Biography
Date of Birth
13 December 1990, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Birth Name
Aaron Perry Johnson
Height
5' 11" (1.8 m)
Mini Biography
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is an English stage, television, and film actor.
He was born Aaron Perry Johnson in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, to Sarah and Robert Johnson, a civil engineer. He has a sister, Gemma Johnson, who had a small role in his movie Tom & Thomas (2002). Aaron is of English-Russian Jewish descent.
He began performing at age six, appearing in plays like Macbeth and All My Sons. He worked frequently on television as a young actor, having roles in the TV films The Apocalypse (2000), Behind Closed Doors (2003), The Best Man (2006), and Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2007), and series The Bill (1984), Family Business (2003), Feather Boy (2004), Casualty (1986), Talk to Me (2007), and Nearly Famous (2007). He made his feature debut in the British film Tom & Thomas (2002), where he played the dual title roles. His first American film was the sequel Shanghai Knights (2003), playing a child version of Charles Chaplin, and his early film credits also include Dead Cool (2004), The Thief Lord (2006), and The Illusionist (2006), where he played a young version of Edward Norton's character Eisenheim.
Aaron became known in England after playing a leading role in the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), opposite Georgia Groome. He then co-starred with Carey Mulligan in the American drama The Greatest (2009), played John Lennon in the biography Nowhere Boy (2009), and had the lead role of a teenage would-be superhero, Dave Lizewski, in the action superhero riff Kick-Ass (2010), which introduced him to a wide American audience.
After appearing in the thriller Chatroom (2010), Aaron had a large part in the Irish-set drama Albert Nobbs (2011), and co-starred with Taylor Kitsch and Blake Lively in Oliver Stone's California-based action-thriller Savages (2012). Also in 2012, he played Keira Knightley's character's forbidden love interest, Count Vronsky, in the adaptation Anna Karenina (2012), set in Russia.
After reprising his role in the sequel Kick-Ass 2 (2013), Aaron had starring roles in his two biggest films to date, the blockbusters Godzilla (2014), as soldier Ford Brody, and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), as Pietro Maximoff (known as Quicksilver in the Marvel comic books). He first played Pietro in a mid-credits scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Next, he won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the shady Ray in the drama Nocturnal Animals (2016), and co-starred with John Cena in the war thriller The Wall (2017).
While filming Nowhere Boy (2009), Aaron began a relationship with the film's director, artist Sam Taylor-Wood. The two married in 2012, and blended their surnames together. Aaron began being credited as Aaron Taylor-Johnson, while Sam became known as Sam Taylor-Johnson. The couple has two children together, and Aaron is also stepfather to Sam's two daughters from her previous marriage.
Trivia
Attended the Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe between 1996 and 2008, where he was tutored in drama, tap, jazz, acrobatics and singing.
His elder sister Gemma Johnson appeared as an extra in Tom & Thomas (2002).
Announced his engagement to Sam Taylor-Johnson, having been in a relationship with her since May 2009 after meeting on the set of Nowhere Boy (2009) (31 October 2009).
Confirmed that fiancée Sam Taylor-Johnson is pregnant with their first child together (7 January 2010).
His father is a civil engineer and his mother is a housewife.
Was in consideration for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), but Andrew Garfield was cast instead.
His favourite actor is Daniel Day-Lewis.
Was in consideration for the role of Jack in Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), but Nicholas Hoult was cast instead.
Became a father for the 1st time at age 20 when his fiancée [now wife] Sam Taylor-Johnson gave birth to their daughter Wylda Rae Johnson on 7 July 2010.
He named his five favorite films as Pulp Fiction (1994), Fight Club (1999), Apocalypse Now (1979), Boogie Nights (1997) and The Big Lebowski (1998).
Became a father for the 2nd time at age 21 when his fiancée [now wife] Sam Taylor-Johnson gave birth to their daughter Romy Hero Johnson on 18 January 2012.
Good friends with Imogen Poots.
