Luke Evans Biography

Luke Evans (born 15 April 1979) is a Welsh actor and singer. 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 breakthrough role in Hollywood starring in the Clash of the Titans 2010 remake, playing Apollo. 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 which he played Aramis.

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. Evans also portrayed the vampire Dracula in the character's film origin story, Dracula Untold.

Early life

Luke Evans was born in Pontypool, and raised in Aberbargoed, a small town in the Rhymney Valley, Wales, the only child of Yvonne and David Evans. He was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, though he left the religion when he was 16 and left school at the same time.

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

Career

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. It was significant that he gained recognition from film casting directors and US agencies from this play and he was also nominated for the Evening Standard award for best newcomer because of his performance in Small Change. 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. 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.

In 2013, Evans played the antagonist Owen Shaw in Furious 6, and in 2014, he played Dracula in the film Dracula Untold.

Evans was cast as Eric Draven in the reboot of The Crow. In January 2015, it was announced that he officially exited the project to pursue other projects. In June 2014, Evans joined the cast of the upcoming film High-Rise with Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons. In October 2014, it was announced that he had signed to star in Free Fire, directed by Ben Wheatley and co-starring Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde and Armie Hammer. In March 2015, it was announced that he would be playing the role of the villainous Gaston in Disney's upcoming live-action remake, Beauty and the Beast, which co-stars Emma Watson.

Personal life

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". In 2004, he said his acting career had not suffered by being out. In 2014, Evans acknowledged the importance of marketability, and that, although he does not hide his homosexuality, he is reticent to discuss it with the media. The Spanish media has reported he is in a relationship with model Jon Kortajarena.

In 2015, Evans was named one of GQs 50 best dressed British men.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2002	Taboo	Billy	Video
2009	Don't Press Benjamin's Buttons	Benjamin's Father	Short
2010	Cowards and Monsters	Paul	Short
2010	Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll	Clive Richards
2010	Clash of the Titans	Apollo
2010	Robin Hood	Sheriff's Thug
2010	Tamara Drewe	Andy Cobb
2011	Blitz	DI Craig Stokes
2011	The Three Musketeers	Aramis
2011	Immortals	Zeus
2011	Flutter	Adrian
2012	Ashes	Crewcut
2012	The Raven	Inspector Emmett Fields
2012	No One Lives	Driver
2012	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Girion, Lord of Dale	Extended Edition only
2013	Fast & Furious 6	Owen Shaw
2013	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	Bard and Girion, Lord of Dale
2013	The Great Train Robbery	Bruce Reynolds	TV Series: 2 Episodes
2014	Dracula Untold	Vlad III ?epe? / Dracula
2014	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	Bard
2015	Furious 7	Owen Shaw	Cameo
2015	High-Rise	Richard Wilder
2016	Message from the King	Wentworth	Post production
2016	The Girl on the Train	Scott	Post-production
2017	Beauty and the Beast	Gaston	Post Production

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result	Work
2014	Monte-Carlo Television Festival	Outstanding Actor in a Mini-Series		The Great Train Robbery
2014	Acapulco Black Film Festival	Best Ensemble Cast		Fast & Furious 6
2015	British Independent Film Awards	Best Supporting Actor		High-Rise