Taron Egerton

Taron David Egerton (/ˈɛdʒərtən/; born 10 November 1989) is a Welsh actor and singer.[1][2] He is the recipient of such accolades as a Golden Globe Award and has been nominated for two British Academy Film Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Taron Egerton
Egerton at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con
Born
Taron David Egerton

(1989-11-10) 10 November 1989
Birkenhead, England
Alma materRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation
  • Actor
  • Singer
Years active2011–present
Home townAberystwyth, Wales
AwardsFull list

He gained worldwide recognition for starring as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin in the action comedy film Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).[3][4] Egerton has also starred in several biopics, portraying Edward Brittain in the drama Testament of Youth (2014), Edward "Mad Teddy" Smith in the crime thriller Legend (2015), the titular character in the sports film Eddie the Eagle (2016), and singer-songwriter Elton John in the musical Rocketman (2019), for which he received critical praise and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.[5]

Early life

Taron David Egerton was born on 10 November 1989 in Birkenhead, Merseyside, to parents from nearby Liverpool. His grandmother is Welsh.[6] He has two younger sisters.[7] His first name is a variation of taran, which means 'thunder' in Welsh. His father is a musician who used to run a bed-and-breakfast, and his mother is a social worker.[8] His parents divorced when he was very young, and from then on he lived with his mother. He then moved with her to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll on the Welsh island of Anglesey, where he went to primary school.[6]

Egerton moved to Aberystwyth when he was 12. As a child, he had an interest in animation and making sculptures as well as drawing. He began acting at the age of 15 after his friend convinced him to do a youth theatre programme. He says he was the "class clown" and acting seemed to be a better use of that energy. He attended Ysgol Penglais School before he went on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in acting in 2012.[9] While there, he received the Stephen Sondheim Society's Student of the Year Award in 2011.

Career

2011–2018: Debut and Kingsman


Egerton made his acting debut in 2011 with a small role in two episodes of the ITV series Lewis as Liam Jay.[4] Later, he was added to the main cast of the Sky1 series The Smoke.[3] Egerton played Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, the young protégé of Harry Hart (Colin Firth), in Matthew Vaughn's film Kingsman: The Secret Service and its sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.[4] The first movie's success launched Egerton into fame and resulted in him signing a three-movie contract with 20th Century Fox.[10]

Egerton co-starred in Testament of Youth, based on the life of Vera Brittain,[11] and appeared in the two-part episode "The Ramblin' Boy" in the seventh series of Lewis as Liam Jay. In 2015, it was announced that Egerton would be starring in Billionaire Boys Club.[12] Egerton voiced Johnny the gorilla in the animation film Sing in 2016. He was named one of GQ's 50 best-dressed British men in 2015 and 2016.[13] In 2018, Egerton played the title character in Robin Hood.

2019–present: Rocketman and acclaim


In 2019, Egerton starred as musician Elton John in the biopic Rocketman, receiving critical acclaim for his performance.[14][15] It earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy[16] and a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.[17] In June 2019, Egerton performed a live duet of "Your Song" with Elton John at the opening night of the U.K. leg of John's farewell world tour Farewell Yellow Brick Road in Brighton & Hove.[18]

Personal life
Egerton at the 2018 Global Education and Skills Forum

Although born in England with only one Welsh grandparent, Egerton considers himself to be Welsh "through and through" and is bilingual, speaking both Welsh and English.[6][19]

Egerton has stated that he finds an "umbrella in the rain" type of romance better than the dating app experience common to his generation, stating: "Actually, I have asked a girl out Kamikaze-style. I stopped her on the Tube and said, 'I think you're gorgeous, I think we should go for a drink some time.' It's terrifying, but ultimately so much more rewarding." He later took half a day off from drama school to go on a date with her.[20]

Egerton has spoken in favour of activist causes. In 2015, he responded to a question asked of a female co-star about misogyny: "I don't think things are changing fast enough—but you didn't seem to want to ask me that. It's not just a question for the women."[21] "I'm the epitome of an actor who walks into a room and has the upper hand just because I'm a mid-twenties Caucasian male. How frustrating must the industry be for a person of colour?"[22] Egerton has shown support for the LGBT community as well, stating in an interview about his performance in Rocketman, "Elton John's a gay icon. And who are we, as frankly heterosexual filmmakers, to not put that element of his story? How dare we. And that's not what we did."[23] Having lost a grandmother to motor neurone disease, Egerton is also an ambassador for the MND Association.[24]

Filmography

Film
Egerton in an interview about the 2018 American film Robin Hood.

