Welsh actor Luke Evans is currently starring in ITV psychological thriller The Party
Luke Evans is starring in ITV’s The Party(Image: Variety via Getty Images)
Hollywood actor Luke Evans admits he was once ‘very isolated’.
The Welsh actor, now 47, has appeared in Hollywood films like Fast & Furious and Beauty And The Beast and TV dramas including The Pembrokeshire Murders. He can currently be seen in the latest ITV thriller The Party.
But the star, who was raised in Aberbargoed in the South Wales Valleys and started out in his career in West End musicals like Avenue Q and Miss Saigon, hasn’t had it easy and has previously spoken out about how he contemplated suicide during his teenage years.
As The Party, based on the novel by Elizabeth Day, unfolds on ITV and ITVX, we examine Luke’s life beyond the cameras.
Feeling ‘very isolated’
Luke has previously discussed reaching a “dark place” during his adolescence when he faced challenges growing up as gay while being part of the Jehovah’s Witness community, reports Wales Online.
In the third instalment of the BBC series, Alison Hammond’s Big Weekend, Luke revealed his experiences of bullying and the clash between his sexuality and faith, which led him to a “dark place” where he considered taking his own life.
“I knew I was different, I didn’t know I was gay,” he explained. “I just knew I was different from the ages of 7, 8, 9, you know, very young.”
He continued: “I also didn’t have anyone outside the religion to be able to confide in or ask what was wrong. I’ve been baptised in the religion and that meant if I chose to be openly gay, I would be cut-off from everyone and everything I knew.”
Luke acknowledged the situation was “very complicated” and “very confusing”. He said: “I felt very, very isolated.”
Alison then asked if he had reached a “dark place”, to which Luke replied with: “Oh god, yeah. My teenage years, when it was clear in my mind who I was, and I was just… I had no-one to talk to. It was a very difficult position, place to be. Yeah, I contemplated suicide for sure.”
Love life
Luke previously dated Spanish model and actor Jon Kortajarena. Jon has fronted advertising campaigns for prestigious brands including Just Cavalli, Versace, Giorgio Armani and Guerlain, and in 2009 Forbes placed him eighth on The World’s 10 Most Successful Male Models list.
Luke is currently in a relationship with entrepreneur Fran Tomas. Speaking previously to People magazine, Luke described his boyfriend, whom he has been with since 2021, as his “best friend”.
“We’re a great team in life. He’s my best friend. He’s the calm, deep waters, and I am the rushing, bubbly water. And between the two of us, we can solve anything,” he told the publication.
What is The Party about?
Elizabeth Day’s bestselling 2017 psychological thriller has been adapted into a five-part series following Martin Gilmour ( Luke Evans ), a scholarship pupil who escaped poverty to enter British high society after befriending the affluent, magnetic Ben Fitzmaurice at boarding school.
The delicate relationship shatters during Ben’s extravagant 40th birthday celebration at his newly acquired grand country manor. The following morning, Martin discovers himself inside a police station facing questioning over a disturbing incident that occurred overnight.
The Party is on ITV1 and ITVX