Ansel Elgort Bio
Ansel Elgort (born March 14, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He first drew attention with a supporting role in the 2013 horror remake Carrie and quickly rose to wider recognition for playing a teenage cancer patient in the romantic drama The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and for his role as Caleb Prior across The Divergent Series (2014–2016). In 2017, he starred as the title character in Edgar Wright’s action thriller Baby Driver, a performance that earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Beyond film, Elgort has built a parallel career as a dance music producer and DJ under the name Ansølo, releasing singles and remixes and performing at major festivals. After appearing in Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed musical West Side Story (2021), he took on the lead role of journalist Jake Adelstein in the HBO Max crime series Tokyo Vice, which ran from 2022 to 2024. He continues to balance work in front of the camera with ongoing music projects.
Early Life and Background
Ansel Elgort was born in New York City on March 14, 1994. He is the son of Arthur Elgort, a fashion photographer known for his long-running work with Vogue magazine, and Grethe Barrett Holby, an opera director. His father named him after the celebrated American nature photographer Ansel Adams. On his father’s side, Elgort is of Russian Jewish descent, while his mother’s side is of Norwegian ancestry. His Norwegian maternal grandmother, Aase-Grethe, served in the Norwegian resistance during World War II and helped save Norwegian Jewish children by moving them into neutral Sweden, an act that led to her imprisonment in a concentration camp.
Elgort grew up alongside two older siblings: Sophie Elgort, a fashion photographer, and Warren Elgort, a cinematographer. He is also a cousin of stand-up comedian Sam Morril. At the age of nine, he auditioned for the School of American Ballet and studied there for five years, an early training ground that helped shape his stage presence and physical discipline.
For his education, Elgort attended Trinity School, The Professional Performing Arts School, and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, and he also spent time at the Stagedoor Manor summer camp. He began taking acting classes at age 12. At LaGuardia, he performed in a school production of Hairspray alongside future Broadway star Kyle Jean-Baptiste and later starred in a rendition of Guys and Dolls. In 2009, while still in high school, he appeared in a Teen Vogue editorial photographed by his father.
Path to Celebrity
Elgort’s first professional acting appearance came a few months before he graduated high school. In March 2012, just days after his 18th birthday, he premiered a lead role in an Off-Broadway production of Regrets, marking his transition from student performances to professional stage work. The Off-Broadway run gave him early exposure in New York’s competitive theater scene and helped him secure representation in the film industry.
His film debut followed in 2013 with a supporting role in the horror remake Carrie, where he played the prom date of the lead character. The role introduced him to a wider audience and led directly to his casting as Caleb Prior, the brother of the protagonist, in the 2014 young-adult adaptation Divergent. That same year, he was cast as Augustus Waters in the film adaptation of John Green’s bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars, opposite Shailene Woodley. The film, directed by Josh Boone, became a major commercial success and established Elgort as a leading man. He was also named one of the best actors under the age of 20 in 2014.
Ansel Elgort Career
Early Career (2012–2013)
Elgort’s earliest professional work was the Off-Broadway production Regrets in March 2012, followed by his film debut in the 2013 remake of Carrie. These first projects were brief in screen time but significant in establishing his foothold in the industry, and they led almost immediately to his high-profile casting in the Divergent franchise.
Breakthrough (2014–2016)
The year 2014 marked Elgort’s breakthrough. He played Caleb Prior in Divergent and Augustus Waters in The Fault in Our Stars, the latter becoming one of the year’s highest-grossing films. He also co-starred in Jason Reitman’s ensemble drama Men, Women & Children alongside his LaGuardia classmate Timothée Chalamet. In 2015, he reunited with his Carrie co-star Chloë Grace Moretz to present the award for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars, and he reprised his role as Caleb Prior in The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) and The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016), completing his run in the franchise.
Earlier in 2014, Elgort launched his music career by creating a SoundCloud account under the name Ansølo to release electronic dance music, including a remix of Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die. He signed a record deal with Tom Staar’s Staar Traxx label and Steve Angello’s Size Records, releasing his first record Unite in April 2014 and his second record Totem in July 2014. He performed at the Electric Zoo Festival and the Ultra Music Festival, opened shows for The Chainsmokers, Nervo, Nicky Romero, and Martin Garrix, and signed with Island Records in 2015, where he released the single Home Alone in July 2016.
Notable Works and Milestones
Elgort’s signature role came in 2017 when he starred as the title character Baby in Edgar Wright’s action thriller Baby Driver, a critical and commercial success that earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He followed that with the lead role of Tony in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 adaptation of West Side Story, a film that received seven nominations at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He has since expanded into television, playing journalist Jake Adelstein in the HBO Max series Tokyo Vice, where he also served as an executive producer.
Ansel Elgort Award Nominations
Across his career in film, Ansel Elgort has earned recognition from major awards bodies for his leading performances. His most prominent nomination came from the Golden Globe Awards, where he was nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his title role in Baby Driver (2017). He was also named one of the best actors under 20 years of age in 2014, an early industry acknowledgment of his rapid rise following Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars.
Ansel Elgort Awards Won
Based on the verified information available for Ansel Elgort’s career, no major award wins are confirmed at this time. His work has been recognized through nominations and industry honors, and his films have been nominated for top prizes, including Best Picture for West Side Story at the 94th Academy Awards, but individual acting wins are not documented in the available records.
Ansel Elgort Family
Ansel Elgort was raised in a creative New York household. His father, Arthur Elgort, is a fashion photographer long associated with Vogue magazine, and his mother, Grethe Barrett Holby, is an opera director. He has two older siblings: Sophie Elgort, a fashion photographer, and Warren Elgort, a cinematographer. He is also a cousin of stand-up comedian Sam Morril, who is the son of his paternal uncle. His maternal Norwegian grandmother, Aase-Grethe, was a member of the Norwegian resistance during World War II.
Personal Life
As of 2017, Ansel Elgort was residing in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. On his 21st birthday, he asked friends, family, and fans to donate to the Thirst Project, reflecting his involvement in charitable causes. In April 2020, he posted a nude photograph of himself on social media as part of a fundraising effort to feed people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, he and his longtime partner, ballet dancer Violetta Komyshan, ended their relationship after roughly ten years together. The couple had been together since high school, and Komyshan had appeared in the music video for his 2017 single Thief.
