Biography
Welsh actor Luke Evans hit the silver screen with numerous projects during the early 2010s, paving the way for his ascending stardom. After studying at the London Studio Centre, the ruggedly handsome Evans became increasingly renowned for his West End stage roles and eventually made the leap to feature films. Born in Wales and raised in the largely rural area of Aberbargoed, Evans set his sights on city living as a youth, eventually moving to Cardiff as a teen to pursue music and drama. Later relocating to London for further stage training, he soon won roles in various musicals on the West End. Featured in British theater for nearly a decade, Evans finally shifted to movies around age 30, shooting his earliest film parts as Greek god Apollo in "Clash of the Titans" (2010) and Clive Richards in the Ian Dury biopic "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" (2010) within weeks of each other. With barely a breather, he had a small turn in Ridley Scott's reworking of "Robin Hood" (2010) as the tough henchman of Matthew Macfadyen's Sheriff of Nottingham, and played up his country roots as dashing farmer Andy Cobb in Stephen Frears' "Tamara Drewe" (2010), where he pined for Gemma Arterton's lovely title character. Evans continued to surge ahead in his career, playing the ambitious Aramis in Paul W.S. Anderson's action-heavy "The Three Musketeers" (2011) and landing his second turn as a mythological figure by portraying Zeus in Tarsem Singh's stylized adventure movie "Immortals" (2011). Slowing down only slightly, he appeared in the important role of determined detective Emmett Fields in the dark period thriller "The Raven" (2012), inheriting the part from Jeremy Renner. After a foray into even grislier fare with the lead in the low-budget horror film "No One Lives" (2012), Evans prepared for more Hollywood work. Evans had a banner year in 2013, first turning up as the villainous Owen Shaw in the chase-filled action flick "Fast & Furious 6" (2013) and then entering the Middle-earth pantheon as the steely archer Bard the Bowman in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" (2013) and "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" (2014). After starring in the title role of gothic horror "Dracula Untold" (2014), Evans appeared in the cinematic adaptation of J.G. Ballard's dystopian novel "High-Rise" (2015) and co-starred in the thriller "Message From the King" (2016). After co-starring in the high-profile thriller "The Girl on the Train" (2016), Evans starred opposite Emma Watson as Gaston in a live-action "Beauty and the Beast" (2017) and returned as Owen Shaw in "The Fate of the Furious" (2017).
