Would you believe that it’s been 18 years since Nicholas Hoult was cast as 12-year-old Marcus Brewer in the 2002 movie About A Boy? He has of course grown by leaps and bounds since then— those chubby cheeks have long given way to sculpted jawlines and he’s now a proud father of one—but squint a little and you can still see that same impish grin. And those piercing ocean-blue eyes never lose their charm.
In this span of time, Hoult has progressed from child actor to various supporting roles, then onwards to starring roles on television as well as in theatres. Apart from blockbuster hits such as the X-Men and the Mad Max series, he appears to have cornered the market for biopics, having played Jerry Salinger in Rebel In The Rye, Private Matt Ocre in Sand Castle, Nikola Tesla in The Current War: Director’s Cut, and JRR Tolkien in Tolkien.
“I feel very fortunate to have managed to transition from a child actor to an adult,” he ruminates, “because I don’t think I was aware of the pitfalls of having met success at a young age. And not everyone is lucky to be able to keep on doing it as an adult. So I feel very fortunate. But also I have worked very hard and I really love what I do.”
To have only just crossed the big three-oh but already racked up nearly 20 years of acting experience is extremely rare in this day and age. Which is why Hoult wouldn’t change a thing even if he could. Because in his opinion there’s no point to it.
This story is from the June/July 2020 edition of Esquire Singapore.
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This story is from the June/July 2020 edition of Esquire Singapore.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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