How ‘Bridgerton’ star Daniel Francis balances a career in front of the camera and in senior technical management

Beloved World, with its lavish costumes and old-world English-language dialogue, can pose a challenge for the average actor. But for classically trained actor Daniel Francis, who trained at British drama school LAMDA and sharpened his skills while working for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the setting could be very familiar.

“It’s a great pleasure to be able to enter this world,” Francis tells ESSENCE. “You have the best of the best designing these items with such thought and care and attention to detail that it just adds one other layer to the work that you just do as an actor and the characters that you just create. It is wonderful.”

Francis joined the Shondaland phenomenon in season three as Lord Marcus Anderson, Lady Danbury’s brother and Lady Violet Bridgerton’s potential love interest.

“It’s a privilege, right?” Francis talks about joining the rom-com series in a role created specifically for the show, slightly than lifted from the source material. “I love doing Shakespeare for myself. I love it. But the greatest joy is creating something for the audience.”

“When you come to perform on this scale and with such a dedicated and loving fan base, it’s a privilege that not many actors can afford. And having a character that won’t in the books permits you to create something with the writers and the showrunner, which leaves a lot of possibilities. I can not wait for fans to see the second half of the season and then see where it goes and what happens to it because I don’t know. It’s exciting.

But the actor’s excitement comes not only from his roles on screen. When he isn’t on camera, Francis is revealed to be a technology executive, forging latest paths in fields blockchain and quantum computing.

While it’s rare for an actor of Francis’ level of success to pursue a second career in a completely different industry than entertainment, for the actor his involvement in the business sector has at all times been second nature, born out of necessity.

“I have always been involved in business. I had a marketing company when I was at drama school,” he says. “It was my first contact with the business and I simply fell in love with it. When you grow up in poverty and want to take care of your mother and family – for me, the only solution was to start a business. I didn’t have the education that would allow me to become a lawyer and be successful on that path.”

While Francis’ talent and education led him to roles on popular series corresponding to , and , his solo entrepreneurship took him to the next frontiers of technology.

“Quantum computing is the next paradigm shift in data processing and the space we need to enter to move the world and technology forward. This is extremely exciting for me.”

While acting and technology may look like completely different fields, Francis believes they’re “parallel goals that complement each other” in his life and career.

“I love the combination of storytelling in the entertainment space, but also in technology,” he says.

“I think it’s imperative for us as storytellers to shine a light on people who are doing amazing things that don’t work in flashier industries. I think sometimes celebrities, actors, artists and athletes are the ones who get pushed and promoted the most in the black community, when in reality there are many extremely successful, highly talented and highly skilled black people in all kinds of professions at the highest levels. It’s about telling stories that show their ups, but also their trials, tribulations and drama. We are everywhere. We always have been.”