Taron Egerton, the Star of 'Rocketman,' Is Nominated for His First Golden Globe
He moved in with Elton John to prepare for the role.
You may have set eyes on Taron Egerton for the first time this summer when the 30-year-old played Elton John in the biopic Rocketman. Or maybe you're into action moves like Kingsman: The Secret Service, where he played the leading man alongside Colin Firth. Either way, Egerton received his first-ever Golden Globe nomination for best performance by an actor in a musical or comedy for Rocketman, and you're going to be seeing a lot more of him. Here, everything you need to know about the actor ahead of the 2019 Golden Globe awards on January 5.
He's from Wales, but please don't make him say his hometown.
Egerton was technically born in England, but moved to Wales shortly afterwards with his mom, Christine, to live with his grandmother. They settled in the extremely long-lettered town of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll. While he loves his hometown, he's over people asking him to pronounce it.
"Please, please put this on record. Don't ask me what town I'm from. Yes, it's the long name. There are videos on YouTube of me saying it," he told British GQ. "You can look it up. It will be just as satisfying listening to old footage of me saying it than me having to say it again."
While promoting Eddie the Eagle in 2016 with his co-star Hugh Jackman, the actor was asked on The Tonight Show how to pronounce the 58-letter town. Jackman happily took over to ease Egerton's vocal cords, and let his co-star finally catch a break. Plus, if you're really interested in how to actually pronounce his hometown, YouTube is here to save the day!
He's been acting since he was 15 years old.
At the age of 15, Egerton was encouraged by a friend to participate in a youth theater program of A Midsummer Night's Dream and got the part of Flute.
"I just remember walking out, and right away, the audience breaks out into a rapturous applause, the room is full of laughter. As soon as I heard laughter, I became acutely aware that what I was doing was working," he recalled to British GQ. "I don't subscribe to the idea of fate or any kind of preordained stuff, but this was the closest thing I've ever felt to everything in my world being in the right place."
Sticking to his gut, he later auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London using John's "Your Song" (he joked at the 2019 Academy-Awards after-party after singing a duet with John, "It's funny how life turns out, isn't it?") and was accepted on a scholarship.
Egerton playing Elton John in Rocketman.
Egerton graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in acting, and three years later was offered the lead in the Kingsman trilogy alongside Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Caine. So, like, not a huge deal or anything.
Besides singing his heart out in Rocketman and being a secret agent in Kingsman, Egerton has made his way around the film scene. He's starred in Testament of Youth with Kit Harington, Eddie the Eagle with Hugh Jackman, Robin Hood with Jamie Foxx, Legend as Tom Hardy's on-screen boyfriend, and Sing as an animated gorilla named Johnny.
He sung all the songs in Rocketman.
Yep, it's true! Egerton sang all 20 songs in Rocketman, opting out of using backing vocals. As previously mentioned, he starred in the animated singing competition movie Sing, where his character sung two songs in the film: "The Way I Feel" by The Zombies and "I'm Still Standing" by Elton John.
Egerton in Rocketman.
Egerton lived with Elton John and his husband before they started filming. "Before we started, [John] and [his husband, David Furnish], who produced the film, really allowed me into their life. I went and stayed with them," Egerton told British GQ. "Elton gave me the first diamond earring he ever bought, which I wear in the film."
The results obviously paid off, and John noticed when he first watched the film. The musical legend told Indiewire, "I can't still believe it when I listen to it. When I watch the movie, I don't see an actor, I see myself, which is an extraordinary thing for an actor to do. He's extraordinary."
He's a bit of a romantic.
The actor has been with girlfriend Emily Thomas for two years. She's an assistant director who has worked with Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman and Justice League, and she was a third assistant director on Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Kid Who Would Be King.
"My girlfriend also works in this industry, which means that we both struggle to kind of sync up time alone together, but one thing we do when we do get that time is we go and camp together," he told the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "And we listen to podcasts on a little speaker and drink Corona and watch the sun go down and it's beautiful. That's some of the happiest times of my life."
As for how they met, we're pretty sure it wasn't on a dating app, since Egerton has expressed he's not one to swipe right. In 2015, he told a story to ShortList about a time he asked a girl out the old-fashioned way. "Actually, I have asked a girl out Kamikaze-style. I stopped her on the Tube and said, 'I think you're gorgeous, I think we should go for a drink sometime,'" he said. "It's terrifying, but ultimately so much more rewarding."
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