely not. Of course, in perfect Shonda fashion, audiences have been blessed with more
than their fair share of hunks. But the hunkiest of all is actor Regé-Jean Page. We’ll be covering
everything that went into the making of those steamy scenes, and on-screen romances.
We have everything you need to know about Netflix’s new flavour of the month.
All the important things, that is. Like is the Bridgeton actor’s heart still up for grabs?
Is it true that we might be looking at the next James Bond? You better stay tuned to find out.
And remember to subscribe to Rumor Juice, because we’d be nothing without you!
Regé-Jean’s name says it all. The fancy French way of pronouncing his name just adds that extra
bit of sexiness to him. Not that he needs it of course. The actor’s cast mates have
called him 'Reggie' in interviews, which probably suggests that he goes by this nickname on set.
Right, let’s get right into the nitty gritty of it all.
There is a little air of mystery around our handsome leading man. What do we mean by that?
Well, it seems that his birthday is nowhere to be found. We were able to dig up the year he
was born, and it’s 1990 which would make him 31 sometime this year. So when it comes to sending a
birthday card, we would suggest sending one every month, you’ll get right at least once this year.
He is also in fact a native Zimbabwean.
“It’s the most beautiful place in the world. Everyone says this about their own country,
but it’s objectively beautiful.”
But he didn’t spend too much time there. At about the age of 14, he moved with some of his
family to London, and went on to study at the Drama Centre. He eventually graduated in 2013.
In an exclusive interview, he opened up about his
childhood and what it was like moving to another continent at a young age.
“ … 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.”
Regé-Jean spent some of the early years of his career focusing on theatre.
He then went on to audition for film and TV and got small roles in shows like Casualty
and Fresh Meat. One of his most interesting features was in fact in Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows Part 1. You’ll have to look carefully to spot him,
but he appears in the chaotic wedding scene standing right next to the lovely Emma Watson.
He’s also not the only one of the Bridgerton cast to have featured in the Harry Potter franchize!
Freddie Stroma, who plays the role of Prince Friedrich of Prussia, was also cast as the cocky
Cormac McLaggen in the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. How cool is that?
Page was given a more significant role in the TV series Waterloo in 2015.
Now, this may be a coincidence, it may also just be fate doing it’s thing … but his Bridgerton
love interest Phoebe Dynevor ALSO featured in Waterloo. Perhaps the two have always meant to be?
After that the actor packed his bags and headed for the U.S.A,
to see if he could make it in the ever challenging waters of Hollywood. He was
cast in the big budget remake of the fan favorite miniseries Roots.
It was soon after that he was cast in his first Shonda Rhimes production, For The People.
There’s no doubt that Shonda felt the same way fans did when they saw Page for the first time,
because here he is, yet again in ANOTHER Rhimes production.
Can you blame the woman? His impression is clearly long lasting.
Okay, okay we know that you’re dying to know Simon Basset, the Duke of Hasting’s
current relationship status, and we have the answer right here for you.
Like any charming leading man, there is yet again a sprinkle of mystery around this subject.
First and foremost, is he or is he not dating his co-star and on screen lover, Phoebe Dynevor … and
the answer is … it’s unconfirmed. We know how frustrating this is, but when the actor was
asked directly about his relationship with Phoebe, he just had this to say …
"I think that everything you need to know is on camera, and all the sparks that flew
come off the beautiful script that we were handed. So I think that the sparky-words,
scripts and material are more than enough." and ended that with a cheeky chuckle.
What does that even mean? Why all the secrecy? Hmm … something seems a little fishy here,
but we’ll leave that for you to decide. The actor’s relationship
status has remained shrouded in secrecy and it seems like he prefers it that way. (SIGH)
What are we supposed to do with that? The only thing we can confirm is that he’s not
married which means that there is still hope for all you devoted fans out there.
The only woman Page has recently been romantically connected to is The Good Doctor actress Antonia
Thomas, but that was way back in 2016. They attended a Hollywood premiere together and
seemed quite cute and comfortable with one another. Unfortunately, neither Page nor
Thomas chose to comment on the status of their relationship. (SIGH) And again, more secrets.
Thankfully, not everything is being kept a secret from us since he is active on social media.
You can find him on Instagram, and he seems to be pretty good at keeping his followers up to
date with all the happenings in his life. Well, not all of the happenings, clearly if he hasn’t
opened up about his dating life. However, at least everything else seems to be on there.
It’s worth noting that before Bridgerton was released, he had a little over 31,000 followers
and in just 2 weeks, that number shot up to more than 1.4 million. Pretty impressive eh? Now it’s
standing strong at 3.7 million. That’s the power of the netflix effect for you!
The actor opened up about his intense personal training sessions every morning
before filming his, uh … steamy intimate scenes with Phoebe for Bridgerton. He said
that his trainer really put him through the works at the crack of dawn each day,
in order to build up his strength for all the "physical activity". We would like to take this
moment to thank Page’s personal trainer, because whatever he did clearly did a very, very good job.
Just a little side note with regards to her dating history. Back in 2014, Phoebe said in an
interview that she had been dating recruitment executive Simon Merrill for around a year.
The pair seemed to do a lot of travelling together, having been spotted together in
Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. It is unclear when they broke up but Dynevor was later linked to
Skins actor Sean Teale. As of right now … well, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, the actress is choosing
to be tightlipped about her current relationship status. Don’t you think that’s just adding fuel
to the fire about her … well, fiery chemistry with Page? We’ll leave that for you to decide.
Both Page and Dynevor have spoken about the process of filming their intimate scenes
together and said that they were very carefully choreographed, almost as if they were doing a
dance or performing their own stunts. Watching the two actors together it’s so difficult to
think that they aren’t really together.You can’t fake that kind of chemistry, can you?
Perhaps Page will be able to put his incognito skills to use for something
else … something that will involve a little more action and perhaps a few fancy cars.
It seems that our Bridgerton leading man is being pushed to become the next James Bond.
Although nothing has been confirmed just yet, there has been talk for quite some time that
Daniel Craig is planning to step down from his role as James Bond. This would mean that the
role would be up for grabs and we know just the right guy who’d be perfect for the job.
Regé has already teased fans with a little James Bond reference.
Just before the release of Bridgerton on Netflix, he tweeted "Regency, royalty. Shaken and stirred,"
in reference to his new character Simon Basset. Leaving us confused and wanting more as usual.
Picture this, Regé-Jean dressed in a suit, swirling a martini in hand - shaken not
stirred of course - and he says those famous words … “The name’s Bond … James Bond.” Oh,
we could faint right here and now. It’s all just too perfect!
It seems like 2021 is already off to a good start because audiences have been blessed
with a handsome and charming leading man. There’s no doubt that fans will be seeing
a lot more of his face, perhaps as the new 007? Who knows? But we know for sure that
there won’t be anyone complaining about it. So for now, we’ll just have Bridgerton on repeat.