The Transformation Of Nicholas Galitzine
Don't be surprised if you hear the name Nicholas Galitzine more in the years to come. The young actor has risen steadily in the ranks since he started acting professionally in 2014. He's gone from indie movie actor to mainstream success. Plus, he has already worked alongside notable Hollywood names such as Anne Hathaway and Julianne Moore, both of whom he already refers to on a nickname basis. The young actor also had the surreal experience of working with his childhood crush, Uma Thurman, in 2019. "I have a one-on-one scene with her in the car and I'm like, 'Nick, you're sitting in a car with Uma Thurman.' How did I get to this point?" Galitzine told The Face at the time.
Though Galitzine immediately draws attention with his looks, there's more than meets the eye with this actor. His charm and wit have propelled him further into success in the industry. And it doesn't hurt that he has amazing chemistry with his co-stars.
Although Galitzine may have questioned how he got to where he is today, we know exactly how he did it. Here's a look at his humble beginnings, early aspirations, and growing career.
Nicholas Galitzine was born in London
Nicholas Galitzine was born in London, England, on September 29, 1994, where he grew up in the Hammersmith district of West London. His parents, Geoffrey Galitzine and Lora Galitzine, both worked in the finance field. Nicholas has one sister, Lexi Galitzine, with whom he is close. However, he always thought of himself as the "black sheep" of the family. "I have always been problematic and a bit reckless," he told Style Magazine. But he explained that this is more due to anger for being what he calls a "repressed creative" in a school that was more focused on sports.
The "Mary & George" star shared in a 2023 interview with L'Officiel that he comes from a diverse background. "I'm Greek, Russian, and English," he revealed. He spent summers as a child in Greece visiting relatives on his mother's side, which may explain why he identifies most with his Greek heritage. Netizens suspect there might be more to his lineage, though. A hypothesis by one social media user claims that Galitzine hails from a noble Russian family, the house of Golitsyn (via Teen Vogue). In response to the online chatter, Galitzine explained to Style Magazine, "I have Russian ancestors because of my father, but in reality it is a branch of my family from whom we have distanced ourselves completely."
He was discovered by his agents at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The "Purple Hearts" star didn't do much acting in his youth. Instead, he had aspirations of becoming a professional rugby player. However, his plans were derailed by a collarbone injury when he was19. Before the incident, Nicholas Galitzine hadn't expressed interest in acting because he was naturally shy, but these new circumstances made him reconsider. His peers, who had pursued acting from the beginning, told him it might be a bit too late to start, and his parents were terrified of the industry at first, but Galitzine remained unfazed.
He joined a theater group set to perform "Spring Awakening" at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. If not for a pep talk from his dad, he almost didn't audition. "The idea of performing was terrifying, but I had just graduated school and it was a fun summer holiday plan," Gazaltine told The Last Magazine. Admittedly, Galitzine was not only there for his newfound interest in acting — he was there for a girl, too. "I did [the festival] so I could go chase this girl. And I came back with this acting agency," he mused in an interview with Wonderland.
His first lead role was for the indie movie The Beat Beneath My Feet in 2014
Nicholas Galitzine's career picked up quickly. In 2014, he landed the lead role in "The Beat Beneath My Feet" after just one audition. "When they called me back a day later and said I was going to be the lead in a film, it was nauseating," he told The Last Magazine. As a newbie, Galitzine feared playing the lead. As he shared with Nuit Magazine, "It's so much responsibility, especially considering I had never had any training." Though fearful, he was also very thankful that the role was entrusted to him. "I'm also incredibly proud and honoured the production team felt they could place such a great responsibility on my shoulders," he said.
Although the movie nearly didn't get made due to money issues, it eventually pushed through. "It's great to see that on a small budget and with limited resources that you can really create such a piece of art and really get it out there," the actor told Sky News following the movie's 2014 nomination for the Radiance Award at The Berlin International Film Festival.
He played a wide array of roles as an up-and-coming actor
Nicholas Galitzine was doing pretty well in the industry. After his lead role in the movie "The Beat Beneath My Feet," he starred in a mix of movie and television roles from 2015 to 2020. During this time, he played complex roles ranging from a closeted gay teenager in the coming-of-age LGBTQ+ movie "Handsome Devil" to a recovering heroin addict in Netflix's 2019 supernatural horror series "Chambers."
"Every film I've done has been about interesting characters," the actor explained in a 2017 interview with The Film Experience. He continued, saying, "I really just want to play multi-faceted characters. There's a darkness inside me that makes me want to play a psychopath or something like that." Entering the industry, he was concerned about whether or not he was attractive enough to succeed, but he soon encountered the opposite problem. When attempting to go for darker roles, his looks got in the way because casting directors thought he'd appeal more to teenage girls.
