Prison Break Actor Augustus Prew on His Fruity Engagement & Absolutely Fabulous Godmother

YOU KNOW HIM FROM:

His roles as Silicon Valley tech billionaire James Bell on the CBS medical drama Pure Genius and the teen superhero Ass-Kicker in Kick-Ass 2

WHAT'S NEXT:

Starring as Whip, the cellmate of Wentworth Miller's character, Michael, in the upcoming fifth season of the Fox hit Prison Break (premiering April 4). Prew also has the lead role as a gay man in the British film Chubby Funny, a comedy about the tension between two actor friends when one becomes more successful than the other.

STRANGE FRUIT:

"I just got engaged," says the 29-year-old British actor. "I took [actor and writer Jeffery Self] on a hike here in L.A. to the spot where we had our first date. I brought along two oranges and stabbed one with a knife and shoved the engagement ring in. He saw the ring in the orange and was like, 'There's a bit of fucking metal in this orange.' He started going on a rant, like, 'Fuck Trader Joe's!' " And then he saw that I was on one knee, because I was pretending to tie my shoelace. We sort of stared at each other for what felt like the longest moment. And then I asked him to marry me."

FABULOUS CONNECTIONS:

"My mother is kind of a thing. She's known as the high priestess of fashion in the U.K. She founded London Fashion Week and had a label in the '70s and '80s called Wendy Dagworthy, which is her name. I have to say, all I really wear is my mom's old collections. I wear so many of her old clothes. And Absolutely Fabulous is based on my godmother, Lynne Franks--she's the Edina character. She was my mom's publicist and Jennifer Saunders's publicist for about 20 years. So that's kind of the world I grew up in."

THE RABBLE-ROUSER:

"I tend to have an opinion on most things. I'm very into politics. I think everyone should have an opinion. That's important for democracy: for everyone to have an educated opinion and to stand up for what they believe in and be true to their conscience. I think a lot of issues in the world right now are because of ineptitude in the political system. That's a trend that, as a global community, we need to counter. Otherwise, we could be sleepwalking into something quite dangerous."

Photography: Miranda Penn Turin

Styling: Phillip Morrison

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