Joel Edgerton

Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker.

He graduated from The Hills Grammar School in 1991.

He attended the Nepean Drama School at the University of Western Sydney, before moving on to various stage productions, including at Sydney Theatre Company.

Edgerton has appeared in such films as Erskineville Kings, King Arthur and Ned Kelly.

He is known for his portrayal of Will McGill on the first two seasons of the Australian drama series The Secret Life of Us (2001–02), and for playing Owen Lars in the Star Wars films Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005); a role he reprised in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022).

In the Star Wars franchise, he played a young Owen Lars in Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) and reprised the role in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He played Will on The Secret Life of Us, for which he won an AACTA Award in 2002.

Edgerton's other film appearances include King Arthur (2004), Warrior (2011), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), The Great Gatsby (2013), Black Mass (2015), Bright (2017), Red Sparrow (2018), The Green Knight (2021), The Stranger, Thirteen Lives, and Master Gardener (all 2022), and The Boys in the Boat (2023).

In 2021, he starred in the Amazon Prime miniseries The Underground Railroad.

In 2005, he lent his voice to the title character of The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, an Academy Award-nominated animated short film.

The same year, he appeared as the son of a deceased shoemaker in the British comedy Kinky Boots.

He appeared in Smokin' Aces (2006).

Edgerton appeared in the film Whisper (2007), The Square (which he co-wrote and was directed by his brother Nash Edgerton), Acolytes, and Separation City.

He has appeared in several Australian films, such as The Square (2008), Animal Kingdom (2010; for which he received the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actor), Wish You Were Here (2012), and Felony (2013).

In 2009, he starred alongside as Stanley in the Sydney Theatre Company's acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

He appeared in a production of the same play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in December 2009.

He appeared in the crime drama film Animal Kingdom as Barry Baz Brown in 2010 in which he won an AFI award.

In February 2010, Edgerton was cast in Matthijs van Heijningen Jr..'s 2011 prequel to The Thing, portraying helicopter pilot Sam Carter.

He starred as fictional MMA fighter Brendan Conlon in the film Warrior (2011).

He was honoured for his work in international roles with the 2011 Australians in Film Breakthrough Award.

He played Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann's 2013 remake of The Great Gatsby.

In 2013, it was revealed that Edgerton and David Michôd had collaborated on writing an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henriad" plays, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V, for Warner Bros. Pictures.

In 2014, Edgerton starred in the biblical film Exodus: Gods and Kings, as Ramesses II, Moses' adoptive brother, who became a notorious king.

For his work on The Gift (2015), a thriller he wrote, directed, co-produced, and in which he co-starred, Edgerton received critical acclaim and a nomination for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directing.

Edgerton directed, starred in, wrote, and produced the thriller The Gift, which was released on 7 August 2015 and grossed 60 million with a budget of 5 million.

He co-starred in the 2015 film Black Mass as John Connolly, FBI contact and childhood friend of notorious gangster Whitey Bulger.

For his portrayal of Richard Loving in the 2016 historical drama Loving, he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.

In Australia, Edgerton won the AACTA Award for Best Lead Actor for his work on The Secret Life of Us.

In 2016, he starred in the Jeff Nichols films Midnight Special and Loving, and in 2017, he starred in the film Bright as Officer Nick Jacoby, an orc who is a police officer.

He will reprise the character in the sequel along with Will Smith, directed by Louis Leterrier for Netflix.

In 2018, he wrote, directed and co-starred in the conversion therapy drama Boy Erased.

The following year The King, which he co-wrote and starred in, was released by Netflix.

Edgerton was born in Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia the son of Michael, a solicitor and property developer, and Marianne (née van Dort) Edgerton.

His mother is a Dutch immigrant, who was born in The Hague.

In 2018, Edgerton headlined Francis Lawrence's thriller film Red Sparrow with Jennifer Lawrence, and based on the book by Jason Matthews.

He plays Nathaniel Nash, a CIA agent who becomes involved with a Russian spy Dominika Egorova (Lawrence).

In February 2018, Timothée Chalamet joined the cast of The King, with Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner producing, alongside Liz Watts, under their Plan B Entertainment banner.

In March 2018, Edgerton joined the cast of the film.

In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, it was announced that a new film, The Unknown Man, directed by Thomas M. Wright, would begin filming in South Australia as soon as enough of the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.

It was released in 2022 as The Stranger.