Biography
Date of Birth
14 December 1994, New York City, New York, USA
Nickname
Ansølo
Height
6' 4" (1.93 m)
Mini Biography
Ansel Elgort is an American actor, known for playing Augustus Waters in the romance The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and the title character in the action thriller Baby Driver (2017). He was born in New York City to photographer Arthur Elgort and opera director Grethe Holby. His father is of Russian-Jewish heritage, while his mother has Norwegian and British Isles ancestry.
As a child, Ansel tried out for the School of American Ballet, and attended Stagedoor Manor summer camp and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. He began his professional acting career on stage, appearing in Matt Charman's play "Regrets," which was performed off-Broadway. Ansel made his film debut in the horror remake Carrie (2013), and co-starred with Shailene Woodley in both the science-fiction tale Divergent (2014) (playing her character's brother) and the romantic drama The Fault in Our Stars (2014) (playing male lead Augustus Waters, who is Woodley's character's love interest). The film was based on the book by 'John Green' (XII). Ansel also had a role in Jason Reitman's drama film Men, Women & Children (2014), and returned for the sequels to Divergent, The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016). He had a cameo in Paper Towns (2015), also based on a teen drama book by author Green.
Ansel played the title role in Baby Driver (2017), director Edgar Wright's action film, starring opposite Lily James and Kevin Spacey. Baby Driver was critically acclaimed, and emerged as a box office hit in the summer of 2017. Ansel also starred in the 2017 book adaptation November Criminals (2017), a crime thriller. His upcoming roles include the indie films Jonathan, Billionaire Boys Club (2018), and The Goldfinch (2019).
Trivia
Son of famed fashion photographer Arthur Elgort.
Son of Grethe Holby, an opera director. His siblings are photographer Sophie Elgort and filmmaker Warren Elgort.
Ansel's paternal grandfather, Harry Elgort, was a Russian Jewish immigrant, while Ansel's paternal grandmother, Sophie Didimamoff, was born in New York, to parents from the Russian Empire. Ansel's maternal grandfather, Warren Barrett Holby, was a prominent Westchester real estate developer, and had English, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and German ancestry. Ansel's maternal grandmother, Aase-Grethe, was Norwegian; during World War II, she served in the Resistance for the Norwegian Government-in-exile, and helped save Jews in Norway from the Holocaust. Because of these activities, Aase-Grethe was imprisoned in a concentration camp by the Nazis (from 1943 to 1944).
He has a reputation for revealing plot-spoilers about his movies in interviews.
Also records EDM under the moniker Ansølo.
Has a dog named Galo.
Is a New York Knicks fan.
Is friends with Joe Jonas.
He and Shailene Woodley played brother and sister in the Divergent (2014) films, and love interests in The Fault in Our Stars (2014).
Began training as a dancer at age nine at the insistence of his mother, who is a former ballerina and choreographer. He studied at the School of American Ballet.
Attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School with Timothée Chalamet.
Nephew of Kristin Holby.
His father, a photographer, named him after renowned photographer Ansel Adams.
Trademarks:
Mole in the lower right corner of his mouth.
Towering height and slender frame
Often cast as love interest of older actresses, unremarked on in the plot
Quotes
I got into movies watching old films my dad had, the old Elia Kazan movies. It was those old movies, actually, that really got me started. Marlon Brando, Paul Newman - straight-up legends.
I don't look at The Fault in Our Stars (2014) as a teenage movie. I looked at it like, this is a great script and a good character, and I was excited to do it. But of course I was looking forward to being part of a "real" movie. If it meant working with Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm, sign me up.
