How does a scrawny, gay Welsh youngster raised in a strict Jehovah’s Witness society become a well-known Hollywood action film actor with roles in “Clash of the Titans” and the “Fast & Furious” franchise? As Luke Evans recalls in his frank memoir “Boy From the Valleys,” musical theater, singing lessons, and helpful friends paved the route to London’s West End, and ultimately movie and TV fame.
Evans, who is currently in Los Angeles to promote his newest action role in “Swimming With Sharks” director George Huang’s “Weekend in Taipei,” will shortly return to Portland, Ore., for work on the Prime Video series “Criminal,” in which he plays Tracy Lawless, the lead. In between other press chores, he’s fielding questions about his memoir, which will be released on November 7. The 45-year-old star of Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” picture has grown up with a never-ending list of commitments.
He lacked financial security when he first started out in musical theater. “It was literally job to job, and there was no chance of saving any money,” according to Evans. “I could never sit back and go, ‘I’m good,’ and for many reasons it worried me.”
As the sole child of a bricklayer father, “I knew there was a responsibility for me to protect us, to look after us, and I couldn’t see that happening” at that point in his career.
At the age of 26, Evans determined he’d give himself till 30 to establish financial security in his job or quit. Almost by chance, Hollywood representatives approached me at the age of thirty.
“When this business of film and television started for me, it came completely out of the blue,” he jokes. “It was not anything I planned for, and it changed our lives.”
He’s enthusiastic about “telling stories and bringing characters to life and this ability to create conversations and entertainment,” he adds. “Part of why I have this work ethic is because I have people that I want to look after, to keep safe.”
When Evans began attending casting calls in Los Angeles, he was off and running. Before long, he was cast as a Greek god in “Clash of the Titans,” a thug in Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood,” and lovestruck farmer Andy in Stephen Frears’ “Tamara Drewe.” He then played a villain in the “Fast & Furious” franchise, Aramis in “The Three Musketeers,” a dragon slayer in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films, Vlad the vampire in “Dracula Untold,” and the vainglorious Gaston in Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast.” He recently played with Nicole Kidman in Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” and will star in Luc Besson’s upcoming film “Weekend in Taipei.”
When he has a break between assignments, he relaxes in his houses in Lisbon or Ibiza, “doing nothing but reading, cooking, and going to the beach.”
This is a far cry from the actor’s early life, which is extensively detailed in his memoir. Growing up in the South Wales community of Aberbargoed, he went door-to-door with his mother, as was required by their Jehovah’s Witness religion. It was a faith that refused to accept or tolerate homosexuals, so when young Evans came out to friends and then to his parents, it seemed clear that he would have to leave and forge his own way at the age of 17. Since then, he has been working ceaselessly.
His successes include producing a solo album (two in fact, in 2019 and 2022), performing on Broadway, traveling the world, starring in action films, presenting LGBT characters with all the subtlety that they were previously denied, and publishing a tremendously amusing memoir.
“In an autobiography, you want your voice to shine through. “I wanted it to feel like I was talking to a friend and telling my story the way I wanted to,” he explains.
The memoir began with a BBC radio interview that aired in late 2022. In it, Evans shared many previously unheard experiences of growing up in a strict Jehovah’s Witness household, fighting with his sexual identity, performing musical theater, and arriving late at success.
A week later, Evans remembers, a branch of Penguin Random House called his literary agent in London and pitched a memoir. I quickly said, ‘I’m 45; hang on! “They can’t write a memoir at 45.”
However, upon consideration, Evans chose to write the book not so much for himself as “for young people, people who have struggled with their identity, people who may be lost, living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, or who were raised in a highly religious household,” he says.
“I’m all of those people,” he explains. “I felt this could be encouraging for everyone who reads it because I’ve suffered many times in my life and wanted to give up. This is me sharing tales that may benefit someone.”
It took Evans 10 months to compose his life story to date, beginning when he sat down to write without distractions.
“It was painful to read back at times, but there’s so much hope,” he boasts. “I thought I had a really poor memory, so I was concerned when I started this book that I’d forget all the nuanced detail,” but in reality, when he allowed himself enough space and time, he discovered that he could “open a collection of doors and memories.”
Evans admits that he didn’t expect the procedure to be so emotional. As an actor, he may step away from parts “because the character isn’t you, their story isn’t yours, but it’s your job to portray it as honestly as possible.” However, “there were moments where I couldn’t distance myself.”
After writing parts of his memoir, there were times when he needed to be alone “and go for a really long walk.” It was a profound and satisfying experience.”
Some instances were overpowering, “because I was right back there alone, or suffering, and I didn’t have anyone, and I remember what it felt like,” he adds. “That’s definitely the actor in me, empathizing with others and putting myself in their position. But this time, I was simply imagining myself in my own tiny shoes when I was younger.”
Given all of his tough-guy roles, it’s understandable that Evans finds it difficult to convey his own life narrative.
“This book is really like putting my life on a plate and giving it to somebody,” he explains. “It’s really a scary moment for me to give this out.”
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