Brenton Thwaites

Brenton Thwaites

Thwaites at San Diego Comic-Con 2014's panel for The Giver
Born (1989-08-10) 10 August 1989
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Occupation Actor
Years active 2010–present
Partner(s) Chloe Pacey
(2015–present)
Children 1

Brenton Thwaites (born 10 August 1989) is an Australian actor who first came to prominence with his portrayal of Luke Gallagher in the Fox8 teen drama series SLiDE (2011), and later Stu Henderson in the soap opera Home and Away (2011–12). Since moving to the United States, Thwaites has headlined films such as Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012), Oculus (2013), and The Giver (2014), the latter, opposite Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep. Thwaites was the lead actor in 2016's Gods of Egypt, alongside Gerard Butler, and will next star in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the 2017 installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as Henry.

Life and career

1989–2010: Early life

Thwaites was born on 10 August 1989[1] in Cairns, Queensland, to Fiona and Peter Thwaites. He has a sister, Stacey. He underwent secondary education at Cairns State High School in Far North Queensland, graduating in 2006.[1]

During his youth, Thwaites was drawn to the idea of becoming a policeman or a firefighter, having been interested in movies involving the latter. However, his interests diverted to the processes of filmmaking and "letting [one's] personality shine through so many different characters." At the age of 16, Thwaites made his first performance in front of a live audience in a rendition of the Shakespearean tragedy Romeo and Juliet.[2]

Thwaites studied acting at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) for three years, before graduating in 2010.[3][4][5] He then relocated to Sydney to join the long-running soap opera Home and Away before moving to the United States in 2011/12 to pursue his career in acting.[6][7][8]

Thwaites cited fellow Australian actors Heath Ledger and Hugh Jackman as inspirations of his, admiring how Ledger "was a young Aussie kid [...] who was doing really well overseas"[9] and commending Jackman as "a cool Aussie guy who works very hard and he’s a fantastic actor."[10] He also found inspiration in comedy actors Robin Williams and Jim Carrey when practicing the American accent.[11]

2010–12: Career beginnings

Prior to graduating from the Queensland University of Technology, Thwaites made his film debut in Charge Over You, a 2010 independent feature film.[12] After he graduated, Thwaites went on to appear in an episode of Sea Patrol and in the short film, Headsmen.[13][14]

In November 2010, Thwaites, along with Adele Perovic, Ben Schumann, Emily Robins, and Gracie Gilbert, was cast in a new Fox8 Australian teen drama series, SLiDE.[15][16] The show follows five Brisbane teenagers making their way to adulthood.[16][17] Thwaites believes his character, Luke Gallagher, "stands back a bit. He watches. He's struggling with family issues. He's drawn in as it was a chance to find better friends and an opportunity to be part of a group. He's a cool, accepted kid. Some friends he can love and help him mature."[13] Thwaites made his first appearance on SLiDE in the series' premiere episode on 16 August 2011. The series ran one season.[16]

Shortly after Thwaites moved to Sydney from Cairns in April 2011, he was given a five–month recurring role of Stu Henderson in the 24th season of Home and Away.[5][7] Thwaites called the show a great learning experience and said his co-stars were easy to work with.[8] Thwaites made his first appearance as Stu, a member of the River Boys, on 23 August 2011.[7] Tristan Swanwick of The Courier-Mail said Thwaites was a "bit too pretty to be a bad-ass River Boy" but that some fake tattoos would balance that impression.[5] Of his character, Thwaites said, "Stu's awesome, he has some fights, he gets the girls, it's awesome fun."[5][18]

Following Thwaites' relocation to the United States, he signed on to play the male lead in the 2012 television film Blue Lagoon: The Awakening opposite Australian actress Indiana Evans.[19] The film received generally mixed reviews, with Zap2it praising both Thwaites and Evans' "(mostly) believable" acting.[20]

