Ansel Elgort was born March 14, 1994, to Arthur Elgort, a photographer, and Grethe Barrett Holby, an opera director. His maternal grandmother, Aase-Grethe, was in the Norwegian resistance during World War II, and saved Norwegian Jewish children by moving them into neutral Sweden; because of these activities, she was imprisoned in a concentration camp.

Ansel Elgort Music Career

Under the name “Ansølo”, Elgort created a SoundCloud account to publish electronic dance music. He has also remixed songs such as “Born to Die” by Lana del Rey. In February of 2014, Elgort signed a record deal with Tom Staar‘s label Staar Traxx, leading to two records being produced. The first was called “Unite” and was released in April of 2014. His second record, “Totem,” was released July 21.

Ansel Elgort Filmography

Elgort started taking acting classes at age of twelve and starred in his high school’s productions of Guys and Dolls and Hairspray. Elgort decided on an acting career, and started off on the stage, making his professional debut in Regrets, by Matt Charman. His first role in a major motion picture was in the 2013 remake of the horror movie Carrie, where Elgort had a small role. He quickly rose to notoriety after getting cast as Caleb, Shailene Woodley‘s brother in the Divergent series based on the young adult novels by Veronica Roth.

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Strangely, immediately after filming Divergent, both Woodley and Elgort was cast together in the adaptation of John Green‘s The Fault in our Stars — this time playing love interests. The film was about teenagers with terminal cancers who meet and fall in love during what little time they have. Like the novel, the film gained critical and financial success.

Elgort also starred in another John Green adaptation, the 2015 film Paper Towns, alongside Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne.

Elgort was part of the ensemble cast in Jason Reitman‘s Men, Women & Children, a dramatic comedy about how the Internet affects the modern family, and can ripple out into the lives of strangers. Like Elgort’s previous films, this one was also a success.

Recently, Elgort starred in the 2017 hit movie Baby Driver and the 2019 film The Goldfinch. In 2021, Elgort was cast as Tony in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story, playing opposite Rachel Zegler. His musical talents were able to shine as he gave new life to the Tony Award-winning musical.

Elgort currently stars in the HBO television series Tokyo Vice, playing an American journalist who infiltrates the Tokyo Vice police squad. The show has aired one season so far and has been renewed for a second.

Ansel Elgort Interview

uInterview spoke with Ansel Elgort about his role in Men, Women & Children and his own opinions on and experiences with social media.

“We’re all in the thick of it, but I’m a young person in the thick of it and I know this is sort of how it is,” Elgort told uInterview exclusively. “People are very connected, in their phones all the time and I suppose you can take away from it like, ‘Oh social media is bad,’ but I don’t think it is. I think it is saying this is how it is, and maybe it’d be a good idea to put down our phones a little more often and connect with the people in front of us.”

Watch Ansel Elgort’s full uInterview video:

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