Hollywood, TV and theatre actor Rupert Evans makes a 'virtual' return to his Dorset senior school this Saturday to talk about his career on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rupert will join the event from Vancouver in Canada, where he is currently filming a TV series. He will be interviewed by current students of Milton Abbey School, near Blandford, as part of an hour-long event open to students, their parents and the local community.

Chris Barnes, Deputy Head (Co-Curricular) at the school, said: “We’re really excited to welcome back Rupert Evans this weekend, a former pupil who has forged an incredibly successful acting career. Our pupils will benefit hugely from hearing his story and two of our talented Sixth Form students will be hosting the event and interviewing Rupert.

“We’ve really enjoyed inviting regular guest speakers in recent months, giving our pupils valuable opportunities to lead events, interview guests, and develop invaluable confidence in public speaking and presenting. We’ve had incredible speakers on topics as diverse as architecture, Olympic hockey and rowing, and directing music videos. We’ve also heard from some fantastic musicians.”

Rupert Evans attended Milton Abbey from 1989 to 1994 as a boarding pupil in Hambro House. After leaving school, he appeared in theatre productions, including as Romeo in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play. His career shifted to Hollywood in 2004, with a major role in the Guillermo del Toro directed adaptation of the ‘Hellboy’ comic.

More recently, he had a starring role in the acclaimed Amazon Prime series ‘The Man In The High Castle’ and he is currently filming the third series of fantasy-drama TV series ‘Charmed’, which is broadcast worldwide including on E4 in the UK.

Hugo Mieville, the manager of the school’s alumni association, helped organise the event and was a teacher at the school when Rupert was a pupil. He said: “I vividly remember Rupert starring in many house and school plays in his time at Milton Abbey. I particularly remember his performance in the Restoration comedy ‘The Country Wife’. He is a truly superb actor and everyone at the school is proud of his career achievements.”

Milton Abbey is an independent school, purposefully small in size, specialising in offering excellent pastoral care combined with a broad range of subjects that are usually only available in much larger colleges. It was recently commended for its approach to vocational education, being judged as ‘BTEC School of the Year’ by qualification awarding body Pearson in 2019.

Anyone wishing to attend the event at 6pm on Saturday can do so by signing up here: https://miltonabbey.zoom.us/webinar/register/4616153860138/WN_IxWGsu5pSRyv-jPvKF0kXw