Toby Stephens says he is "definitely" British despite having spent lots of time working in America.
The 50-year-old Londoner recently starred in the American science fiction television series ‘Lost in Space’ but says he will always identify with his roots despite the fact he thinks the UK is becoming close-minded.
When asked by the Metro newspaper if he "felt British", Toby said: "Yes, definitely British. But you can’t help but be troubled by what’s going on and where it will all end.
"I thought I was part of some sort of open, forward-thinking society and then it turns out that I’m living among a lot of people who don’t think like that.
"You have to accept that, though. I’m not about to become American — it’s not much different there, in any case!"
And the ‘Black Sails’ star – who has children Eli, 11, Kura, 8, and Tallulah, 10, with his wife Anna-Louise Plowman – admitted that as he has got older he has taken on more jobs for money because he knows he has to be realistic and support his family.
He added: "I think I imagined that by 50 I’d get to do a load of different jobs. But, to be honest, the last ten or 11 years it’s been all about paying the bills — that’s what happens when you have kids, that’s a massive motivation.
"But then you start to think, ‘Hey, there’s only a certain amount of time left to do what I want to do.’ So it’s great when you get the chance to be doing something that’s more grown up."
Toby also opened up about the upcoming series of ‘Summer of Rockets’ in which he stars alongside Keeley Hawes, Linus Roache and Timothy Spall.
The hunk portrays hearing aids inventor Samuel Petrukhin and said he was drawn to the empathetic character.
He said: "I thought that was part of what makes him such a wonderful character. He’s based on Stephen’s grandfather and it is in part biographical.
"He ran a factory that was full of deaf workers and I loved his pragmatic approach. He just saw them as good workers, he wasn’t bogged down in some kind of social project."
‘Summer Of Rockets’ continues on BBC2 on Wednesdays at 9pm.
Toby Stephens says he is ‘definitely’ British
