Aidan Turner has adopted a tactical beard. For roughly two decades, the Irish actor has found himself cast in high-profile roles that transformed him into a smouldering screen pin-up. Audience fascination with his appearance has produced everything from fan mugs reading “Today I don’t feel like doing anything … except Aidan Turner” to online communities focused entirely on sharing photos of him. Turner acknowledges this dynamic with a mix of patience and self-awareness. “I do get asked these questions,” he remarks. “I do get the, you know, word ‘smoulder’ or ‘sexy’, and all that kind of shit.” Audiences really love to look at him. And also known for being sexy, places him in a peculiar bind, the fact that he is a good actor. Sure, there are worse burdens to bear, but at times the star of Poldark and Rivals finds himself in a curious position. Rivals is outrageously fun and smutty. So we have gone to find a quiet spot to chat, and have ended up in a basement, surrounded by bikes and cleaning products and tools, he has just finished today’s photoshoot. Why does Turner think that audiences have lapped it up? “I mean, I was born in ’83, and there is this yearning for that nostalgia, I suppose. He takes a breath so deep that it could fill a Cornish tin mine. “I suppose they were positioning Ross to be that,” he concedes, carefully. “There was a sex in Ross, wasn’t there, I suppose,” he says, with a chuckle, “that previously wasn’t there.
Currently sporting full facial hair, Turner admits he initially hoped it might shield him from being perpetually labelled a heartthrob. “I thought it wouldn’t happen so much with the beard,” he explains. “I thought I could get away with it.” Now 43, Turner notes that his life has shifted significantly off-camera. He and his wife, American actor Caitlin FitzGerald, are parents to a young son, bringing a different perspective to his public image. And even the New Yorker noted how much he smoulders, he appeared in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre in London this summer. Navy chore jacket and jeans, he is out of the fancy clothes and back in his east London dad uniform of white T-shirt.
Reframing a Career: From Sci-Fi and Poldark to Period Satire
Turner’s earlier screen roles established his ability to handle dark, brooding characters. He played a vampire in the popular BBC sci-fi seriesBeing Humanand took on the role of the dwarf Kili in Peter Jackson’s film trilogyThe Hobbit. His profile expanded dramatically in 2015 when he took the lead role in the BBC’s hit historical dramaPoldarkan adaptation of Winston Graham’s novels. As Ross Poldark, an 18th-century soldier turned Cornish landowner, Turner became an international household name, memorably captured in scenes where his character worked the fields in the hot sun. And played Dante Gabriel Rossetti in Desperate Romantics, writing moody poetry in soft light, he was a vampire in the sci-fi series Being Human. An 18th-century soldier, he loved, fought and, very famously, swung a scythe, as Ross Poldark. In a field, topless, with a scythe, he mentions the photograph of him taken behind the scenes.
More recently, Turner starred in the high-energy television adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s novelRivalspart of her famous Rutshire Chronicles series. Set in a fictionalized version of the Cotswolds during the 1980s, Cooper’s story explores the rivalries, romances, and scandals surrounding aristocrats, politicians, and ruthless television executives. Turner plays television presenter Declan O’Hara, a role that required a specific facial hair transformation. Horny and hilarious, but the new episodes find the show in a more gloomy mood, the TV series is nostalgic and knowing. That doesn’t seem to be the case any more. And her dogs were everywhere, the champagne never stopped flowing.
Crafting the Character and Navigating Production Details
The distinctive 1980s moustache Turner wears inRivalswas his own idea. He recalls arriving for prep work with a full beard and being informed that he would need to shaven down to a moustache for the period look. He firmly rejected the idea of applying a artificial moustache every day. “I say it was my idea… It fucking was my idea,” Turner says, pointing out that glued-on facial hair prosthetics are notoriously uncomfortable during long shooting days. “You end up eating hairs all day and if you smile it falls off,” he notes. If he points out that he’s getting a bit tired of it actually, then he risks being seen as a killjoy, if he doesn’t gamely play along.
