This Missouri native has been teetering on the Hollywood cusp for some time now. It’s a precarious place, where newish actors hope they’re doing everything it takes to tip towards silver screen supremacy instead of becoming doomed as a recurring, small screen, almost-was. That’s not to mean his regular gig is anything to scoff at. With American Horror Story (AHS) well into its fifth season, Evan Peters has – throughout his time there – donned the robes of a sociopathic ghoul (Murder House), an incarcerated serial murderer (Asylum), a college frat-fool cum Frankensteinian nightmare (Coven) and a teenaged deformity in Freak Show. With the current instalment, Hotel, he’s downright convincing as a young Howard Hughes type eccentric.
Categorically though, he’s an actor with seriously impressive chops. He’s authentic, natural and fun to watch. I for one, didn’t care too much for the headliners in his Marvel debut. McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence are of course spoken for, but I always stay glued until Peters’ Whitehouse kitchen scene on Astro re-runs.
His Origins story is also about as exciting as yet another Jackman/Wolverine movie (which incidentally, has just been announced). Catching the eye of a talent scout who spotted him in drama class, he was connected to an agent in LA. Bada-bing bada-boom, and Peters and his mom had moved across the country to the City of Angels by the time he was fifteen. Balancing auditions and homework, his single-minded focus led to a series of indie films, bit-parts in drama serials, and then finally a big enough foothold with AHS. Describing his promotion to the big leagues, Peters said, “Bryan Singer is a really big fan of AHS. He called me up and told me he has this cool role for me in X-Men, a guy who is incredibly fast and hyperactive, and if you give him some caffeine, forget about it. I said, ‘He sounds really fun, so of course.’ And then I got off the phone and started jumping on the couch.”
Intrigued? You can read more about Evan Peters in the May 2016 issue of August Man Malaysia.
Photographs by William Callan; Creative Director Melvin Chan; Styled by Warren Baker