Before making his cinematic debut in the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans, Welsh actor and singer Luke Evans started his career as a stage performer, appearing in a number of London's West End musicals, including Rent, Miss Saigon, and Piaf. After making his on-screen debut, Evans was chosen for roles in thrillers and action movies like Immortals, The Raven, and the modernized The Three Musketeers. Evans played the villain Owen Shaw in the blockbuster Fast & Furious 6 in 2013, Bard the Bowman in Peter Jackson's trilogy adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, and Dracula in the origin storyline of Dracula Untold, which was released in 2014. The role of Gaston that Evans played in Disney's live-action rendition of Beauty and the Beast is now his most notable performance.
Evans' most recent roles include psychologist William Moulton Marston in the historical drama Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, the three-part miniseries The Pembrokeshire Murders, the Hulu drama miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers, and the Coachman in Disney's live-action rendition of Pinocchio. In November 2019, he issued his first music album At Last. According to Variety, Evans will return to the screen in 2022 to portray the notorious Ebeneezer Scrooge in Netflix's forthcoming Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, a retelling of Charles Dickens' tale A Christmas Carol. In the meantime, here is a ranking of Luke Evans' top performances.
5 Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
American psychologist William Moulton Marston, who developed the fictitious DC Comics character Wonder Woman, is the subject of the biographical drama film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Evans plays Marston in the film, which Angela Robinson also wrote and directed. Rebecca Hall plays his legally married wife Elizabeth, and Bella Heathcote plays Olive Byrne, the Marstons' polyamorous life partner. The movie has an 86% approval rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, and according to the site's consensus, "Professor Marston & The Wonder Women winds a lasso of cinematic truth around a fascinating fact-based tale with strong performances from its three stars." Evans does an amazing job portraying the psychologist as he infuses a character that in any other film may lack passion and care with those poignant emotions.
4 Nine Perfect Strangers
In the Hulu miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers, based on Liane Moriarty's novel of the same name, Evans portrays Lars Lee. Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Samara Weaving, Asher Keddie, and Bobby Cannavale all appear in the series. The story follows nine strangers from the city, who come together for a 10-day retreat at Tranquillum House, a health and wellness resort in the fictional town of Cabrillo, California, which promises to transform and heal the visitors who stay there. What's more, the show perfectly balances mystery and suspense. The guests soon learn a lot of secrets about one other and the resort's host as they realize that the resort is not what it first appears to be. Deadline reports that the limited series' debut was the most-viewed Hulu original as of August 2021.
3 Fast & Furious 6
The action movie Fast & Furious 6 was released in 2013 and was written and directed by Justin Lin. Following The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, and Fast Five, it is the sixth film in the Fast & Furious series. Both Paul Walker and Vin Diesel reprise their roles as Brian O'Conner and Dominic Toretto, respectively, from earlier movies. Owen Shaw is portrayed by Evans. His character was a former British SAS Major and special operations soldier. His team ambushes a Russian military convoy, which sparks a battle. Evans does a fantastic job of depicting a person who has experienced hardship and is unsure of how to deal with those emotions. Evans also provided the voice for Shaw in the video game Fast & Furious: Showdown from 2013 and the Fast & Furious: Supercharged attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood from 2015.
2 The Hobbit Trilogy
Peter Jackson is the director of the trilogy of high fantasy and action movies titled The Hobbit. The three movies, with the working titles An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, and The Battle of the Five Armies, are adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 book of the same name. The movies follow hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is persuaded by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) to join 13 dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). The films take place in the fictional world of Middle-earth 60 years before the start of The Lord of the Rings.
Bard the Bowman, who appears in relatively few interactions in the novels, is portrayed by Evans. However, the movies develop the role further, giving Evans a chance to show off his incredible acting abilities. Evans responded to a question about his character by saying, “He has three children and he’s forced into becoming a leader and he doesn’t really want to be a leader. I think he’s happy just looking after his family and just…he doesn’t want a war. His emotions are very human and I guess that will make him quite appealing to an audience," according to the website The One Ring.
1 Beauty and the Beast
In Disney's live-action version of Beauty and the Beast — which was directed by Bill Condon and also starred Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as Belle and the Beast, respectively — Evans had the pleasure of portraying the villainous Gaston. Evans was able to contribute his incredible voice to the soundtrack and sing both established and brand-new Disney songs in the movie because it was a musical. Evans' epic portrayal in the movie earned him the title of Choice Movie Gillian at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards. Evans and Josh Gad, who plays Gaston's sidekick LeFou in the movie, were both slated to return to their roles in a Beauty and the Beast prequel limited series for Disney+. In addition, Gad was the series' co-creator, co-writer, and executive producer. It was reported in early-2022 that the project had been "postponed for an undetermined amount of time due to creative and scheduling issues,” but Evans himself is sure the series will happen, so there is hope.