Luke Evans (actor)

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Luke Evans
Evans at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Luke George Evans (1979-04-15) 15 April 1979 (age 39) Pontypool, Wales
Residence	Shoreditch, London, England
Alma mater	London Studio Centre
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present
Home town	Aberbargoed, Wales

Luke George Evans (born 15 April 1979)^[1] is a Welsh actor. Evans began his career on the stage, performing in many of London's West End productions such as Rent, Miss Saigon, and Piaf before getting his Hollywood breakthrough role starring in the Clash of the Titans 2010 remake. Following his debut, Evans was cast in such action and thriller films as Immortals (2011), The Raven (2012), and the re-imagined The Three Musketeers (2011).

In 2013, Evans starred as the main antagonist Owen Shaw in the blockbuster Fast & Furious 6, and also played Bard the Bowman in Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.^[2] Evans also portrayed the vampire Dracula in the character's film origin story, Dracula Untold.^[3] In 2017, Evans starred as Gaston in Disney's live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, and portrayed American psychologist William Moulton Marston, creator of fictional character Wonder Woman, in the biographical drama Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.

Early life[edit]

Evans was born on Easter Sunday, 15 April 1979, in Pontypool,^[4] and brought up in Aberbargoed,^[1] a small town in the Rhymney Valley, Wales, the only child of Yvonne and David Evans.^[5][6] He was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, though he left the religion when he was 16 and left school at the same time.^[7]

At the age of seventeen, he moved to Cardiff,^[8] where he studied under the supervision of Louise Ryan, an established singing coach.^[9] In 1997, he won a scholarship to London Studio Centre, then in Kings Cross, London.^[10] He graduated in 2000.

Career[edit]

Evans at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival

From 2000 to 2008, Evans starred in many of London's West End productions including La Cava, Taboo, Rent, Miss Saigon and Avenue Q, as well as several fringe shows in London and at the Edinburgh Festival.

In 2008, he landed his most significant theatre role playing Vincent in the play Small Change written and directed by Peter Gill at the Donmar Warehouse. For his performance he gained recognition from film casting directors and US agencies and was nominated for the Evening Standard Award for best newcomer. Later that same year he did his second show at the Donmar Warehouse, Piaf, in which he played Yves Montand.

Evans got his first film audition aged thirty. In 2009, he landed his first film, playing the Greek god Apollo in the 2010 remake Clash of the Titans. Also in 2010, he appeared as Clive in the film Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, directed by Matt Whitecross, as the Sheriff of Nottingham's thug in Robin Hood, alongside Matthew Macfadyen (whom he would later play alongside again in The Three Musketeers), and played handyman and good guy Andy, in director Stephen Frears' film Tamara Drewe, based on Posy Simmond's comic strip. Evans went on to portray DI Craig Stokes in Blitz (2011), the film adaptation of Ken Bruen's novel of the same name, in which he starred with Jason Statham and Paddy Considine. In early 2010, he shot the independent movie, Flutter, directed by Giles Borg.

Evans played the Musketeer Aramis in Paul W. S. Anderson's version of The Three Musketeers (filmed in 2010 and released in 2011). He was cast in a lead role in Tarsem Singh's Greek epic, Immortals (2011), in which he played the King of the Gods, Zeus. And at the end of 2010, he took a role opposite John Cusack in James McTeigue's film The Raven, replacing Jeremy Renner. In the film, released in 2012 and set in mid-19th century Baltimore, Evans played Detective Emmett Fields, who investigates a series of murders alongside Cusack's Edgar Allan Poe.^[11] Shooting took place in Budapest and Serbia in November 2010. In 2011, he shot No One Lives, a psychological horror film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, in New Orleans, and began filming a role in Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, playing the role of Bard the Bowman.^[2]

Evans at the Queen's Birthday Party held at the Royal Albert Hall in 2018

In 2013, Evans played the antagonist Owen Shaw in Furious 6, and in 2014, he played Dracula in the film Dracula Untold.^[12][13][14] Evans was cast as Eric Draven in the reboot of The Crow. In June 2014, he joined the cast of the film High-Rise with Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons.^[15] In January 2015, Evans officially exited The Crow to pursue other projects.^[16] The same year, he was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed British men.^[17]

In 2016, Evans appeared in the thriller film The Girl on the Train, co-starring Emily Blunt.^[18] In 2017, he had the villainous role of Gaston in Disney's live action remake, Beauty and the Beast, co-starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens;^[19] and also played the lead role, William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, in the film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.

In 2018, Evans stars in TNT drama The Alienist, as newspaper illustrator John Moore.^[20]

Personal life[edit]

Evans is openly gay. In a 2002 interview, he said, "Everybody knew me as a gay man, and in my life in London I never tried to hide it," and that by being open he would not have "that skeleton in the closet they can rattle out".^[21] In 2004, he said that his being out had not caused his acting career to suffer.^[22] In 2014, Evans acknowledged the importance of marketability, and that, although he does not hide his sexual orientation, he is reluctant to discuss it with the media.^[23] He dated Spanish model Jon Kortajarena.^[24]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Television[edit]

Video games[edit]

Theme park ride[edit]

Awards and nominations[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luke Evans.

• Luke Evans on IMDb