Nicholas Hoult
| Nicholas Hoult | |
|---|---|
 Hoult at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival | |
| Born |
Nicholas Caradoc Hoult 7 December 1989 Wokingham, Berkshire, England |
| Residence | London, England |
| Other names | Nick Hoult |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1996–present |
Nicholas Caradoc Hoult[1] (born 7 December 1989)[2][3][4] is an English actor. Hoult made his professional acting debut at the age of seven in the 1996 film Intimate Relations. He received recognition after landing the role of Marcus Brewer in About a Boy, for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer. He received further acclaim for his performance as Tony Stonem in the E4 teen drama Skins.
Following these roles, Hoult found significant commercial success after landing the role of Beast in the X-Men films and the sentient zombie "R" in the romantic zombie comedy Warm Bodies. In 2015, he starred as Lyle Wirth in Dark Places and as the War Boy Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road, and in 2016 reprised his role as Beast in the superhero film X-Men: Apocalypse.
Early life
Hoult was born in Wokingham, Berkshire, the third of four children of Glenis (née Brown; born 1954), a piano teacher, and Roger Hoult (born 1953), a retired British Airways pilot. His siblings are James (born 1977), Rosanna (born 1984), and Clarista (born 1992). His great-aunt was actress Dame Anna Neagle.[5] His older siblings showed interest in acting and dancing from an early age, taking classes and attending auditions, and Hoult joined them once he found it interesting too, but clarifies that it wasn't a pushy situation from his parents, and that they were "pretty outdoorsy normal kids".[6] He practiced ballet along with his sisters and was involved in productions of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker with the national ballet, but claims he was never any good at it.[7]
Hoult attended The Coombes nursery in Arborfield, Berkshire, then the Arborfield Church of England Junior School.[8] On The Graham Norton Show, Hoult revealed that his middle name is Caradoc (pronounced /ka.rɑː'dɔk/), which in Welsh means "The Beloved One".[9]
Career
Early career
Hoult's ability to concentrate at the age of three when he attended to see his brother's play got him his first acting job in the play "The Caucasian Chalk Circle".[10] Hoult started attending auditions after that and got his first movie role at five in the drama Intimate Relations. After that he landed several guest appearances on TV shows such as Casualty, Silent Witness, The Bill and Doctors, among others. Hoult recalls he saw acting as a hobby rather than a possible profession at that age: "I wasn't in love with it, I just enjoyed it. It was like playing for a football team. When you got a part it was great. And meeting new people. It was an exciting new world."[10]
He was 11 when he got cast in the critically acclaimed comedy-drama film About a Boy. By the time the film was released he had already changed school, to the specialist performing arts school Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. The movie's success gave him his first approach to Hollywood, and the film performed very well at the box office and with the critics, receiving positive reviews and nominations for awards. Hoult himself earned some praise for his acting. He continued acting in small roles but abandoned the Sylvia Young Theatre School at 14 and joined the secondary school Ranelagh because he still wasn't ready to make acting his living, and preferred to attend a regular school to keep enjoying a normal life separated from the industry. To this date he gives this and his loving family the credit of his healthy life in contrast to many child actors. In 2005, he starred in Wah Wah and appeared in the American film The Weather Man.
Skins
He was studying in the Sixth Form College Farnborough in 2006 when he got one of the defining roles of his career, the role of Tony Stonem in the BAFTAs awarded teen-drama Skins. At the time he thought they wanted him to play Sid, a character more similar to himself according to him, and was doubtful he could play the manipulative, egocentric anti-hero, but ended up doing such a great job many people expected him to be like his character at parties.[11] The show ran for seven series, ending in 2013, but Hoult was only part of the first two. Skins was a hit around the world thanks to casting actual teenagers for the characters, and having a very young group of writers. The great success of the show brought so much fame to Nick he thought it was unbearable at one point and even considered quitting acting.[6] But it was also that success that widen his opportunities as an actor, some directors and producers have claimed that his performance as Tony as one of the things that drove their interest to cast Hoult in their projects.[12] Just before starting the second series of Skins he quit school and decided to dedicate his attention fully to acting.
