Alden Ehrenreich is an American actor born on November 22, 1989 in Los Angeles, California. He became known for his role as Ethan Wate in Beautiful Creatures.
Alden began acting at the Palisades Elementary School in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, and continued doing so at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California. After graduating from high school, he studied acting at New York University at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, but never finished his degree. In 2009, he co-founded The Collectin with his friend Zoë Worth, a group of New York City actors, writers, producers and directors who collaborate on films and theater performances.
Alden was discovered at a friend’s bat mitzvah reception by Steven Spielberg, who watched a comedy video created by Alden and a friend. In 2005, he appeared in the episode 2 of season 1 of the series Supernatural. The following year, in 2006, he appeared in the episode 2 of season 7 of the series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
In 2009, he made his film debut in Francis Ford Coppola’s film Tetro. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Alden’s performance. En 2011, he played a minor role in Francis Ford Coppola’s subsequent film Twixt and appeared alongside Natalie Portman in the Sofia Coppola-directed Miss Dior Cherie commercial.
In 2013, Alden rose to fame for portraying Ethan Wate in the film adaptation of the novel Beautiful Creatures. He also appeared as Whip Taylor in Park Chan-wook’s thriller film Stoker and played the stepson of Cate Blanchett in the Woody Allen-directed drama film Blue Jasmine. In 2015, he starred in the comedy Running Wild.
In 2016, Alden became more widely known for his co-leading role as Hobie Doyle in the Coen brothers film Hail, Caesar!, alongside Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum. Many critics praised Alden’s performance in particular. The same year, he starred in the leading role of Frank Forbes in Warren Beatty’s romantic comedy-drama Rules Don’t Apply.
In 2017, he starred in The Yellow Birds alongside Tye Sheridan, Jack Huston, Toni Collette and Jennifer Aniston, which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. En 2018, Alden starred as Han Solo in the Star Wars anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story. In 2020, he played John the Savage in the series Brave New World on NBC, based on the 1932 novel of the same name by Aldous Huxley.
In 2023, he starred in the Netflix thriller Fair Play co-starring Phoebe Dynevor. The film received good reviews, particularly praising Alden’s performance. The same year, he played in the black-comedy Cocaine Bear, directed by Elizabeth Banks. He also starred in Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer alongside Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr and Matt Damon. Many reviews praised Alden’s performance. He made his directorial debut with the short film Shadow Brother Sunday in which he also starred. The film received nominations and awards at many festivals.
In 2024, he is cast as Ezekiel Stane in the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries Ironheart on Disney +. In March 2024, we learned that he had obtained the role of the literary agent of Patricia Highsmith, played by Helen Mirren, in the thriller Switzerland, directed by Anton Corbijn.