The actress-daughter of one of Hong Kong's leading barristers is to marry into one of Britain's top theatrical families.
Anna-Louise Plowman, whose father, Gary, is a Senior Counsel, has announced her engagement to Toby Stephens, the son of actress Dame Maggie Smith and the late actor Sir Robert Stephens. Dame Maggie is most famous for her role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Anna-Louise, who was brought up in Hong Kong, revealed that her husband-to-be was very gallant before proposing. From her parents' home in Repulse Bay, she said: 'Toby wrote to my father to ask for my hand in marriage, to do it properly. Dad's like that.'
Anna-Louise, 28, went to Bradbury Junior School and South Island School before going on to be educated in Britain. She met Toby at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, where they both trained in 1991. But romance did not blossom until later.
'We didn't really know each other,' Anna-Louise said. 'But we met up again in New York a couple of years ago. I was living there and Toby had a part in a play there. We were going to spend our time walking around the city together but Toby asked me out. It was an old-fashioned romance.'
They moved to Hollywood but later decided to return to live and work in London.