2013–present: Breakthrough

Thwaites at the premiere of Oculus, Toronto Film Festival, 8 September 2013

In 2013, Thwaites starred in the psychological/supernatural horror film Oculus, as the male lead Tim Russell. Production on the film began in October 2012 in Alabama, and was completed a few weeks later.[21] The film was first released on 5 September 2013, at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival,[22] and received a worldwide theatrical release on 11 April 2014.[23] His performance as Russell was well received by Indiewire, which claimed that Thwaites maintained a "credibly frightened demeanor" throughout the film.[24]

In 2014, Thwaites briefly returned to Australia for the filming of crime thriller Son of a Gun. Primarily shot in Perth, Kalgoorlie and Melbourne,[25] Thwaites had to audition for the part of JR "up to 10 times before landing the role." Regarding his character, Thwaites said, "I jumped at the opportunity to audition when this came up and I found the character was a very vulnerable kid amongst strange men that are in some way an inspiration. I just thought that was interesting as a young man myself."[26] Thwaites received critical acclaim for his portrayal of JR, with Variety contending that he "makes a suitably keen-eyed, clean-scrubbed lead, retaining a kind of porous naivete even as the character gets his blood up"[27] and The Sydney Morning Herald praising his role as the embattled hero of the plot.[28] The film premiered in Australia on 16 October 2014.[29]

Thwaites appeared in Maleficent as Prince Phillip alongside Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning.[30] Additionally he starred in the William Eubank's science fiction thriller film The Signal as the male lead, Nic Eastman, opposite Laurence Fishburne and Olivia Cooke. The film opened at the Sundance Festival in January 2014, seven months after shooting on location in the American Southwestern desert of New Mexico.[31][32] Thwaites received praise by The Plain Dealer, noting that his performance in The Signal was "as a compelling presence in the driver's seat as things get freakier and freakier around him."[33]

He also starred in The Giver as one of the male leads, Jonas, beside Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep.[34] Primarily filmed in South Africa,[6] the film was met with generally mixed to negative reviews, with The Telegraph criticising Thwaites' portrayal for "he [struggled] to give us the layered, conflicted hero this film [needed]".[35] However, his portrayal was well received by the Huffington Post, who commended Thwaites' acting[36] and by The Plain Dealer, which noted that the "fast-rising Thwaites...does a nice job with the lead role."[37] He was awarded the Australians in Film "Breakthrough Award" for his role in The Giver.[38]

Thwaites starred in Alex Proyas's Gods of Egypt, alongside Gerard Butler and Geoffrey Rush. He played Bek, a human thief.[39] Principal photography on the film began on 20 March 2014 at the Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia, and the film was released worldwide on 26 February 2016.[40]

In late 2014, Thwaites was cast in the fifth instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.[41][42][43][44] Thwaites will portray Henry, opposite Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Javier Bardem.[45][46] Shooting of the film commenced in February 2015, on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia[47] with Disney announcing that it would be released on 26 May 2017.[48]

Following Pirates, Thwaites will have a leading role in the 2017 Christian film, An Interview with God, portraying a young journalist, Paul Asher. In this role, he will star opposite Academy Award-nominee David Strathairn.[49]

Personal life

Thwaites has been dating his Gold Coast-based girlfriend Chloe Pacey since 2015,[50][51] after the two had been room mates whilst Thwaites was in Australia filming Pirates.[52] Their daughter was born in March 2016.[53][54]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2010 Charge Over You Sam
2011 Headsmen Max Patterson Short film
2012 Save Your Legs Mark Cow
2013 Oculus Tim Russell
2014 Maleficent Prince Phillip
2014 The Signal Nic Eastman
2014 The Giver Jonas
2014 Son of a Gun JR
2015 Ride Angelo
2015 Ruben Guthrie Chet
2015 That Sugar Film Himself Documentary film[55][56]
2016 Gods of Egypt Bek
2017 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Henry Post-production
2017 An Interview with God Paul Asher Filming[49]
2017 Office Uprising Filming
 Television
Year Title Role Notes
2011 Sea Patrol Leigh Scarpia Episode: "Black Flights"
2011 SLiDE Luke Gallagher Regular role; all 10 episodes
2011 Rove LA Himself Part of the studio audience[57][58]
2011–12 Home and Away Stu Henderson Recurring role; 57 episodes
2012 Blue Lagoon: The Awakening Dean McMullen Television film

