Garrett Hedlund


Garrett John Hedlund is an American actor, model, and singer of Scandinavian descent. His films include Troy, Friday Night Lights, Four Brothers, Eragon, Death Sentence, , Country Strong, On the Road, Inside Llewyn Davis, Unbroken, Pan, Mudbound and Triple Frontier.

Early life

Garrett John Hedlund was born on September 3, 1984, in Roseau, Minnesota, to Kristine Anne and Robert Martin Hedlund. He is the youngest of three children, with a brother, Nathaniel, and a sister, Amanda. His father is of Swedish descent and his mother is of Norwegian and German descent. Hedlund was raised on a remote beef cattle farm near the small town of Wannaska, Minnesota.
From an early age he has had a great fondness for readingand during his school years he participated in ice hockey, track and field, melee fight and American football. In the 10th grade, he moved to live with his mother in Arizona, where he saved his tips from working as a waiter to pay for lessons with acting coach Jean Fowler, with whom he worked on speeches and script material. Six months after graduating in Horizon High School, he moves to Los Angeles.

Career

In 2003, Hedlund moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career. As a teenager, Hedlund modeled for L.L. Bean and Teen magazine.
Hedlund, at the age of 19, debuted in his first feature film playing Brad Pitt's younger cousin Patroclus in the mythological epic adventure war drama Troy. The film was released on May 14, 2004. He also co-starred with Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Britton and Tim McGraw as Don Billingsley in the 2004 sports drama Friday Night Lights, where McGraw played his abusive father.
He co-starred with Mark Wahlberg in the crime drama Four Brothers as Jack Mercer. He co-starred with Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons and Sienna Guillory in the fantasy-adventure film Eragon as Murtagh. In 2007, he co-starred with Lindsay Lohan, Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman in the comedy-drama Georgia Rule, directed by Garry Marshall. That same year, he co-starred with Kevin Bacon in the crime thriller Death Sentence. In 2010, he co-starred with Jeff Bridges in the science fiction/action film ', a sequel to the 1982 film Tron. The film was released on December 17, 2010.
Hedlund co-starred with Gwyneth Paltrow, Leighton Meester and his Friday Night Lights co-star, country musician Tim McGraw in the musical drama Country Strong, which was released on December 22, 2010. He recorded a number of songs for the film including "Chances Are" which appeared on Country Strong: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. His performance was well received by critics. Noting voice similarities between Hedlund and Charlie Robison, Roughstock said "the best song on this album belongs to him" and Country Weekly wrote that of all the songs performed by actors in this film, his was "the most convincing". Six other songs, including a duet with Meester, were featured on a second soundtrack titled Country Strong: More Music from the Motion Picture.
Hedlund was cast as Kaneda Shotaro in the live-action version of Akira but production of the film was cancelled. He also co-starred with Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Steve Buscemi, Terrence Howard, Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen as Dean Moriarty in the 2012 adventure drama On the Road.The film was directed by Walter Salles and based on Jack Kerouac's novel of same name. In 2012 he was an advertising and catwalk model for the Italian fashion firm Prada. In 2013 it was the image of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté's French men's fragrance "La Nuit de l'Homme". Disney said in December 2012 that Hedlund would reprise his role of Sam Flynn in the sequel to Tron: Legacy.
Hedlund reportedly turned down the roles of Finnick in the sequel to the dystopian science fiction/adventure film The Hunger Games titled
' and Christian Grey in the film adaptation of E. L. James' best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey. In 2014, Hedlund co-starred with Jack O'Connell and Domhnall Gleeson in the historical drama Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie. In 2017, he co-starred with Carey Mulligan the film Mudbound, directed by Dee Rees. In 2018, he co-starred with Sharon Stone as an aspiring artist in Steven Soderbergh's HBO murder mystery drama series Mosaic.

Personal life

Hedlund dated his On the Road co-star Kirsten Dunst from 2012 to 2016.
As of March 2019, Hedlund is dating actress Emma Roberts.
Hedlund is a skilled guitarist and violinist. During the filming of the movie Eragon in Slovakia, his co-star and friend British actor and musician Jeremy Irons was his personal instructor in the development of alternative violin techniques.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music Video

Discography

TrackSongWritersTime
4"Chances Are"Nathan Chapman, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose3:25

TrackSongWritersTime
1"Silver Wings"Merle Haggard3:21
4"Hard Out Here"Hayes Carll3:09
9"Turn Loose the Horses"Hayes Carll3:05
12"Give in to Me"
Billy Falcon, Rose Falcon, Elisha Hoffman3:29
13"Hide Me Babe"Hayes Carll3:08
14"Timing Is Everything"Natalie Hemby, Troy Jones3:24

Chart history

Hedlund's duet with Meester—"Give in to Me"— was the only song to chart as a single, reaching No. 79 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 96 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultNotes
2004Teen Choice AwardsChoice Breakout Movie StarTroy
2006Black Reel AwardsBest EnsembleFour Brothers
2011Saturn AwardBest Supporting Actor'
2011Young Hollywood AwardActor of the Year'
2011Maui Film FestivalRising Star