Who is Ansel Elgort from The Fault in Our Stars?

Ansel Elgort - The Fault in Our Stars

For someone starting a film career, earning three credits within the first year is pretty solid. In Ansel Elgort’s case, those credits just happen to be major roles in three very hyped movies. And, with two more blockbusters in production, it’s safe to say Ansel’s earned his celebrity card. So, who is Ansel Elgort, the 20-year-old who’s accomplished such an impressive feat?

Ansel was born in New York City in 1994 to talented parents: father Arthur Elgort is a photographer known for Vogue credits and Norwegian-born mother Grethe Barrett Holby is an opera director who founded the American Opera Projects. Ansel — who was named after famous photographer Ansel Adams — also has an older brother and sister.

As it seemed to be a given in his family, Ansel got involved with the arts at a young age and dreamt of becoming a Broadway star. When he was 9, his mother tricked him into trying out for the School of American Ballet by telling him it was actually a Broadway audition. He told Vogue in March 2012 that his “feet were terrible,” but he still managed to attracted the attention of Natalie Portman’s Black Swan trainer, Olga Kostritzky, who declared, “You will not be ballet dancer; you will be Broadway star.” (He’s now 6’4″, so that was probably a good call.)

He turned his attention to acting while attending the famed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, which led to his off-Broadway debut alongside Gilmore Girls‘ Alexis Bledel in Regrets.

Ansel Elgort - Alexis Bledel - Regrets

After Regrets ended its run, Ansel scored the role of Tommy Ross in the 2013 Carrie remake. That gave way to a breakout role as Shailene Woodley’s character’s brother in Divergent, which quickly became one of the top-grossing young adult fantasy literature film adaptions of all time.

When production for the first film in the trilogy wrapped, Ansel quickly got to work on a leading role as Augustus Waters in The Fault of Our Stars.

“I can relate to Augustus,” he told People this week. “I can be overly confident at times, but with someone who I’m very close to, like with my mother, I will break down. In real life, people will find out that I’m not actually that confident and that I’m a real guy underneath it all.”

Shailene Woodley - Ansel Elgort - The Fault of Our Stars

The major role has earned Ansel both critical praise and a bevy of teenage fans.

“It’s so weird,” he said of Anselites. “When girls scream my name and start crying, I blush like crazy.”

Unfortunately for those girls, Ansel is dating high-school sweetheart Violetta Komyshan. He seems to avoid mentioning her on social media, but spoke about their relationship to Page Six in March: “It’s important to me to be with someone who I really trust, and if it’s someone I knew before all of this, that’s nice.”

Beyond acting, Ansel is an electronic dance musician who works under the name “Ansolo.” He signed with Tony Staar’s label earlier this year and released his first record, United, in April.

“I wanted to be a lot of things in my life,” he told People of his varied goals.

Ansel will next appear in Men, Women & Children before the Divergent sequel, Insurgent. The Fault in Our Stars opens nationwide today.


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