Career
From 2000 to 2008, Evans starred in many West End productions, including La Cava, Taboo, Rent, Miss Saigon and Avenue Q, as well as several fringe shows in London and at the Edinburgh Festival.
In 2008, Evans landed his most significant stage role playing Vincent in the play Small Change written and directed by Peter Gill at the Donmar Warehouse. His performance drew attention from film casting directors and U.S. talent agencies, and he was nominated for the Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Newcomer. Later that year, he did his second show at the Donmar Warehouse, Piaf, in which he played Yves Montand.
Evans had his first film audition at age 30. In 2009, he landed his first film role, playing the Greek god Apollo in the 2010 remake Clash of the Titans. Also in 2010, he appeared as Clive in the film Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, directed by Matt Whitecross, as the Sheriff of Nottingham's thug in Robin Hood, alongside Matthew Macfadyen (whom he would later play alongside again in The Three Musketeers), and played handyman and good guy Andy, in director Stephen Frears' film Tamara Drewe, based on Posy Simmond's comic strip. Evans went on to portray DI Craig Stokes in Blitz (2011), the film adaptation of Ken Bruen's novel of the same name, in which he starred with Jason Statham and Paddy Considine. In early 2010, he shot the independent film, Flutter, directed by Giles Borg.
Evans played the Musketeer Aramis in Paul W. S. Anderson's version of The Three Musketeers (filmed in 2010 and released in 2011). He was cast in a lead role in Tarsem Singh's Greek epic, Immortals (2011), in which he played the King of the Gods, Zeus.
At the end of 2010, he took a role opposite John Cusack in James McTeigue's film The Raven, replacing Jeremy Renner. In the film, released in 2012 and set in mid-nineteenth century Baltimore, Evans played Detective Emmett Fields, who investigates a series of murders inspired by the poetry and short stories of Edgar Allan Poe.
In 2011, Evans shot No One Lives, a psychological horror film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, in New Orleans.
Evans played the role of Bard the Bowman in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).
In 2013, Evans played the antagonist Owen Shaw in Fast & Furious 6, and in 2014, he played Dracula in the film Dracula Untold. Evans was cast as Eric Draven in the reboot of The Crow. In June 2014, he joined the cast of the film High-Rise with Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons. In January 2015, Evans officially exited The Crow to pursue other projects. The same year, GQ named him one of the 50 best dressed British men.
In 2016, Evans appeared in the thriller film The Girl on the Train, co-starring Emily Blunt. In 2017, he had the villainous role of Gaston in Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon and co-starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. Evans was also set to reprise his role as Gaston in a Beauty and the Beast prequel limited series for Disney+, alongside Josh Gad, who was serving as co-creator, co-writer and executive producer.
Evans played the lead role, William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, in the film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.
In 2018, Evans starred in the TNT drama The Alienist, as newspaper illustrator John Moore. He released his debut studio album, At Last, on 22 November 2019.
In 2019, Evans starred in Roland Emmerich's war movie Midway, alongside Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Mandy Moore, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Dennis Quaid, and Woody Harrelson.
In 2021, Evans played Lars Lee in the Hulu miniseries, Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, which features Nicole Kidman in the lead role, alongside Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Samara Weaving, Asher Keddie, and Bobby Cannavale.
Evans also played The Coachman in Robert Zemeckis' live-action film adaptation of Disney's Pinocchio, with Tom Hanks.
Evans was awarded Man of the Year at the ninth annual Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards.
His 2024 memoir Boy from the Valleys: My Unexpected Journey was published by Ebury Books. The book recounts his isolation as a child in Aberbargoed, his family membership in Jehovah's Witnesses, his first entry in Eisteddfod singing competitions, and his subsequent route to a career as actor and singer.
Evans made his Broadway debut in the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in a 2026 revival of The Rocky Horror Show, earning a Tony Award nomination for his performance.
