- published: 06 Sep 2009
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Aaron Taylor-Johnson (born Aaron Perry Johnson; 13 June 1990) is an English actor. He began performing at age six, and appeared in films such as Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and The Illusionist before graduating to starring roles in the films Nowhere Boy, in which he played John Lennon, Kick-Ass in which he played David "Dave" Lizewski / Kick-Ass. Initially credited as "Aaron Johnson", he will be billed as "Aaron Taylor-Johnson" in Anna Karenina (scheduled for 2012); he took the new legal name after marrying director Sam Taylor-Wood.
Johnson was born 13 June 1990 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, the son of a housewife mother and a civil engineer father. Johnson has cited actor Daniel Day-Lewis as one of his idols.
Johnson began acting at the age of 6, performing as the son of Macduff alongside Rufus Sewell’s Macbeth in 1999, and in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons in 2000. His TV roles have included his turn as Niker in the BBC's 2004 adaptation of the novel Feather Boy, Aaron in Danny Brocklehurst's ITV1 serial Talk to Me, and Owen Stephens in Nearly Famous. In 2003, Johnson appeared as a young Charlie Chaplin in Shanghai Knights. In 2006, Johnson appeared in The Illusionist, appearing in the flashback scenes in the beginning of the film as Edward Norton's character as a teenager, Eduard Abramovicz. The scenes show the young Eduard as he first learns magic, and to do this, Johnson himself learned how to perform the ball trick displayed by his character. He also learned how to perform the balancing of the egg on the stick, although that was effected mechanically. Johnson subsequently appeared as the heartthrob, Robbie, in the 2008 teen comedy Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, alongside The Illusionist co-star, Eleanor Tomlinson. Later, Johnson starred as Lorimer Black in Armadillo, and Prosper in The Thief Lord.