Awards

Year Award Category Work Result
2014 AiF Breakthrough Award[38] Up-and-coming talent The Giver Won
2014 EuroCinema Kawananakoa Award[59] Rising star His work Won
2014 GQ Men of the Year[60] Breakthrough Actor His work Won

References

  1. 1 2 Strudwick, Daniel (27 July 2011). "Cairns actor Brenton Thwaites trades Far North for a role in Home and Away". The Cairns Post. News Limited. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  2. ↑ Barker, Lauren (11 September 2014). "Brenton Thwaites, actor, The Giver". The Weekend Edition. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "SLiDE Behind The Scenes Episode 5 - Luke" (Official YouTube video). Fox8. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "Underbelly coup for QUT acting grads". Queensland University of Technology. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Swanwick, Tristan (9 July 2011). "Brenton soaps up well for role". The Courier-Mail. Queensland Newspapers. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Brenton Thwaites on Son of a Gun". Time Out. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 "Big break calls Thwaites back". Gold Coast Mail. APN News & Media. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  8. 1 2 Dennehy, Luke (21 August 2011). "Thwaites' to star in Home and Away". Herald Sun. The Herald and Weekly Times. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  9. ↑ Truitt, Brian (15 June 2014). "This summer, Thwaites one of Hollywood's busiest Aussies". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Fagerholm, Matt (11 August 2014). "Interview: Brenton Thwaites and Odeya Rush on "The Giver"". rogerebert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  11. ↑ Harman, Justine (15 August 2014). "Hot Guy/Cold Drink: Vodka Drinks and Tasteful Name Dropping With The Giver's Brenton Thwaites". Elle. Hearst Corporation. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "The Project". Charge Over You. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  13. 1 2 "A SLiDE Show of Teen Drama - Meet Brenton Thwaites". Q News. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  14. ↑ "Episode 062 - Black Flights". Sea Patrol. 7 June 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  15. ↑ "SliDE starts production for Foxtel". Throng. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  16. 1 2 3 Knox, David (15 August 2011). "SLiDE". TV Tonight. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  17. ↑ "A new drama series for Fox8 - SLiDE". Austar. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  18. ↑ Richards, Holly (6 September 2011). "No job wait for Thwaites". The West Australian. Seven West Media Limited. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  19. ↑ "Blue Lagoon: The Awakening". mylifetime.com. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  20. ↑ "Blue Lagoon: The Awakening -- The Most Watchable Lifetime Movie Ever?". Zap2it. 17 June 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  21. ↑ "'Oculus', starring Katee Sackhoff & Karen Gillan, filming underway in Alabama". On Location Vacations. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  22. ↑ Matt Barone (10 September 2013). "TIFF Review: The Smart, Inventive "Oculus" Is the Best Horror Film of the Festival". Complex. Complex Media, Inc. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  23. ↑ "UPDATE: New 'Oculus' theatrical poster debuts". WWE. WWE Inc. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  24. ↑ "Review: Why 'Oculus' Is One of the Scariest American Horror Movies In Years". Indiewire. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  25. ↑ Jillian McHugh (22 July 2013). "Ewan McGregor | Son of a Gun | movie | Western Australia". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  26. ↑ Moran, Jonathon (7 October 2014). "Hunky Aussie actor Brenton Thwaites: 'I'm not born to fit into the Hollywood lifestyle'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  27. ↑ "Film Review: 'Son of a Gun'". Variety. 19 October 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  28. ↑ "Film reviews in brief: Julius Avery's thriller Son of a Gun plus Liam Neeson's latest and more". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 October 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  29. ↑ "Global deals for Son of a Gun". If.com.au. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  30. ↑ Fowler, Tara (31 May 2012). "'Maleficient' casts 'Home and Away's Brenton Thwaites as prince". digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  31. ↑ "The Signal - Festival Program". Sundance Film Festival. Sundance Institute. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  32. ↑ Heisel, Angela (14 May 2013). "The New Mexico Film Office Announces "The Signal" filming in New Mexico" (PDF). New Mexico Film Office Press Release. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  33. ↑ "'The Signal': Intense sci-fi thriller with Laurence Fishburne and Brenton Thwaites (review)". cleveland.com. The Plain Dealer. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  34. ↑ Busis, Hillary (27 September 2013). "Taylor Swift will co-star in long-awaited adaptation of 'The Giver'". Entertainment Weekly.