After Skins he acted in the first episode of Wallander. Soon after that he starred in the West End play New Boy, the play being small and with not much publicity broke records on ticket sales thanks to his Skins fame.[13] that brought offers for Nicholas to extend the run but he was unable, since he had already signed to film the fantasy adventure film Clash of the Titans, the film didn’t receive good reviews from critics but was a success at the box office, the grossing was nearly half billion dollars worldwide.[14]
He appeared in the 2009 Tom Ford's film A Single Man as Kenny Potter. He was cast just two weeks before filming started because the previous actor hired for the role quit unexpectedly. The film was critically acclaimed and earned Nicholas his 2010 BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination. That collaboration also gave Hoult the opportunity of being the face of Tom Ford eyewear for spring 2010[15] and again for fall 2010.[16]
X-Men, Mad Max, and subsequent work
In January 2010 he was cast as Nux in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, but that Summer when he was doing pre-production in Australia (the initial location of the movie) the production was delayed indefinitely due to heavy raining, the filming was scheduled to last several months, so Nicholas had no other project lined up: " I was down in Australia starting prep on Mad Max and they told us it wasn’t going to shoot that year, so I called my agent and said I needed a job. " [12] They mentioned the X-Men production was interested in him, so he auditioned and got the part of Hank McCoy/Beast in the 2011 superhero film X-Men: First Class, a prequel to the franchise directed by Matthew Vaughn. The film was very-well received by the critics, and performed slightly better than the first X-Men film on the opening weekend and worldwide, which was considered a success and that it was an excellent start to a new chapter of the franchise.[17]
Soon after wrapping First Class he started filming Jack the Giant Slayer, directed by Bryan Singer on the spring of 2011, in the lead role, his first on a big studio film. It debuted number one in 2013 but received mixed reviews. In 2011 he also filmed the zombie rom-com Warm Bodies directed by Jonathan Levine and based on Isaac Marion's novel of the same name. The film was also released in 2013 and debuted at number one[18] and got "certified fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes with a scoring of 80%.[19]
Nicholas reprised his role as Hank McCoy/Beast on the 2014 American super-hero film X-Men: Days Of Future Past with a budget of $200 million, principal photography began in Montreal, Quebec in April 2013 and concluded in August the same year, with additional filming and pick-ups taking place in November 2013 and February 2014. The film premiered in New York City on 10 May 2014, and was theatrically released on 23 May. X-Men: Days of Future Past became the best-reviewed film in the X-Men film series, having been praised for its story, visual effects, action scenes, acting and thematic elements. During its theatrical run, the film earned over $747 million worldwide, making it the 6th highest grossing film of 2014, as well as the highest-grossing film in the series until 2016 when it was surpassed by Deadpool. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects, making it the first X-Men film to be nominated for an Oscar.
In between his big Hollywood productions Hoult also decided to film much smaller character driven independent films, like Jack Paltrow's Young Ones, starring with Michael Shannon and Elle Fanning. The mystery thriller adaptation Dark Places directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, with Charlize Theron, Christina Hendricks and Chloë Grace Moretz. The 2015 British dark comedy crime-thriller film directed by Owen Harris, Kill Your Friends script written by John Niven based on his own written 2008 novel of the same name, playing the lead character Steven Stelfox, alongside Craig Roberts, James Corden, Tom Riley and Ed Skrein. And Equals an American science fiction dystopian romantic drama film directed by Drake Doremus starring opposite Kristen Stewart.
After couple of years of delay, and much more years in development, Mad Max: Fury Road was finally filmed in 2012 from June to December in Namibia. The film had its world premiere on 7 May 2015 at the TCL Chinese Theatre. It began a worldwide theatrical release on 14 May 2015, including an out-of-competition screening at the 68th Cannes Film Festival, in 2D, 3D, IMAX 3D and 4DX. It has grossed over $378 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the Mad Max franchise. Widely acclaimed for its screenplay, action sequences, and art direction, the film was ranked by many critics as the best film of 2015, as well as one of the greatest action films ever made. Fury Road won multiple critical and guild awards, and received ten Academy Award nominations. Hoult's performance was praised by many critics and his character and phrases became very popular with fans of the film.
