Birthday boy Luke Evans is 33 today!
Evans, who plays Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit, can be seen on our screens at present in The Raven. Some of his other films include Immortals, Tamara Drewe and Clash of the Titans. He has also appeared with fellow Hobbit actors Orlando Bloom in The Three Musketeers and Andy Serkis in Sex & Drugs &Rock & Roll. But Evans did not set out to be an actor. He originally thought he’d be a singer.
Evans comes from Aberbargoed in Wales. Whilst he was at secondary school one of his teachers suggested he learned to sing, so he did and was soon winning competitions. His singing teacher entered him for a scholarship for the London Studio Centre dance training school and he won it and moved to London at the age of 17.
After completing the three year course at the London Studio Centre, Evans began to get roles in musicals such as Miss Saigon and Rent and he played the lead in Boy George’s Taboo.
In an interview with walesonline he said, “When I was growing up, I loved to sing. I used to be taught by Louise Ryan, Charlotte Church’s singing coach, which is why I wanted to go into musicals. And it was doing musicals like Taboo, the Boy George musical, where I learned to act.”
When asked about his rise to success he said “… I don’t take anything for granted. It may seem like it has happened overnight but it hasn’t and now, because of that, I’m relishing every moment.”
Evans is popular with the fashion industry and is currently the UK brand ambassador for Police eyewear. But there are more strings to his bow. He takes an active interest in charity work and is an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, a leading youth charity in the UK. And he likes tropical fish!
Here’s wishing Luke a very happy birthday from everyone at Middle-earth Network, along with my own little wish that Peter Jackson will find a song for him to sing in The Hobbit!
Photo by Lukevansphoto.jpg: MuseLed derivative work: Off2riorob (Lukevansphoto.jpg) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
