From 2000 to 2008, Evans starred in many
West End productions including
La Cava,
Taboo,
Rent,
Miss Saigon and
Avenue Q, as well as several fringe shows in London and at the
Edinburgh Festival. In 2008, he landed his most significant stage role playing Vincent in the play
Small Change written and directed by
Peter Gill at the
Donmar Warehouse. His performance drew attention from film casting directors and U.S. talent agencies, and he was nominated for the
Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Newcomer. Later that same year he did his second show at the Donmar Warehouse,
Piaf, in which he played Yves Montand. Evans had his first film audition at age thirty. In 2009, he landed his first film role, playing the Greek god Apollo in the 2010 remake
Clash of the Titans. Also in 2010, he appeared as Clive in the film
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, directed by Matt Whitecross, as the Sheriff of Nottingham's thug in
Robin Hood, alongside
Matthew Macfadyen (whom he would later play alongside again in
The Three Musketeers), and played handyman and good guy Andy, in director
Stephen Frears' film
Tamara Drewe, based on Posy Simmond's comic strip. Evans went on to portray DI Craig Stokes in
Blitz (2011), the film adaptation of
Ken Bruen's novel of the same name, in which he starred with
Jason Statham and
Paddy Considine. In early 2010, he shot the independent film,
Flutter, directed by Giles Borg. Evans played the Musketeer
Aramis in
Paul W. S. Anderson's version of
The Three Musketeers (filmed in 2010 and released in 2011). He was cast in a lead role in
Tarsem Singh's Greek epic,
Immortals (2011), in which he played the King of the Gods, Zeus. And at the end of 2010, he took a role opposite
John Cusack in
James McTeigue's film
The Raven, replacing
Jeremy Renner. In the film, released in 2012 and set in mid-nineteenth century Baltimore, Evans played Detective Emmett Fields, who investigates a series of murders inspired by the poetry and short stories of
Edgar Allan Poe. Shooting took place in Budapest and Serbia in November 2010. In 2011, he shot
No One Lives, a psychological horror film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, in New Orleans, and began filming a role in
Peter Jackson's
three-part adaptation of
J. R. R. Tolkien's
The Hobbit, playing the role of
Bard the Bowman. Evans was cast as Eric Draven in the reboot of
The Crow. In June 2014, he joined the cast of the film
High-Rise with
Tom Hiddleston and
Jeremy Irons. In January 2015, Evans officially exited
The Crow to pursue other projects. The same year,
GQ named him one of the 50 best dressed British men. In 2016, Evans appeared in the thriller film
The Girl on the Train, co-starring
Emily Blunt. In 2017, he had the villainous role of
Gaston in Disney's live-action adaptation of
Beauty and the Beast, directed by
Bill Condon and co-starring
Emma Watson and
Dan Stevens. Evans was also set to reprise his role as Gaston in a
Beauty and the Beast prequel limited series for
Disney+, alongside
Josh Gad, who was serving as co-creator, co-writer and executive producer. He also played the lead role,
William Moulton Marston, the creator of
Wonder Woman, in the film
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. In 2018, Evans starred in TNT drama
The Alienist, as newspaper illustrator John Moore. He released his debut studio album,
At Last, on 22 November 2019. On 8 November 2019, Evans starred in
Roland Emmerich's war movie
Midway, alongside
Ed Skrein,
Patrick Wilson,
Mandy Moore,
Aaron Eckhart,
Nick Jonas,
Dennis Quaid, and
Woody Harrelson. In 2021, Evans played Lars Lee in the
Hulu miniseries,
Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the
novel of the same name by
Liane Moriarty, which features
Nicole Kidman in the lead role, alongside
Melissa McCarthy,
Michael Shannon,
Samara Weaving,
Asher Keddie, and
Bobby Cannavale. He also played
The Coachman in
Robert Zemeckis'
live-action film adaptation of Disney's
Pinocchio, with
Tom Hanks. Evans was awarded Man of the Year at the ninth annual
Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards. In 2024 his memoir “Boy from the Valleys: My Unexpected Journey” was published by Ebury Books. The book recounted his isolation as a child in Aberbargoed, his family membership of Jehovah's Witnesses, his first entry in Eisteddfod singing competitions and subsequent route to a career as actor and singer. Evans is set to make his
Broadway debut in the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in a 2026 revival of
The Rocky Horror Show. ==Personal life==