Luke Evans

Known for

• Beauty and the Beast (2017), Gaston. A swaggering, full-voiced villain turn in Disney’s live-action remake of its animated musical.
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), Bard the Bowman. The Lake-town bargeman who becomes a hero in Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth saga.
• Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Owen Shaw. A cool, calculating British mastermind who pushed the franchise into heist territory.
• The Pembrokeshire Murders (2021), Steve Wilkins. Leading a true-crime miniseries about the Welsh detective who reopened a cold case.
• The Party (2026), Martin Gilmour. Heading ITV’s adaptation of the Elizabeth Day novel as a journalist with secrets.

Career

Evans trained at the London Studio Centre and worked through Taboo, Rent, Miss Saigon and Avenue Q before Peter Gill’s Small Change at the Donmar Warehouse in 2008 caught Hollywood’s attention. Clash of the Titans, Robin Hood, Tamara Drewe, The Three Musketeers and Immortals followed in quick succession.

In 2013 and 2014 he was a franchise villain in Fast & Furious 6 and a reluctant hero in The Hobbit. Gaston in Beauty and the Beast (2017) put his voice to use on screen, and he released his debut album, At Last, in 2019. He played illustrator John Moore in TNT’s The Alienist, the Coachman in Disney’s Pinocchio, and published a memoir, Boy from the Valleys, in 2024. In 2026 he made his Broadway debut as Frank-N-Furter.

Where to start

• The Party (2026): his latest television series.
• Beauty and the Beast (2017): Gaston, sung with conviction.
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013): Bard’s introduction.
• Fast & Furious 6 (2013): a cool, precise villain.