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 the American and the British film industries. He has received several accolades, including nominations for a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. He was included in the 2012 edition of Forbes 30 Under 30.
Hoult performed in local theatre productions as a child. He made his screen debut at age seven in the 1996 film Intimate Relations, and appeared in several television programmes between 1998 and 2001. His breakthrough came with the 2002 comedy-drama About a Boy. 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 film A Single Man, for which he earned a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination, and the fantasy film Clash of the Titans (2010). He played the mutant Hank McCoy in the 2011 superhero film X-Men: First Class, a role he reprised in later instalments of the series.
Hoult starred as a zombie in the romantic comedy Warm Bodies (2013), and had a supporting role in 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road. He 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–present). His work in The Great earned him nominations for two Golden Globes and an Emmy Award. He has since starred in the black comedy The Menu (2022).
Outside of film, Hoult voiced Elliot in Lionhead Studios' 2010 action role-playing game Fable III, appeared in the 2009 West End play New Boy, and supports the charitable organisations Teenage Cancer Trust and Christian Aid.
Early life
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 to "The Beloved One". His paternal grand-aunt was Dame Anna Neagle, a stage and film actress active 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. He discussed his childhood and his relationship with his siblings in a 2011 interview with The Guardian saying, " 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. 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.
