Garrett Hedlund

Early life

Hedlund was born in Roseau, Minnesota, to Kristine Anne (Yanish) and Robert Martin Hedlund. He is the youngest of three children, with a brother, Nathaniel, and a sister, Amanda. His father is of Swedish descent and his mother is of Norwegian and German ancestry. Hedlund was raised on a remote beef cattle farm near the small town of Wannaska, Minnesota. In the tenth grade, he moved to live with his mother in Arizona, where he saved his waiter’s tips to pay for lessons with acting coach Jean Fowler, with whom he worked on speeches and script material. He subsequently modeled for L.L. Bean and Teen magazine. In 2003, at the age of eighteen, Hedlund moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.

Career

Hedlund made his feature film debut as Patroclus in the mythological epic adventure war drama Troy with Brad Pitt. The film was released on May 14, 2004. He also co-starred as Don Billingsley in the 2004 sports drama Friday Night Lights with Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Britton and Tim McGraw, where McGraw played his abusive father.

He co-starred with Mark Wahlberg in the crime drama Four Brothers as Jack Mercer. He co-starred in the fantasy-adventure film Eragon as Murtagh. In 2007, he co-starred in the comedy-drama Georgia Rule with Lindsay Lohan, Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman, directed by Garry Marshall. The film was released May 11, 2007, was panned by critics and failed to surpass box office expectations, only making a lifetime gross of $41 million. That same year, he co-starred in the crime thriller Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon. In 2010, he co-starred with Jeff Bridges in the science fiction/action film Tron: Legacy, a sequel to the 1982 film Tron. The film was released on December 17, 2010.

Hedlund also co-starred with Gwyneth Paltrow, Leighton Meester and his Friday Night Lights co-star, country musician Tim McGraw in the musical drama Country Strong, which was released on December 22, 2010. He recorded several songs for the film including "Chances Are" which appeared on Country Strong: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. His performance was well received by critics; noting voice similarities between him and Charlie Robison, Roughstock said "the best song on this album belongs to him" and Country Weekly wrote that of all the songs performed by actors in this film, his was "the most convincing". Six other songs including a duet with Meester were featured on a second soundtrack titled Country Strong: More Music from the Motion Picture.

Hedlund was cast as Kaneda Shotaro in the live-action version of Akira, but production of the film was cancelled. He also co-starred as Dean Moriarty in the 2012 adventure drama On the Road with Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Steve Buscemi, Terrence Howard, Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen. The film was directed by Walter Salles and based on Jack Kerouac's novel of same name. Disney stated in December 2012 that Hedlund would reprise his role of Sam Flynn in the sequel to Tron: Legacy.

Hedlund reportedly turned down the roles of Finnick in the sequel to the dystopian science fiction/adventure film The Hunger Games titled Catching Fire and Christian Grey in the film adaptation of E. L. James' best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey. In 2014, Hedlund co-starred in the historical drama Unbroken directed by Angelina Jolie.

Chart history

Hedlund's duet with Meester—"Give In to Me"— was the only song to chart as a single, reaching #79 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #96 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Awards and nominations