Can you identify this actor and singer from his childhood photograph?
He’s gone on to appear in such movies as The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, Beauty & The Beast, Fast & Furious 6 & 7, The Three Musketeers, and Midway.
On TV he’s wowed in The Alienist, Nine Perfect Strangers, and Echo 3.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Yes, it’s Welsh hunk Luke Evans.
Boy From The Valleys
Evans, 45, will soon be releasing his memoir, Boy From The Valleys. It details how he was raised in a strict, Jehovah’s Witness family in South Wales. At 16, in the mid-90s, he decided to move to London to pursue his dreams of acting.
He began making waves on the London stage in shows such as Rent and Miss Saigon. He got his big break in movies in Clash Of The Titans (2010).
In preparing for the book’s publication on November 7, Evans says he’s been going through old photo albums.
“I’ve been going through lots of old pictures to choose ones for my book,” he wrote in a caption accompanying the pic. “This one didn’t make it, but I love it, the skinny little me learning to swim, and those ears…”
London
Evans has spoken before about leaving his family as a teenager to make it in the big city.
“You could almost disappear. That’s the reason London appealed to me when I was a young man,” he told The Independent last year.
“You want to find your community, and often where [gay people] are brought up, there isn’t one, or there’s shame, or there’s secrets.
“To feel free, and to feel part of something, you go to a big city where you’ll find people like you.
“It’s what gay people have done for decades and will keep on doing. Though I do hope that these smaller villages and cities are a bit more accepting now.”
Coming Out
Evans first came out in an interview in 2002. Aged 23, he was appearing alongside Boy George in the musical, Taboo. However, after that, and perhaps with his eye on a career in Hollywood, he stopped talking about his sexuality, asserting a divide between his public and private life.
In recent years, he’s been far more open. In a 2020 interview with Attitude, he expressed frustration with accusations he ever hid his sexuality. He said he just valued keeping his relationships private.
“It was the last thing I had, because everything else I’ve given to the world,” he said of his private life. “My career was public, I was photographed, and all that stuff. My personal life just became the last thing that I had. Also, what was strange was that when people did find out that I was gay, there was a lot of articles and stuff written saying that I was hiding it, and I wasn’t.”
“I just wanted to get online and I wanted to pick up the phone and say, ‘Do you realize I left home at 16 because I was gay?’ I went into the world as a kid, because I had to.”
Evans is now less guarded. He regularly posts photos with his hunky boyfriend, Spanish graphic designer Fran Tomas. Last year, the couple launched their own men’s clothing and lifestyle brand, BDXY.
They also enjoy their travels. The men recently enjoyed a trip to Portland, including paddle boarding on a local lake.
Swipe through the images below.
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Luke Evans and boyfriend Fran Tomas are one gorgeously in love couple.
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