Nicholas Hoult

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. 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 clarified that it was not a pushy situation from his parents, and that they were "pretty outdoorsy normal kids". 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.

Hoult attended The Coombes nursery in Arborfield, Berkshire, then the Arborfield Church of England Junior School. On The Graham Norton Show, Hoult revealed that his middle name is Caradoc (pronounced /ka.rɑː'dɔk/), which in Welsh means "The Beloved One".

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". 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."

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. 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. Skins is credited as widening his opportunities as an actor, with some directors and producers claiming his performance as Tony as a factor that drove their interest to cast Hoult in their projects. 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; small and without much publicity, the play broke records on ticket sales thanks to his Skins fame. That success 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 whilst being panned by critics was a success at the box office, grossing nearly half billion dollars worldwide.

He appeared in the 2009 Tom Ford 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 a 2010 BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination. That collaboration also gave Hoult the opportunity of being the face of Tom Ford eyewear for spring 2010 and again for fall 2010.

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. " 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.

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 and got "certified fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes with a scoring of 80%.

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 and topped the foreign box office for three weeks in a row.

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. 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.

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. 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. He will also reprise his role as Beast in the 2018 film X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

Personal life

During his childhood, Hoult played basketball for his local team, Reading Rockets. He is currently an ambassador for the club.

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". While filming X-Men: First Class in 2010, Hoult began a romantic relationship with his co-star Jennifer Lawrence. The couple broke up in 2014.

He has a known liking for motor sports, is a fan of Formula One and has attended Grand Prix events around the world in Monaco, Montreal, Singapore and Germany. He also enjoys Go-Karting in his free time and riding motorcycles as transportation and on racing tracks.

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. 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. 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."

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.

In January 2017 in an effort to raise funds for Teenage Cancer Trust and WWF's rhino conservation Nicholas and two of his friends took part on the Rickshaw Run where groups of people drive 3000 km across India in an auto rickshaw (tuk tuk).