Once again and for the third time Hoult reprised his role of Hank McCoy/Beast for the 2016 American Super-Hero film X-Men: Apocalypse. The film wasn’t as successful as its predecessor Days of Future Past but it still got to be the third highest grossing X-Men film worldwide[20] and topped the foreign box office for three weeks in a row.[21][22]
Hoult filmed the 2017 car chase action film Collide in 2014, and it was due to be released in 2015 but some issues with the original distributors forced the film to be pushed for the release in America.[23] Sand Castle is an upcoming British war drama film directed by Fernando Coimbra and written by Chris Roessner. The film centers on Matt Ocre (played by Hoult), a young machine gunner tasked to save a village in Iraq. Hoult will also be playing American author J.D. Salinger in Rebel in the Rye, an upcoming American biographical drama film directed and written by Danny Strong. The film will center on the life of author from his youth to the World War II era, including his romantic life and the publication of his debut novel The Catcher in the Rye.[24]
Hoult will be part of an upcoming British-Irish-American animated television mini-series Watership Down, directed by Noam Murro. It is based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Richard Adams and adapted by Tom Bidwell.[25] It will be a four-part serial that will broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom, and will stream internationally on Netflix in 2017. Hoult will be voice one of the lead characters, Fiver.[26]
Personal life
During his childhood, Hoult played basketball for his local team, Reading Rockets.[27] He is currently an ambassador for the club.[28] He lives in London.[29]
Nicholas has remained friends with most of his Skins co-stars and counts some of them among his best friends. Kaya Scodelario who played his sister on the series has called him, her "guardian angel in this industry".[30] Hoult dated X-Men co-star Jennifer Lawrence after meeting in 2010 on the set of First Class.[31][32] The couple split in August 2014.[33][34]
He has a known like for motor sports, is a fan of the formula one and has attended to different Grand Prix around the world in Monaco, Montreal, Singapore and Germany.[35][36][37] He also enjoys Go-Karting in his free time [38] and riding motorcycles as transportation and on racing tracks.[39][40][41]
Charity work
Nicholas has worked with different charities over the years, specially those aimed to help children and young people. In 2007 he was inducted into the NSPCC Hall of Fame for his contribution in helping fight child cruelty.[42] He has been involved with Teenage Cancer Trust from 2009 to date. Over the years he has visited patients on numerous occasions and fronted their campaigns, including a sun safety campaign.[43] In 2010 he visited slums in Nairobi, Kenya to see a Christian Aid project providing clean water and sanitation to thousands of people, during his stay he met the residents and helped to clean out sewage works. About the eye opening trip he said:
"I met great people making the best of the situation. They are very open, kind and loving but it is heart-breaking in many ways to see the living conditions."[44]
The same year he became the first NSPCC Young Person Ambassador, for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, helping support the charity's activities aimed at children and young people, encouraging them to express their feelings and reach for help if they needed to. Hoult also supports Save the Children charity, including their Enough Food IF campaign to end global hunger. He contributed with Small Steps Project dedicated to supporting children around the world who live on rubbish dumps and survive from scavenging. More recently with Jeans for Refugees, a project and artistic fundraising initiative dedicated to helping refugees around the world.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Intimate Relations | Bobby | |
| 1997 | Mr White Goes to Westminster | John | |
| 2002 | About a Boy | Marcus Brewer | |
| 2005 | Wah-Wah | Ralph Compton | |
| The Weather Man | Mike | ||
| 2006 | Kidulthood | Blake | |
| 2007 | Coming Down the Mountain | David Phillips | |
| 2009 | A Single Man | Kenny Potter | |
| 2010 | Clash of the Titans | Eusebios | |
| 2011 | Rule Number Three | Matt | Short film |
