Chris Evans

Chris Evans (born June 13, 1981, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) is an American actor who is known for his charismatic performances in superhero movies but who also earned respect for more-nuanced dramatic and comedic performances.

Early life

Evans grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts, where his father was a dentist and his mother was involved with a local youth theater. Evans and his siblings were all interested in musical theater, and he attended an acting camp as a child. Before his final year of high school, he secured a summer internship at a casting company in New York City. Following his graduation in 1999, he landed roles in a short-lived television comedy, Opposite Sex (2000), and a little-seen family movie, The Newcomers (2000).

Superheroes: the Human Torch and Captain America

Between guest roles on TV shows, Evans appeared in a teen movie spoof, Not Another Teen Movie (2001), and the teen caper The Perfect Score (2004). He then portrayed a young man who receives a phone call from a kidnapping victim (Kim Basinger) and attempts to rescue her in the thriller Cellular (2004). The film established him as a plausible action star. In 2005 Evans appeared in his first superhero movie, playing the brash Johnny Storm/the Human Torch in the Marvel universe story Fantastic Four. His credits from 2007 included the science-fiction movie Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle; the comic drama The Nanny Diaries; and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Among his next movies were The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008), scripted by Tennessee Williams; the action movie The Losers (2010); and the cult favorite Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010).

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In 2011 Evans first played the character with whom he is perhaps most identified, the earnest World War II enlistee who becomes Captain America, in Captain America: The First Avenger. He reprised the role in a number of subsequent blockbusters: The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Snowpiercer, Knives Out, and Deadpool & Wolverine

In addition to pursuing his career as Captain America, Evans gave an electrifying performance as a drug-addicted lawyer in Puncture (2011), based on real events. He also won praise for his layered portrayal of a rebel leader in Bong Joon-Ho’s dystopian fable Snowpiercer (2013) and as the unconventional guardian of a math prodigy in Gifted (2017). Evans made his directorial debut with the romance Before We Go (2014), in which he also starred.

In 2018 Evans first appeared on Broadway, in a well-received performance as a veteran cop in Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero. He was later cast as the spoiled and obnoxious son of a deceased patriarch in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (2019), a classic murder mystery that was a box-office hit. He also played the father of a murder suspect in the TV serial Defending Jacob (2020). In the animated Lightyear (2022), a spin-off of Pixar’s popular Toy Story series, Evans voiced the character of Buzz Lightyear. His other credits from 2022 include the spy thriller The Gray Man, in which he portrayed a villainous former CIA agent.

Evans starred with Emily Blunt in Pain Hustlers (2023), about the opioid crisis. In 2024 he reprised the role of superhero Johnny Storm/the Human Torch in Deadpool & Wolverine, which also starred Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. That year Evans also appeared in Red One, an action Christmas movie in which Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped.

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