  35. ↑ "The Giver, review: 'mundane sci-fi'". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  36. ↑ "'The Giver' Movie Is Quite Different From The Book You Remember From Middle School, And Here's Why". Huffington Post. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  37. ↑ "'The Giver': Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites and the danger of memories (review)". cleveland.com. The Plain Dealer. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  38. 1 2 "The Australians in Film Awards & Benefit Gala Dinner 2014". Australians in Film. 26 October 2014. Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  39. ↑ Kroll, Justin (7 October 2013). "Brenton Thwaites Board Summit's 'Gods of Egypt'". variety.com. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  40. ↑ "Summit Entertainment Dates Allegiant, Gods of Egypt and Step Up All In". comingsoon.net. 16 December 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  41. ↑ "Geoffrey Rush talks about new and old projects". TV Guide. December 2014.
  42. ↑ McCarthy, Tyler (16 December 2014). "'Pirates Of The Caribbean 5' Casting Rumors: Five Actresses Up For Romantic Lead In 2017 'Dead Men Tell No Tales'". International Business Times.
  43. ↑ Kroll, Justin (15 December 2014). "Young Actresses Lining Up for Key Role in 'Pirates 5′ (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
  44. ↑ Ge, Linda (21 November 2014). "Brenton Thwaites in Talks to Join 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5' (Exclusive)". The Wrap.
  45. ↑ "Brenton Thwaites Nabs Key 'Pirates 5' Role". The Hollywood Reporter. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  46. ↑ "Brenton Thwaites Boards 'Pirates 5′ Ship For Disney". Deadline.com. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  47. ↑ "Cairns-born actor Brenton Thwaites lands coveted Pirates of the Caribbean role". The Courier-Mail. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  48. ↑ "Raise a Black Flag! A New Pirates of the Caribbean Film Is Coming | Disney Insider". Blogs.disney.com. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  49. 1 2 (1 June 2016). "David Strathairn And Brenton Thwaites Join Faith-Based Drama "An Interview With God" (Exclusive)". The Tracking Board. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  50. ↑ "Brenton Thwaites' girlfriend reveals baby bump". The Courier-Mail. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  51. ↑ "SEE THE PICS: Did You Know That Brenton Thwaites Is Having a Baby?". J-14. 26 February 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  52. ↑ "Brenton Thwaites". Interview. 26 February 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  53. ↑ "AWW: Brenton Thwaites and Chloe Pacey Share Their First Baby Photo". J-14. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  54. ↑ (21 March 2016). "Brenton Thwaites Welcomes Baby with Girlfriend Chloe Pacey!" Just Jared. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  55. ↑ "First Taste of Damon Gameau's That Sugar Film". Cinema Australia. 15 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  56. ↑ "Aussie filmmaker's shocking sugar experiment". The West Australian. Seven West Media. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  57. ↑ Swanwick, Tristan; Cooper, Nathanael (9 September 2011). "Home and Away star Brenton Thwaites busted by Rove McManus writing in his journal in audience of Rove LA". The Sunday Times. News Limited. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  58. ↑ "Actor Brenton Thwaites busted by Rove in awkward moment". Herald Sun. The Herald and Weekly Times. 19 September 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  59. ↑ "2014 Brenton Thwaites On The Red Carpet". EuroCinema. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  60. ↑ "2014 Breakthrough Actor: Brenton Thwaites". GQ Australia. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.

External links

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