"Some people think I look a bit like a young Albert Finney, which I'm like, 'Yeah.' I also look a bit like a potato."
— Joel Edgerton answering Google questions
Joel Edgerton is an actor born on 23 June 1974 in Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. He is best known for his roles in 2000s and 2010s films like Star Wars Prequel trilogy, King Arthur (2004), Kinky Boots, Animal Kingdom, The Thing (2011), Warrior, Zero Dark Thirty and The Great Gatsby. He also voiced Metal Beak, the Big Bad of Legend Of The Guardians The Owls Of Ga Hoole. He made his directorial debut with The Gift.
His brother Nash is a director and stuntman.
Selected filmography:
As actor:
- Spellbinder (1995 — 1997) as Bazza
- Water Rats (1996 — 1999) as Aaron Lawrence
- Star Wars (2002 — 2022) as Owen Lars:
- Attack of the Clones (2002)
- Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
- King Arthur (2004) as Gawain
- The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005) as Jasper Morello (voice)
- Kinky Boots (2005) as Charlie Price
- Smokin' Aces (2005) as Hugo Croop
- Legend Of The Guardians The Owls Of Ga Hoole (2010) as Metal Beak (voice)
- Animal Kingdom (2010) as Barry Brown
- Warrior (2011) as Brendan Conlon
- The Thing (2011) as Sam Carter
- The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012) as Jim Green
- Zero Dark Thirty (2013) as Patrick
- The Great Gatsby (2013) as Tom Buchanan
- Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) as Ramses II
- Black Mass (2015) as John Connolly
- Jane Got a Gun (2015) as Dan Frost (also writer)
- Midnight Special (2016) as Lucas
- Loving (2016) as Richard Loving
- Gringo (2016) as Richard Rusk
- Bright (2017) as Nick Jakoby
- Red Sparrow (2018) as Nathaniel Nash
- The Green Knight (2021) as Lord
- Thirteen Lives (2022) as Dr Richard "Harry" Harrison
As filmmaker and actor:
- The Gift (2015) as Gordon "Gordo" Moseley (writer-director and actor)
- It Comes at Night (2017) as Paul (actor and executive producer)
- Boy Erased (2018) as Victor Sykes (writer-director and actor)
- The King (2019) (writer, actor, and producer)
Tropes
- Awesome Aussie: Since he's often cast in badass roles, he goes to the extreme to ensure that he'll be able to portray the aforementioned roles with justice.
- Eyes Always Shut: He gives off this look as well as Joel Hodgson and French Stewart do.
- Fake American: Majority of his roles.
- Mr. Fanservice: Quite a few of his roles have him as this.
- Real-Life Relative: Has collaborated with his brother (filmmaker and stuntman Nash Edgerton) many times.
- Written By Cast Member: He occasionally writes the screenplays for his movies, and wrote/directed The Gift and Boy Erased.
