The Many Faces of Actor Elliot Cowan

A number of years ago, I discovered the delightful mini-series Lost in Austen that told the story of Amanda Price (actress Jemima Rooper, who has appeared in Hex and Atlantis), an ardent fan of Jane Austen, who lives in present day London with her boyfriend until she somehow travels back in time, swapping places with the writer’s most famous fictional character Elizabeth Bennet.

The role of Mr. Darcy in that four-part British TV series was played by actor Elliot Cowan, an actor who I have to admit I was unfamiliar with at the time. But trust me after seeing him in Lost in Austen, I made sure to keep an eye out for him in his future projects as they came along.

It took a number of years, but I re-discovered him in the short-lived series Sinbad that aired on Syfy back in 2012. What was most interesting was how different he looked between his role on Lost in Austen and Sinbad. Granted, it’s not that unusual for actors to change their looks for whatever role they are portraying; but it was more the fact that I nearly didn’t recognize him because he looked SO very different.

I should preface that last sentence with this: I am really good with faces especially actors and actresses.

But when I saw the first episode of Sinbad I did not realize that the actor who was playing Gunnar – a very blonde Viking disguising himself as a fisherman – was the same actor who played Mr. Darcy.

A year later, Elliot showed up in the Starz drama Da Vinci’s Demons where he played Lorenzo Medici, an Italian statesman, who was the ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. While his hair was just as short in both shows, the characters were so very different that I was doing a “double take” to make sure I recognized him.

Now, Elliot is back on the small screen in the Esquire Network series Beowulf, playing a character called Abrican, who is the brother of Rheda, the widow of the ruler of the village where the show is primarily set. In this part, he has very long hair and buried under lots of layers of costuming.

Check out the pictures below to see the many faces of actor Elliot Cowan and judge for yourself.

PS: Those with a keen eye will recognize Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) as Mr. Bennet, Alex Kingston (Doctor Who and ER) as Mrs. Bennet and Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time) in the picture above – and it should also be noted that Tom Mison (Sleepy Hollow) was Mr. Bingley, Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Dmons) was Mr. Wickham and Christina Cole (Hex and What A Girl Wants) was Caroline Bingley in Lost in Austen.