| X-Men: First Class | Hank McCoy / Beast | ||
| 2013 | Warm Bodies | R | |
| Jack the Giant Slayer | Jack | ||
| 2014 | Young Ones | Flem Lever | |
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | Hank McCoy / Beast | Shared role with Kelsey Grammer | |
| 2015 | Dark Places | Lyle Wirth | |
| Mad Max: Fury Road | Nux | ||
| Kill Your Friends | Steven Stelfox | ||
| 2016 | X-Men: Apocalypse | Hank McCoy / Beast | |
| Equals | Silas | Premiered at the 72 VFF in 2015 but released in 2016 | |
| Underdogs | Ace | Voice only; US version. | |
| 2017 | Sand Castle | Matt Ocre | Post-production |
| Collide | Casey | Completed | |
| Rebel in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | Post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Casualty | Craig Morrissey | Episode: "It Ain't Me, Babe" |
| 1998 | Silent Witness | Tom Evans | Episode: "An Academic Exercise" |
| 1999 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Barry | Episode: "The Fallen Curtain" |
| 2000 | The Bill | Hugh Austin | Episode: "The Squad" |
| 2001 | Magic Grandad | Tom | 3 episodes |
| Holby City | Oscar Banks | Episode: "Borrowed Time" | |
| Doctors | Conor Finch | Episode: "Unfinished Business" | |
| Waking the Dead | Max Bryson | 2 episodes | |
| World of Pub | 11-year-old show presenter | Episode: "Sixties" | |
| 2002 | Murder in Mind | Andrew Wilsher | Episode: "Memories" |
| Judge John Deed | Jason Powell | Episode: "Everyone's Child" | |
| 2003 | Star | Bradley Fisher | 7 episodes |
| 2004 | Keen Eddie | Edward Mills | Episode: "Who Wants to Be in a Club That Would Have Me as a Member?" |
| 2005 | Mystery Hunters | Himself | Episode: "Salem Witches" |
| 2007–08 | Skins | Tony Stonem | 19 episodes (seasons one and two) |
| 2008 | Wallander | Stefan Fredman | Episode: "Sidetracked" |
| 2012 | Robot Chicken | Harry Potter, Captain America | Episode: "Collateral Damage in Gang Turf War" |
| 2017 | Watership Down | Fiver | Miniseries; Filming (voice only) |
Music videos
| Year | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Midnight Beast | "Lez Be Friends" |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Fable III | Elliot | Voice |
Commercial
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Tom Ford Eyewear | Model | Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter campaigns |
| 2014– | Jaguar | Boffin/Himself | 'Method to our Madness' 2014 Campaign for F-Type Coupe,[45] 'Master Plan' 2015 Campaign for Jaguar XE[46] and 'Smart Cone Challenge' 2016 Campaign for Jaguar XF [47] |
| 2016 | Sky Fibre – X-Men Apocalypse – Television Advertisement | Hank McCoy / Beast | Set after the events of X-Men: Apocalypse[48][49] |
Awards and nominations
References
- ↑ Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1984–2004. Gives name at birth as "Nicholas Caradoc Hoult".
- ↑ Hoult, Nicholas. "The Nicholas Hoult Blog, 3 July 2006". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2007.. Hoult writes, "I'm still only 16!"
- ↑ Thomas, David (1 May 2002). "About the Boy". Telegraph. London, UK. p. 2. Retrieved 20 May 2010.; Author refers to Hoult as a 12-year-old boy in 2002.
- ↑ Pool, Hannah (18 January 2007). "Question Time". Guardian Unlimited. London, UK.
- ↑ Shoard, Catherine (14 January 2007). "Teen player". London, UK: Telegraph. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
- 1 2 Adel, Ziba (20 May 2011). "Nicholas Hoult: 'Can you not just say I was lighthearted and witty?'" – via The Guardian.
- ↑ "Is this it?". the Guardian. 16 February 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
- ↑ Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Nicholas Hoult, actor. The Independent (12 January 2006). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ "How do you pronounce 'Denzel'? – The Graham Norton Show". YouTube. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
- 1 2 Nicholas Hoult: about a man. Telegraph (6 March 2009). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ Fisher, Alice (30 January 2010). "Hoult… who goes there?" – via The Guardian.
- 1 2 Nicholas Hoult — Elliott W. David. Elliottwdavid.com. Retrieved on 29 October 2016.
- ↑ Fans of Skins TV show rush to see New Boy in the West End | London Evening Standard. Standard.co.uk (18 March 2009). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ "Clash of the Titans (2010)". Box Office Mojo.
