In the spotlight: Taron Egerton

If I were to name three of my favorite actors, my answer would be Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hanks and this guy, Taron Egerton. Tom Hanks is the most well-known name of this list (obviously), Eddie Redmayne gained a lot more fame through the Fantastic Beasts franchise but Taron Egerton is still on his way to great fame.

Biography

Taron is 29-years-old and was born in England. His parents divorced when he was young; he continued living with his mother. He went to primary school in Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch. Yeah, try to pronounce that name. The correct way of pronouncing it, done by the man himself, can be seen here, when he was visiting Jimmy Fallon’s show. Although he was born in England, he considers himself “through and through” Welsh.

He started acting when he was 15. Acting seemed to be a better use of his overflow of energy. After he graduated from high school, he went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Taron graduated there in 2012.

In 2011, Taron made his acting debut with a small role in a tv show. He got his big break-through in 2014 when he played the main character in Kingsman: The Secret Service. In 2016, he voiced Johnny the Gorilla in the animated movie Sing and played the main role in Eddie the Eagle alongside Hugh Jackman. He also starred in Kingsman’s sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, in 2017. He played the role of Robin Hood in the 2018 movie of the same name. In that same year, he played Dean Karny in Billionaire Boys Club. Both of these movies flopped, but that didn’t mean the end of success for Taron. His greatest role was yet to come.

In July 2017, it was announced that Taron had entered negotiations for playing Elton John in his biopic. In April 2018 he was officially cast as Elton. Elton previously had a small role in Kingsmen: The Golden Circle and Taron sung I’m Still Standing in Sing. He got great reviews for playing Elton, and I think he’ll gain an Oscar nomination next year. Elton and Taron are great friends and Taron sang with him during Elton’s goodbye-tour in Brighton & Hove!

He has been dating assistant director Emily Thomas for more than two years.

Why he’s a great actor

I loved Taron’s acting since I first saw him in Kingsman: The Secret Service in 2014. From the feature-length films he did since then, I only didn’t see Robin Hood. My favorite from this list is the least-known of them all, actually. Eddie the Eagle is a great movie about an underdog in the 1988 Winter Olympics and I got the feeling that Taron wasn’t even acting – that he just was playing himself.

I only saw Rocketman last week, and it impressed me a lot. The movie is easy to compare to Bohemian Rhapsody but Rocketman absolutely wins. Rami Malek did a great job with Bohemian Rhapsody, but the fact that Taron made the role of Elton John his own makes it more impressive. I think you tend to imitate the person you play and that it’s very hard not to. #GiveTaronHisOscarAlready

Why he is a great person

Taron is not only a great actor; he’s also a great person. He speaks openly about activists causes such as misogyny, his privilege as a white actor (” How frustrating must the industry be for a person of color… “), LGBT and he is an ambassador for the MND Association, that fights Motor Neuron disease to which he has lost a grandmother from.

He is very supportive of his friends which can be seen on his Instagram. I started loving him even more when I started following him on there!

Trivia

• Taron is a variation on the traditional Welsh name, Taran, meaning thunder. His mother actually made a spelling mistake, putting an O on the place where an A should be, making it Taron.
• His first production was A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he played Flute as a teen.
• He was named one of GQ’s best-dressed British men in 2015. That list was topped off with one of my other favorite actors, Eddie Redmayne. You can see the full list here.
• He’s currently filming Sing 2, where he will play the same part as in Sing. The movie comes out in 2021.
• Netflix’ The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is in post-production, this will be out later on this year where he will voice a character called Rian.