Nicholas Hoult

His paternal grand-aunt was Dame Anna Neagle, a prolific stage and film actress who was well-known in the 1930s and 1940s.

He has three siblings: an elder brother who is a United States-based biology student; and two sisters, both of whom are actresses.

Hoult spent most of his childhood at his family's residence in Sindlesham, an estate village in the borough of Wokingham.

His older siblings were interested in acting and dancing from an early age, taking classes and attending auditions.

As a child, he began accompanying them and developed his own interest in acting.

Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor.

His filmography includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in independent projects in American and British films.

He has received several accolades, including nominations for a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Nicholas Caradoc Hoult was born on 7 December 1989 in Wokingham, Berkshire, to Glenis (née Brown), a piano teacher, and Roger Hoult, a commercial pilot.

His middle name, Caradoc (pronounced /ka.ˈrɑː.dɔk/), is Welsh and translates as "The Beloved One".

He made his screen debut at age six in the 1996 film Intimate Relations, and appeared in several television programmes.

Hoult began attending auditions and at age five was cast in the 1996 drama Intimate Relations, his first feature-film role.

He later appeared in the television programmes Casualty, Silent Witness, The Bill, Judge John Deed, and Doctors, among others.

His breakthrough came with his role in the 2002 comedy-drama About a Boy.

Although he initially wanted to attain advanced level certificates in English, Biology, and Psychology, in 2002, aged 12, he decided instead to attend acting school at Sylvia Young Theatre School.

At age 14, he left to attend the Church of England's secondary school Ranelagh School in Bracknell, Berkshire.

Hoult played trombone as a child and was a member of the local choir.

Hoult's acting potential was discovered at age three by a theatre director during a performance of a play that starred Hoult's brother.

The director was impressed at Hoult's ability to "concentrate well" and offered him a role in his next theatre production The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Hoult's next feature-film appearance came at age eleven in Chris and Paul Weitz's 2002 comedy-drama film About a Boy.

Hoult was initially reluctant to audition for the role as the casting process was a lengthy one and interfered with his schooling.

He nonetheless decided to participate in the early rounds of auditions and was eventually cast in the role of Marcus, a "woolly-hatted, oddball son of a suicidal, hippy-ish single mother, [who] gets bullied horribly at school".

About a Boy was a commercial success, grossing more than $130million worldwide and receiving praise by film critics.

He achieved wider recognition for his performance as Tony Stonem in the E4 teen series Skins (2007–2008).

His transition to adult roles began with the 2009 drama A Single Man, for which he earned a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination, and the fantasy film Clash of the Titans (2010).

Hoult initially treated acting as a hobby rather than a potential career option; in a March 2009 interview with The Daily Telegraph, he said he was not "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."

Outside of film, Hoult voiced Elliot in the 2010 action role-playing game Fable III and appeared in the 2009 West End play New Boy.

He supports the charitable organisations Teenage Cancer Trust and Christian Aid.

He played the mutant Hank McCoy / Beast in the 2011 superhero film X-Men: First Class, a role he reprised in later instalments of the film series.

He discussed his childhood and his relationship with his siblings in a 2011 interview with The Guardian saying, "[we were] pretty outdoorsy normal kids running around in the garden and making tree houses ... it was very normal".

During Hoult's childhood, his father was regularly working away from home and his brother was away attending school.

As a result, he spent most of his time with his mother and sisters; he said being raised by women might have helped him "steer clear of some pitfalls that guys who didn't grow up with women would fall into".

Hoult was educated at The Coombes Infant and Nursery School and then Arborfield Church of England Junior School.

He practised ballet with his sisters and took part in productions of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker with the English National Ballet.

He was included in Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2012.

Hoult performed in local theatre productions as a child.

Hoult played the title role in the adventure film Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) and a zombie in the romantic comedy Warm Bodies (2013).

He had a supporting role in the action film Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and starred in a number of independent films, before portraying various historical figures such as Robert Harley in the black comedy The Favourite (2018), writer J. R. R. Tolkien in Tolkien (2019), and Peter III in the Hulu comedy-drama series The Great (2020–2023).

His work on the latter earned him nominations for two Golden Globes and a Primetime Emmy Awards.

He has since starred in the black comedy The Menu (2022).