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Prolific British actor Rufus Sewell has just been cast as Prince Andrew in Scoop, an upcoming movie about the bombshell interview that led to the Prince's withdrawal from public life. You probably know Sewell from his recent TV roles in Kaleidoscope, The Man in the High Castle, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but here are 10 things you may not know about this charming screen stalwart. 

1. He isn't quite as posh as you might think.

Sewell grew up in Twickenham, an affluent neighborhood of Southwest London, in a household where money was tight. "My childhood was late-70s suburban," he told The Guardian. "We lived in Twickenham, but in council-assisted accommodation next to a Londis [grocery store]. So I was a little bit posh and a little bit free school dinners. We were poor, but we had a piano. We were arty but my mum had to work in a pub."

2. His dad was animation director Bill Sewell.

Bill, who died when Rufus was 10, was probably best known for directing the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" segment of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie.

3. He was a somewhat difficult teenager.

"There was a period when I got into trouble for shoplifting. I became a smoker, a drinker, and a rabble-rouser," Sewell told the Daily Express. However, he doesn't necessarily attribute this to the death of his father. "I was doing these things with other kids whose parents were alive," Sewell added. "Some of them turned out all right, some didn’t. I’m still in touch with a couple of them.”

4. He has been in the running for some really huge movie roles.

Sewell's film credits include A Knight's Tale opposite the late Heath Ledger, Judy with Renee Zellweger, and The Father alongside Anthony Hopkins. However, he missed out on some other high-profile parts when the projects changed direction.

"I was the lead in Interview with the Vampire, until Tom Cruise decided he was interested," Sewell told The Guardian. "I was in The Wings of the Dove with Uma Thurman, until that got canceled. I was in Shakespeare in Love with Julia Roberts, until that fell apart. So I've been close lots of times, but I think it's been the making of me as an actor."

5. He got an early break from Dame Judi Dench.

When Sewell was training at London’s Central School of Speech, Dench spotted his potential and gave him a leg up the career ladder. "She came to our drama school for a chat and ended up directing us in a play," Sewell told The Independent. "She steered a couple of people towards me, one of whom was her agent, who then became my agent, and the other was [actor] Tim Pigott-Smith who gave me my first job, and I didn’t realize it was her doing for a long time.

6. He and Kate Winslet were briefly a couple.

So when they appeared together in the 2006 romcom The Holiday, it was something of a reunion. Sewell played Jasper, the terrible ex-boyfriend who cheated on Winslet's character Iris. "It was completely fine. I hadn't seen him for a very long time but we'd remained friends," Winslet told The Irish Examiner at the time. "It was really not a big deal; I was thrilled he got the part."

7. He is acutely aware that he is judged on the way he looks.

Sewell told London's Evening Standard that "people have this view of me and it gets very tiresome." Asked to describe that view, he replied: "Oh – Mr. Pouty, Mr. Moody, Mr. Smolder. But I don't smolder, do I?" In fact, this is very nearly the headline of a 1998 profile piece with Sewell, so he definitely reads his press clippings.

8. He takes a realistic view when it comes to career opportunities.

Sewell has admitted that he has "done a lot of films that aren't really my thing on the hope that they turn out OK." He told Metro: "I never do anything I don’t think I can be good in but I am semi-fussy with film, quite fussy with TV, and really fussy with theater." He also said that appearing in Tom Stoppard's plays Arcadia and Rock 'n' Roll (for which he was nominated for a Tony) have led to some of his best roles. "The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, The Father, and Judy all came from people who saw me doing Tom Stoppard on stage," Sewell continued. "I need more theater directors to direct movies."

9. He didn't mind when Twitter got a little thirsty over his Victoria character. 

Sewell starred in the first two seasons of the hit historical drama as Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister who becomes a cherished advisor to Jenna Coleman's Queen Victoria. "As a 49-year-old man, I am absolutely delighted and I have no qualms about it – excuse me, I'm just a piece of meat, thank you very much," he told Harper's Bazaar in 2017. "Part of me is very lucky to be having that kind of attention at all! And when I looked up Melbourne, he was actually a very attractive man and women really loved him."

10. Earlier in his career, he was often mistaken for Joaquin Phoenix.

On one occasion, Sewell was invited to a plane's cockpit to meet the pilot – only to find out he had been clocked wrongly. Sharing the excruciating incident with The Guardian, Sewell recalled: "He said, 'Could you write "From one gladiator to another"?' It was just this horrible moment. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I said, 'Actually, I think you've got the wrong person.'"

Do you have a favorite Rufus Sewell role?