Stepan "Stiva" Arkadyevitch Oblonsky Mark Strong Anna's brother, Stepan "Stiva" Oblonsky, is Tolstoy's portrait of decadence, hypocrisy, and self-indulgence. He is unfaithful to his wife, Dolly, who loves him and stands by him. Stiva is often viewed as a shallower version of Anna: living by his passions, but nowhere near as intensely as his sister. Playing Oblonsky, Mark Strong was struck by how much easier men had it than women in Tolstoy's time. "[Anna's] adultery forces her under the wheels of a train, but his is completely accepted by society. It's the woman who has to pay the price. I don't think Tolstoy endorses that attitude, but he certainly shows it up, and Oblonsky is the embodiment of that reality." Strong is best known to PBS viewers as Mr. Knightley in the BBC's Emma, an experience that left him all the more impressed by the sheer modernity of Tolstoy's ideas. "If you look at Jane Austen, it's all about making a good marriage. But Anna Karenina is about what happens after the honeymoon, which is so much more interesting to a modern audience." Strong thinks his baldness contributes to the contemporary feel of Anna Karenina. "You don't get a lot of bald men in period drama.... I think it's probably something that people have been embarrassed or ashamed about throughout history. So when makeup rang up, I said I didn't want to wear a wig. And they said, 'Fine, great. The more we can make it look modern, the better.'"