- published: 29 Aug 2013
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Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor, best known for playing Marcus Brewer in the 2002 film About a Boy, Tony Stonem in the E4, BAFTA-winning television series Skins, and Hank Mccoy/Beast in the X-Men prequel, X-Men: First Class.
Hoult was born in Wokingham, Berkshire, the third of four children of Glenis (née Brown), a piano teacher, and Roger Hoult, a pilot for British Airways. His siblings are Clarista, James and Rosie, and his great aunt was actress Dame Anna Neagle.
Hoult was first spotted at the age of three, sitting in the audience with his mother at a play. The director noticed and suggested that he should try out for one. He attended Ranelagh School, made his professional debut in the 1996 film Intimate Relations (at the age of 7), and worked mainly in television, until the success of About a Boy, in which he plays Marcus.
While at sixth form, he gained a lead role as Tony Stonem in the first two series of E4 drama Skins. Hoult was nominated for a Walkers Home Grown Talent Award and won the Monte Carlo TV Festival Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for the role.