In 2021, he starred as Prince Robert in the live-action musical adaptation of Cinderella
After a handful of years working as an actor, Nicholas Galitzine bagged a mainstream role as Prince Robert in the live-action musical adaptation "Cinderella" in 2021. This would be the first of many for his roles as a royal prince, and from here on out, he'd find himself starring alongside big names. Though he had worked with Uma Thurman in Netflix's "Chambers" in 2019, Cinderella was truly a celebrity-packed film. He starred opposite Camila Cabello, Idina Menzel, and Billy Porter. However, he didn't feel like he belonged. "I felt so out of place on set, like I was a body double for Timothée Chalamet," he revealed in an interview with British Vogue. The actor didn't know it at the time, but his big break was just around the corner.
In a 2023 interview with "Good Morning America," he was asked about his "high-class problem" of being repeatedly cast as a prince (Prince Robert in "Cinderella" and Prince Henry "Red, White & Royal Blue"), he joked, "Look, there are worse things you can get typecast as." But ultimately what draws him into the roles is the nuance and depth of the characters, which appears to be the theme of his roles so far.
His career made his dating life trickier
The lifestyle that comes with being an actor has impacted Nicholas Galitzine's dating life. He's had trouble maintaining relationships –– both romantic and otherwise — due to his hectic schedule. "My last couple of girlfriends, I feel like we've had to go our separate ways essentially because of the travel," he told told L'Officiel. "And it's difficult. I mean, people who also work in the industry get it, but the job is definitely not conducive to nourishing relationships." Nevertheless, this arduous process has helped him weed out weaker connections. "You find out who the people are that you are really connected with; I'm one of these people who makes the effort to connect. Even if I'm on the other side of the world," he said.
As of this writing, there is a lot of mystery surrounding Galitzine's dating life. While the "Red, White & Royal Blue" star often takes on queer roles, he identifies as straight. However, the identities of his partners have yet to be revealed. We do know he loves love, though. "I'm always hopelessly falling in love," Galitzine revealed to British Vogue.
He was surprised by the success of the Netflix film Purple Hearts
By 2022, Nicholas Galitzine was set to star in Netflix's "Purple Hearts" as a marine named Luke who marries a woman to provide her with his military health benefits. He prepared for the role by immersing himself in the world of his character, which meant physical and mental training. "[I] was trying to improve my three mile run time, my press up time, my pull ups, all of these variety of exercises that are required for the military," he told Numéro. To get himself into the headspace of his character, he spent some time at a military facility. "I got to spend the whole day with real Marines, training, getting advice. It was such a memorable experience," Galitzine shared with People.
Without a big budget or any heavy promotion, "Purple Hearts" became one of the most popular films on Netflix immediately following its release in July 2022. A day after it debuted, it took the No. 1 spot from the action thriller "The Gray Man” starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, which had a significantly larger budget and the pull of an A-list cast. "Purple Hearts" retained that ranking for three weeks. This was a welcome surprise for the actor. "I could never have imagined [the success of the film]," Galitzine told People.
Nicholas Galitzine's 'first creative pursuit was actually music'
Before Nicholas Galitzine was an actor, he was a singer. "My first creative pursuit was actually music, which is why it's quite fitting that my first role [in a movie] involved music." the actor explained in an interview with Nuit Magazine. Over the years, the star occasionally posted covers of songs online. He earned singing credits in the live-action musical "Cinderella," and he later went on to lend his vocals to the 2024 movie "The Idea of You," in which he plays August Moon, a singer in a boy band.
In 2022, following the success of the film "Purple Hearts," he was able to release something of his own — his debut single "Comfort." The actor clarified in an interview with Numéro that the timing of the release wasn't to ride the wave of his fame. "This is a song that I very much just put out. I didn't try and do any sort of promotional stuff behind it. It was much more important to me to just have something that felt authentic and just felt like the first marker in the steps that I would take towards my music," Galitzine explained.
His career reached new heights when he starred in Red, White & Royal Blue in 2023
Following the success of "Purple Hearts," Nicholas Galitzine scored a starring role in the queer romantic comedy "Red, White & Royal Blue" opposite Zakhar Perez. As with any book-to-movie adaptation — especially one with a massive following – both Perez and Galitzine had big shoes to fill. However, the pair hit it off instantly, making intimate scenes easier. "You need to have a partner in crime to embody these roles, and I think it's so palpable when costars don't have the chemistry [that we do]," Galitzine shared with Glamour. Though being friends did make working together easier, it was still a surreal experience for the actor. "As he told Tatler, "It's a crazy thing to be intimate in that way with your friend and we want people to fall in love with these characters, because their love has to be real."