To ground the character further, Turner drew on personal family references. Raised in Dublin, he naturally speaks with an Irish capital accent. For Declan O’Hara, however, he adopted a deeper Westmeath cadence inspired directly by his father, Pearse. Combined with the character’s period-appropriate wardobe, Turner felt the role offered a distinct shift. “So with that, and the geography teacher outfits, everything feels more mature,” he explains.
The Audience Response to ‘Rivals’ and Working with Intimacy Coordinators
The screen version ofRivalsbalances comedic high drama with explicit romantic storylines. Despite dealing with complex marital tensions between Declan and his wife Maud, the show maintains a fast-paced tone. Turner believes the series resonated widely across demographic groups because of its uninhibited nature. Born in 1983, he points to a general cultural nostalgia for the era, adding that even younger viewers in their 20s frequently approach him in public to discuss the show. “Rivals is funny, and it knows exactly what it is,” Turner observes. “It’s unapologetic.” And it only takes 15 minutes to get to a sex scene – and trouble is brewing for Declan and Maud’s marriage. “It’s a big one,” Turner nods, though spoiler etiquette dictates he cannot say too much, it opens with a funeral – don’t panic; I counted. Camp backstabbing and joyful infidelity gives it a very particular tone, the fact that Rivals can swing so comfortably between profound grief.
With numerous romantic scenes built into the script, production utilized intimacy coordinators to structure the choreography. Having worked in television before intimacy coordinators were standard on set, Turner strongly prefers the modern approach, finding that professional planning makes filming intimate scenes far more comfortable and transparent for everyone involved. And over the years plenty of the stories that Turner has sold have involved romance and sex, the job of actors is to sell a story as well as they possibly can. In some ways, Turner is one of those male performers who is, well, a little bit objectified. And probably have sex with them at the same time, everyone is having sex with everyone; everyone is ready to stab their neighbour in their back. And I mentioned to Victoria [Smurfit, who plays Maud] that this feels weird, he was filming the immediate aftermath of those funeral scenes when he sensed that something was going on. “It was eerie already.
Memories of Author Jilly Cooper
The cast and crew completed the first season with the close involvement of author Jilly Cooper. However, during the filming of the second season, Cooper passed away suddenly at the age of 88. Turner recalls her warmly, remembering her legendary hospitality at her Cotswolds home. Just five weeks prior to her passing, Turner attended one of her gatherings, where she was making speeches, hosting guests, and visiting the set regularly. “She was her brilliant, funny, filthy self,” Turner says, expressing gratitude that she was able to see her work successfully translated to the screen once again. The line producer broke the news to the cast that Cooper had died.
Early Beginnings and Looking Toward Future Roles
Before pursuing acting, Turner was a competitive ballroom dancer, representing Ireland in international contests. He stepped away from dancing when his partner suffered an injury. During the resulting hiatus, he impulsively applied to drama school in Dublin. Despite his public profile today, Turner describes his younger self as quite reserved. “I was actually quite a shy kid, and there’s still a lot of that in there,” he admits.
Looking ahead, Turner has several major projects on the horizon. He is awaiting work onGrendela live-action feature adaptation of John Gardner’s 1971 novel that retells the Beowulf epic from the perspective of the monster. Additionally, he portrays the Apostle Andrew in Terrence Malick’s forthcoming biblical drama focused on the life of Jesus Christ, tentatively titledThe Way of the Wind. The project was filmed in 2019, though Malick is famous for extended post-production timelines. “Surely it’s coming out soon?” Turner laughs.
Stepping Out of the Heartthrob Spotlight
Reflecting on his career trajectory and the pin-up label that has followed him since his early 30s, Turner expresses a genuine hope that he is moving past that phase of his professional life. “It must be coming to an end,” he says with a smile. When confronted with the humorous possibility that he might have another 20 years of being cast as a heartthrob ahead of him, he laughs off the suggestion, preferring to focus on increasingly complex and mature character roles.
