Although he first attempted to act in films in 2003 (he unsuccessfully tried out for the role of Sam in Love Actually), it wasn’t until 2016 that he got his big break. He was picked to star in Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk alongside Kristen Stewart and comedian Steve Martin. Although the movie was critically acclaimed, it did poorly at the box office. But his performance as a US army specialist returning home from Iraq got him noticed by many in Hollywood. His American accent sounded so convincing that even Martin didn’t realise Alwyn was British until a few weeks into filming.

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“I’m surprised he hasn’t become a star yet,” Lee said in a W magazine interview. “He can carry a movie on his shoulders; he has the height, the looks, obviously, the voice, the ability with accents. He is versatile.”

His love for filmmaking is what got him into acting

Alwyn majored in English literature and drama at the University of Bristol, and studied acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. “I’ve always grown up with [my father] showing me films and I’ve always loved going to the cinema. And my mum had taken me to the theatre a lot, so I always wanted to be a part of that world in some way but didn’t quite know how or how to go about it,” Alwyn said to People.

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Director Joel Edgerton, who directed Alwyn in the conversion therapy drama Boy Erased, found Alwyn’s performance so moving he compared the actor to Brad Pitt, saying, “[Alwyn] could easily play sweet romantic leads, but he actively seeks roles with a darker quality.”

He has starred in two Oscar-nominated films

Remember the character Baron Samuel Masham who chased Emma Stone’s character in The Favourite? That was Alwyn.

Most recently, he played the slave owner Gideon Brodess in the biopic film, Harriet.

He is a fashion favourite

Prada named Alwyn the face of its Spring 2018 “Ascension” campaign, and in January, Tom Ford announced Alwyn had been selected as the new face for Tom Ford Beau de Jour. He’s been featured in fashion shoots for Vogue Italia, among other fashion magazines, and has modelled at Milan Fashion Week.

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He’s been dating Swift for three years

No one seems to know when the two met, but many speculate it was at the 2016 MET Gala, when she was dating Tom Hiddleston. In her song Dress, Swift wrote:

Flashback when you met me/ Your buzz cut and my hair bleached

A year later, The Daily Mail published a photo of the two having coffee on a balcony in Nashville.

In November 2018, she posted a note on her Instagram praising The Favourite:

Most recently, at the NME Awards in February, Swift and Alwyn were seen kissing.

In January, they started off the new year holidaying together in the Maldives.

In Swift’s albums, “Lover” and “Reputation”, there are several references to Alwyn, including the songs Lover, Gorgeous, I Think He Knows and London Boy. When The Sunday Times asked if the song references bothered him, Alwyn responded: “No, not at all. It’s flattering.”

Soon he might be more than just Swift’s lover

In May 2018, a source told Us Weekly: “Taylor’s friends are all talking about a proposal and how she really wants to marry Joe.”

Her song Paper Rings is a bigger hint at possible future nuptials:

I like shiny things/ But I’d marry you with paper rings

Uh-huh, that’s right/ Darling, you’re the one I want 

“There’s something refreshing and different about their relationship,” an unnamed source told People in January. “Joe makes Taylor very happy, and it’s hard to picture her not spending the rest of her life with him. Her family loves him. He seems older than he is and is a fantastic guy.”

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