After finding global fame with 2002’s About A Boy, Nicholas Hoult decided not to pursue acting.
However, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Friend of the Brand came back, garnering a string of successes in a career that has become emblematic of how we sometimes need to hold back to propel forward. Discovered at age three by a theatre director when he tagged along with his siblings in the theatre circuit, Nicholas Hoult would later shoot to international fame with his stellar turn as the oddball son of a suicidal hippy mother in 2002ʼs About a Boy.
Three years later though, during a stint at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, Hoult decided he did not want to pursue a career in acting, but merely dabble in it as a hobby while he pursued more traditional academics. Yet fame called on him again. He was nominated for Best Actor for his role in the television teen drama Skins.
THE TURNING POINT
Feeling overwhelmed by the attention, Hoult almost retreated, but ultimately decided to take the plunge. It is said that child actors don’t usually go on to become successful adult actors, but Hoult would find his first role as an adult actor in Tom Ford’s 2009 directorial debut A Single Man.
The film earned Hoult a nomination for the BAFTA Rising Star Award, and the English actor has remained on an upward trajectory since. He has well and truly established himself with a slew of iconic roles, most notably as mutant superhero Hank McCoy, aka Beast, in the X-Men franchise.
In 2021, he played Peter III in Huluʼs original series The Great, a role which has earned him a Golden Globe nomination in the category of Best Television Actor in Musical/Comedy Series for two consecutive years. That same year, coinciding with 90 years of Reverso, JaegerLeCoultre released The Turning Point, a short film in collaboration with Hoult.
Filmed in Switzerland by French director-cinematographer Théo Gottlieb, it is a beautiful reflection on life’s turning points and a mirror of Hoult’s own journey. AugustMan caught up with the actor-philanthropist in an exclusive interview to talk about those pivotal moments that determine whether we remain as we are, or change gears to go further.
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