With regards to playing a gay character while identifying as straight, Galitzine explained that this was something he brought up with director Matthew López, who is gay. As the actor mentioned in Just for Variety, once given the go signal by López, his only hope was that the book's fans would see the effort he put into the role of Henry to "make him feel textured and real."
He showcased his comedic range in a sex comedy
Nicholas Galitzine tried something out of his repertoire by starring in the sex-comedy film "Bottoms." Since Nicholas Galitzine usually takes on dramatic roles, he found playing Jeff, the dumb jock, to be a "liberating" experience, as he detailed to Critqal. Additionally, he enjoyed working with the creative trio behind the 2020 film "Shiva Baby," Ayo Edebiri, Rachel Sennot, and director Emma Seligman. He appreciated Seligman's unique, involved, and collaborative directing style, as he had a say in how his character was depicted. As for working with Sennott and Edebiri, Galitzine told Today, "Being able to use my funny bone and learn from [them] and improvise was just so much fun."
While shooting this film, he was working on two other projects: Netflix's "Purple Hearts" and Prime Video's "Red, White & Royal Blue." This entailed bouncing from drama to romantic comedy to comedy within a short period. "For the first time in my career, it was a very interesting thing of having to sort of juggle a few characters because obviously you're doing prep for these other movies while you're shooting something else," he said.
He became the first global menswear ambassador of Fendi in 2023
Nicholas Galitzine became the face of the Italian luxury brand Fendi in June 2023. The "Bottoms" star became the Italian fashion house's first-ever global menswear ambassador for their Fall/Winter worldwide campaign. "Fendi represents what was already my personal taste," the actor shared with Style Magazine. Though Galitzine has always been interested in fashion, he was reluctant to pivot into modeling since he wanted to be seen as an actor first. As he told L'Officiel, "I think if celebrity supersedes [acting], then you run into a really difficult problem ... people stop seeing the roles you're playing, and they just see this brand." Nevertheless, Galiztine hopes his foray into the fashion industry is just the first of many. "I keep finding new ways to express myself, whether that's through acting or music and now in fashion," he said. "I hope that journey continues."
The "Purple Hearts" star only had good things to say about his experience working with Fendi, but one memory stood out. As he described in an interview with WWD, "The Fendi family [were] gathering to applaud me as we took the last shot of the campaign. Seeing their faces and feeling their satisfaction warmed my heart and is a moment that will stay with me throughout my career."
Nicholas Galitzine starred alongside Julianne Moore in the historical mini-series Mary & George
In 2024, Nicholas Galitzine starred in the British historical drama series "Mary & George" alongside Julianne Moore. The story is an adaptation of the book "The King's Assassin." To Galitzine, his character George in "Mary & George" was one of the most challenging roles he's had to play thus far. "We had so little time to prep, and English TV moves very quickly," the actor shared in a 2024 interview with Hits Radio. A lot of preparation was needed for the role, which is one of Galitzine's favorite parts of the job, but there was a lot to learn in a short amount of time. "With George, having to sort of embody this renaissance man who goes off to France and learns how to speak French, how to ride horses, how to dance, how to fence," he explained. "It was trying to find hours in a day really to kind of pick up these skills."
As of this writing, this is Galitzine's third time playing royalty. Perhaps his supposed royal lineage gave him a leg up in the casting calls. In fact, the actor didn't even have to go in and audition for this project, as casting directors found an old tape he had sent in for the show. One call with the director, Oliver Hermanus, who he clicked with instantly, and he got the part. Hermanus wasn't the only person Galitzine would hit it off with, though. He also developed a great relationship with Moore, whom he fondly calls by the nickname Julie. As Moore told "This Morning," "[Galitzine] was great. He's so talented, and he had such a wonderful attitude."
He is set to star in The Idea of You alongside Anne Hathaway in 2024
As of this reporting, Nicholas Galitzine is set to star in another movie adaptation — this time, a coming-of-age story about a divorced 40-year-old mother named Solène who falls in love with Hayes, a 24-year-old boy band member played by Galitzine. In the movie, the "Bottoms" star plays opposite Anne Hathaway. The young actor has had amazing luck and chemistry with his co-stars thus far, and Hathaway was no exception. "I so respect and just love who Annie is as a person," Galitzine told Access Hollywood. By late March, the trailer for the movie became one of the most-watched trailers for a streaming movie, with 125 million views and counting.
Online discussions about the movie have drawn comparisons between Hayes and Solène's relationship with Harry Styles' romance with Olivia Wilde. Robinne Lee, the author of the book on which the film is based, says that while it is true that Hayes is loosely based on him (along with other influences — her husband and Eddie Redmayne included), it shouldn't be the focus. "It was supposed to be a story about a woman approaching 40 and reclaiming her sexuality and rediscovering herself, just at that point that society traditionally writes women off as desirable and viable and whole," Lee told Vogue.