- ↑ Kujundzic, Petar. (6 February 2010) Tom Ford Eyewear 2010 Spring Campaign. Hypebeast. Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ Tom Ford fall 2010. Eye Heart Glasses (22 February 1999). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ Germain, David. 'X-men' mutants weaken with prequel debut. Associated Press
- ↑ Warm Bodies. boxofficemojo.com
- ↑ Warm Bodies. rottentomatoes.com
- ↑ "X-Men Movies at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo.
- ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy. (23 May 2016) ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Box Office Begins With $101.5 Million Overseas. Deadline. Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Tops Foreign Box Office Thanks to China Debut. Variety (5 June 2016). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (29 September 2016). "Felicity Jones-Nicholas Hoult Vehicle 'Collide' Back On Track For Winter 2017". deadline.com.
- ↑ Nicholas Hoult Joins Danny Strong's 'Rebel in the Rye': TIFF. Hollywood Reporter (31 August 2015). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ Jaafar, Ali (27 April 2016). "'Watership Down': BBC & Netflix Team On Miniseries With James McAvoy, Nic Hoult And John Boyega". deadline.com.
- ↑ Netflix Bags Global Rights for 'Watership Down' Adaptation With John Boyega, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult. Hollywood Reporter (27 April 2016). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ "Reading Rockets fail in bid to go up a league because of Rivermead seating". Reading GetReading. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
- ↑ Adkins, Natasha (18 February 2015). "Nicholas Hoult boosts support for Reading Rockets basketball team". getreading.co.uk.
- ↑ "Nicholas Hoult on 'Kill Your Friends', Jennifer Lawrence, and being a child actor".
- ↑ "Kaya Scodelario previews her new film Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials". bristolpost.co.uk. 9 September 2015.
- ↑ "Jennifer Lawrence And Nicholas Hoult Together At The Golden Globes". Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
- ↑ Ryder, Taryn. "8 Things You Didn't See at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards". Yahoo!. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ↑ John, Simi (3 August 2014). "Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult Split for Second Time: Couple Blame 'Difficult Schedules' for Break-Up.". International Business Times. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
- ↑ Blumm, K.C. (1 August 2014). "Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult Have Split". People. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
- ↑ "In Case You Missed It – off track in Germany". formula1.com. August 2016.
- ↑ Tay, Cheryl. (22 September 2014) 7 ways the 2014 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix was different | Fit To Post Sports – Yahoo Sports Singapore. Sg.sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ "Paddock Postcard from Montreal". formula1.com. June 2015.
- ↑ Berk, Brett (27 October 2014). "Nicholas Hoult: 'Boy' in a hurry". BBC.
- ↑ "Actor Nicholas Hoult maxes out Circuit of The Americas – COTA Blog". circuitoftheamericas.com. 19 March 2015.
- ↑ "Instagram photo by @igotinstagram • Jul 12, 2016 at 3:06am UTC". Instagram.
- ↑ Jeffrey, Joe (18 July 2014) X-Men visit Haslam Race School. Motorbiketimes.com. Retrieved on 29 October 2016.
- ↑ Award for Noel's charity effort. The Star (18 May 2007). Retrieved on 29 October 2016.
- ↑ Glaister, Flora (25 September 2014). "Nicholas Hoult". teenagecancertrust.org.
- ↑ "Nick Hoult finds inspiration in Christian Aid water project". getreading.co.uk. 13 May 2010.
- ↑ Jaguar USA (6 October 2014). "The Cave – Virtual Designing – JaguarUSA" – via YouTube.
- ↑ Jaguar USA (18 April 2016). "Master Plan – Jaguar XE – JaguarUSA" – via YouTube.
- ↑ British Actor Nicholas Hoult Takes on Unique Driving Challenge in New Jaguar XF All-Wheel Drive. media.jaguar.com (26 September 2016)
- ↑ Sky Fibre and ''X-Men: Apocalypse'' TV Ad – Extended Cut. YouTube.com (20 April 2016). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ Sky Fibre and ''X-Men: Apocalypse'' TV Ad – Behind the Scenes (Visual Effects). YouTube.com (25 April 2016). Retrieved on 2016-10-29.
- ↑ Collin, Robbie (22 March 2013). "Nicholas Hoult interview for Jack the Giant Slayer". The daily telgraph. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
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