Second husband of Sam Taylor-Johnson.
Brother-in-law of Kristian Taylor-Wood.
Stepfather of Angelica Jopling and Jessie Jopling.
He is of English-Jewish descent.
Worked with Elizabeth Olsen on three different films in two years - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Godzilla (2014), and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
Shares the role of Quicksilver with his Kick-Ass (2010) co-star Evan Peters.
Was offered the role of Gary "Eggsy" Unwin in the Matthew Vaughn-directed movie Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), but turned it down. Taron Egerton was cast in the role instead, in his first ever feature film.
Has portrayed two different superhero characters, the title character in Kick-Ass (2010) and Kick-Ass 2 (2013) and the Marvel comic book hero Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
For his work in Nocturnal Animals (2016), he's one of only 7 actors to win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a motion picture without receiving an Oscar nomination for the same performance. The other 6 are, in chronological order: Millard Mitchell in My Six Convicts (1952), Earl Holliman in The Rainmaker (1956), Stephen Boyd in Ben-Hur (1959), Oskar Werner in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Richard Attenborough, The Sand Pebbles (1966) and Doctor Dolittle (1967) and Richard Benjamin in The Sunshine Boys (1975).
Son of Robert (b. 1958) and Sarah (née Collis) Johnson (b. 1958).
Quotes
I get on fine with my mum and dad, but if they want to see the grandchildren, they come to me.
I was always told at school that you had to have a back-up plan, but all I ever wanted to do was act. There was no plan B for me.
I don't marry myself into any genre. I ride on the back of the filmmaker and the character. I have to feel that character. I have to believe that character.
[on his costume for the Avengers] Because it's so early on [in the character development], I'm more of a civilian, more like Eastern European traveler picking up clothes as we go along. The way that we've designed picking out the costumes is with that thought in mind. Some of the things I wear is a lot more sporty, long-sleeve, a cycle top, compression T-shirts and things like that, to show that kind of physique and get a sense and idea of it.
[on the impressive physicality of co-star Chris Hemsworth] You look around the room and the only one who has an essentially otherworldly superhero physique is Chris Hemsworth. The size of his arms is like the size of my thighs. Just to be an actor and transform your physique and body to that level, essentially he's a God, and he's 6 foot 4, but he's such a great guy. Everyone is charming and brilliant, and a lot of fun, but you look around the room and you go 'well that guy is definitely the superhero'.
[on his facial hair being compared to that of a Hasidic Jew] That was nice because I have really curly hair and also I'm Jewish.
[2014; on spending time with his children] I love the fucking music class. I'm the only dad there. It's, like, mums and nannies. And you're clapping your hands. You're singing more than the kids are.
[2014; on not being cast by wife Sam Taylor-Johnson in 50 Shades of Grey] I think it would have been the wrong kind of hype to bring towards us. It would have been kind of funny that this character that all these women fancy - he's one in a million - and my wife picks her husband to play the part? I would love to have done something together again, but it would not have been Fifty. We were both on the same page. I will watch the movie, though!
Jake [Gyllenhaal] is analytical and looks at things from every angle. He likes to be particular.
Before the shoot [of Nocturnal Animals], I started smoking and drinking hard liquor, lots of Bourbon. I wanted to look toxic from the inside out. I'd stay in character or I would at least stay in accent, that's for sure, because I didn't want to lose the West Texas thing.
[2014] It was a lot of crazy shit I got up to for a couple years. I was pretty self-destructive at one point. I used to smoke 30 [cigarettes] a day, used to fucking drink non-stop. I've always been able to be on the fucking edge - be on the line, but then pull myself back... [on how he used to pretend to be American when he went for, only revealing his true background afterwards] [There were] some interesting movies but a lot of TV. A lot of Nickelodeon bullshit. It was kind of like learning how to pull. It was like, how do you go into a bar and point out the fittest girl and then just go, 'I'll have her by the end of the night?' I was at that age where that was kind of... I stopped when I met [wife] Sam.
