Biography
Date of Birth
7 December 1989, Wokingham, Berkshire, England, UK
Birth Name
Nicholas Caradoc Hoult
Nickname
Nick
Height
6' 2½" (1.89 m)
Mini Biography
Nicholas Hoult was born on December 7, 1989 in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, UK as Nicholas Caradoc Hoult. His parents are Glenis Hoult, a piano teacher and Roger Hoult, a pilot. He has three siblings, two sisters and one brother. His great-aunt was one of the most popular actresses of her time, Dame Anna Neagle. He attended Sylvia Young Theatre School, a school for performing arts, to start acting as a career.
His breakthrough role was as a child when he starred as Marcus Brewer in About a Boy (2002), alongside Hugh Grant. In 2005, he starred in his first American film The Weather Man (2005) as Nicolas Cage's son. At age 17, he received recognition for starring as Tony Stonem in the BAFTAs-awarded British teen-drama series Skins (2007). Later he played the role of Kenny Potter in the Oscar-nominated film A Single Man (2009) after being discovered by director Tom Ford.
Hoult was cast as Hank / Beast in the X-Men franchise and starred in the films X: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019).
He also starred as "R" in the romance / horror zombie film Warm Bodies (2013), Jack in Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and British novelist J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings, in the biographical film Tolkien (2019).
Trivia
He attended Sylvia Young Theatre School, a prestigious stage school in London.
He is the son of Glenis Hoult (née Glenis J. Brown), a piano teacher, from Rochford, Essex, and Roger K. Hoult, a pilot, from Birmingham, in the West Midlands. His patrilineal ancestry can be traced back to his four times great-grandfather, Joseph Hoult, who was born c. 1815, in Staffordshire, England.
Attended Farnborough Sixth Form College, located in Hampshire, in 2006-8, where he sat his AS and A-Level exams.
Has three siblings: Clarista Hoult (b. 1992), Rosanna Hoult (b. 1984) and James Hoult (b. 1977).
At one time, he was rumoured to be Eoin Colfer's favourite to play the lead role in the proposed "Artemis Fowl" film adaptation of Colfer's fantasy novel. However, as time passed and there was trouble producing the film, Nicholas grew too old for the role and, finally, the project was cancelled, altogether.
Used to play the trombone.
Was a choir boy.
Was hit by a bus during filming of a TV stunt. The stunt called for Nicholas to be tied to a chair and suspended 20ft off the ground when he was struck by the double decker which was supposed to stop inches from him. He escaped with a bruised head.
Was originally supposed to star as Young Herman in El cerco (2005) but after production delays Thomas Brodie-Sangster was cast instead.
Had to attend an audition for About a Boy (2002) wearing his school uniform but, unfortunately, he forgot his shoes. He told reporters that be borrowed his mother's white shoes and coloured them in, however, the colour came off!
Was given a PlayStation, one of his character's jackets and his character's hamster by directors Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz after filming of About a Boy (2002).
Gabriel Byrne gave him a watch at the end of filming Wah-Wah (2005), engraved with his name, just as his character did in the film.
Left the Sylvia Young Theatre School to attend Ranelagh School, a local church secondary school.
Enjoys playing basketball.
Bought a bike with his earnings from About a Boy (2002).
For his role as an American in The Weather Man (2005), he was coached by Joan Washington, wife of Richard E. Grant who directed him in the film Wah-Wah (2005).
His great-aunt was Dame Anna Neagle and his great uncle was Herbert Wilcox.
Although About a Boy (2002) marked his first leading role in a feature film, he has worked since the age of eight in film, television and theater.
Was in an on-off relationship with American actress and X-Men co-star Jennifer Lawrence for five years.
He was born on the same day as X: First Class (2011) co-star Caleb Landry Jones: December 7, 1989.
Admitted on Top Gear (2002) that while wearing his full costume as Beast from X-Men, he ran onto a golf course, gave the golfers advice on their swing, and then simply ran away again, with no explanation.
As of 2019, he has appeared in two films nominated for Best Picture, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and The Favourite (2018). Neither of which won.
He was considered for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Batman (2021) and was the only actor besides Robert Pattinson to be seriously considered for the part.
He has one child, a son, born in 2018.
His father was an airline pilot and his mother a stewardess when they first met.
Trademarks:
Distinctive "vulcan" eyebrows
Quotes
[on being asked what it was like working with Hugh Grant] "Hugh was brilliant. He helped me a lot by giving me ideas and teaching me something new every day. He really helped me get into my role. He's my idol now. Him and Jim Carrey - I'd like to work with him one day".
I don't like watching myself. I get embarrassed.
[about continue acting]"Yes, definitely, I love it. I'd like to stick to comedy as it's great fun, or an action movie like "Lord of the Rings"."
I've seen kids who only care about performing; it's their life and it's all they have, and it's not a nice thing to see. It's unhealthy and if you're surrounded by showbusiness, that's what can happen to you.
It's always a bit overwhelming when you arrive on set and everyone's new, but you soon become a big family. I find the hardest thing about acting is that you have to say goodbye to everyone at the end of a shoot.
I'm just a normal bloke!
In real life you get out of the shower naked, so why wouldn't you do it on screen? It's just a normal thing.
[on training to play "R" in Warm Bodies (2013)] We had zombie classes. So there are some very strange videos out there of me and Rob Corddry and a few other people walking around studios. They'd say, "There's food over in the corner. You can smell brains", and we'd walk toward the corner like we were hungry for them. And, after a while, it became quite normal.