Television
Year Title Role Director Notes
2012 Pop Andy Edward Hicks Short film
2013 Hereafter Tamburlaine Johnny Kenton Short film
2014 Testament of Youth Edward Brittain James Kent
Kingsman: The Secret Service Gary "Eggsy" Unwin Matthew Vaughn
2015 Legend Edward "Mad Teddy" Smith Brian Helgeland
2016 Eddie the Eagle Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards Dexter Fletcher
Sing Johnny (voice) Garth Jennings
2017 Love at First Sight Matthew Nealson Sing short film
Kingsman: The Golden Circle Gary "Eggsy" Unwin / Galahad Matthew Vaughn
2018 Billionaire Boys Club Dean Karny James Cox
Robin Hood Robin Hood Otto Bathurst
2019 Rocketman Elton John Dexter Fletcher
2021 Sing 2 Johnny (voice) Garth Jennings Filming
2021 Tetris Henk Rogers Jon S. Baird Pre-production
Year Title Role Notes
2013 Lewis Liam Jay 2 episodes
2014 The Smoke Dennis "Asbo" Severs 8 episodes
2018 Watership Down El-Ahrairah (voice) 4 episodes
2019 - present Moominvalley Moomintroll (voice) 13 episodes
2019 The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Rian (voice) 10 episodes

Theatre
Year Title Role Theatre
2005 Oliver! Artful Dodger Aberystwyth Arts Centre
2006 Beauty and the Beast Le Fou Aberystwyth Arts Centre
2011 The House of Special Purpose Yakunin
2012 The Last of the Hausmanns Danny Royal National Theatre
Saturday Night Gene Gorman
Divine Words Laureano
2013 No Quarter Tommy Royal Court Theatre

Music videos
Year Song Artist Album
2015 The Breach Lazy Habits The Atrocity Exhibition
2019 (I'm Gonna) Love Me Again Elton John, Taron Egerton Rocketman: Music from the Motion Picture

Audiobooks
Year Title Role Production company
2018 Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: The Musical Drama The Artilleryman Audible
2019 Me Reader Audible
2020 The Sandman John Constantine Audible

Awards and nominations
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Taron Egerton
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References
  1. Polowy, Kevin (13 February 2015). "Meet Taron Egerton: 12 Things to Know About the 'Kingsman' Breakout". Yahoo Movies. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  2. Owens, Dave (4 January 2015). "'A star is born' – Welsh actor Taron Egerton receives the Seal of approval from Hollywood Bible Variety". Wales Online. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  3. Howell, Jordan (12 April 2013). "Jamie Bamber, Jodie Whittaker for Sky1 drama 'The Smoke'". imediamonkey.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  4. Kroll, Justin (25 July 2013). "Matthew Vaughn Eyes Newcomer Taron Egerton for 'Secret Service'". variety.com. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  5. "Rocketman Taron Egerton triumphs at Golden Globes". 6 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  6. "Taron Egerton on The Jonathan Ross Show, said starting at 0:52". 25 January 2015 – via YouTube.
  7. "Kids try to pronounce Taron Egerton's name!". Magic Weekend Breakfast. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2019 – via YouTube.
  8. "Meet Taron Egerton: 12 Things to Know About the Kingsman Breakout". Yahoo! Movies. 13 February 2015.
  9. "Taron Egerton, UK Stars of Tomorrow 2014". Screen Daily.
  10. "Taron Egerton idolises Colin Firth". bangshowbiz. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2019 – via pressfrom.info.
  11. Ge, Linda (13 February 2014). "Taron Egerton, Colin Morgan and Alexandra Roach Join Alicia Vikander in 'Testament of Youth'". upandcomers.net. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  12. Scott, Mike (11 November 2015). "Kevin Spacey's 'Billionaire's Boys Club,' WWE Studios' 'Brothers Blood' headed for New Orleans shoots". nola.com. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  13. "50 Best Dressed Men in Britain 2015". GQ. 5 January 2015.
  14. McNary, Dave (19 April 2018). "Taron Egerton to Play Elton John in Biopic 'Rocketman' at Paramount". Variety. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  15. McClintock, Pamela (23 August 2018). "Elton John Biopic 'Rocketman' Shifts Summer 2019 Release Date". Billboard. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  16. "Winners & Nominees 2020". www.goldenglobes.com. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  17. "Golden Globes 2020: The Complete Nominations List". Variety. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  18. Arron Hendy. "Stars come out for Elton John in Hove". The Argus. Newsquest Media Group Ltd. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  19. MR PORTER. "Mr Taron Egerton". Mr Taron Egerton – The Look – The Journal – Issue 199 – 13 January 2015 – MR PORTER.
  20. no author, "Colin Firth And Taron Egerton On Tinder, Style & The State Of British Men", Shortlist magazine, 22 January 2015
  21. Vicky Roach, "Kingsman: The Secret Service stars Taron Egerton and Sophie Cookson reveal ‘before and after secrets’", News Australia, 4 February 2015
  22. Chris Mandle, "We hung out with Taron Egerton and 5 pedigree dogs" Shortlist magazine, 13 September 2017
  23. Nick Reilly, "Taron Egerton addresses fears that ‘Rocketman’ would straight-wash Elton John’s life" NME, 23 May 2019
  24. no author, "Cumberbatch, Redmayne & Egerton support MND Association" Able Magazine', no date
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