In the pantheon of modern Hollywood leading men, few have ascended with the meteoric grace and brooding intensity of Jacob Elordi. At just 28 years old, the Australian actor has evolved from a teen rom-com bad boy to a versatile force commanding prestige projects alongside auteurs like Guillermo del Toro and Ridley Scott. With his towering 6-foot-5 frame, chiseled features, and a gaze that oscillates between vulnerability and menace, Elordi embodies the Gen Z sex symbol who refuses to be pigeonholed. As 2025 draws to a close, his portrayal of Frankenstein’s Creature in del Toro’s Netflix adaptation has cemented his status as a transformative talent, earning standing ovations and whispers of Oscar contention.
Early Life: A Working-Class Aussie with Basque Roots
Born Jacob Nathaniel Elordi on June 26, 1997, in Brisbane, Queensland, Elordi grew up in a tight-knit, working-class family that instilled in him a strong sense of resilience. His father, John, a house painter, emigrated from the Basque Country in Spain at age eight, fleeing the shadows of Franco’s dictatorship alongside his parents from Bilbao and Ondarroa. His mother, Melissa, a devoted stay-at-home parent and school volunteer, nurtured his creative spark. The youngest of four siblings, with three older sisters—Jalynn, Isabelle, and Isabella—Elordi often jokes about being the “runt of the litter.” However, his eventual height would shatter that notion.
Elordi’s childhood was far from glamorous. He attended private Roman Catholic boys’ schools, including Padua College in Brisbane and St Joseph’s College in Nudgee, where he felt “deeply unsettled” amid the rigid structure. Rugby was his first passion, leading district-winning teams, but a back injury at 15 pivoted him toward the stage. School musicals like Seussical and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ignited his love for performance, and a pivotal drama class reading of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot sealed the deal. “Acting became my religion,” he later reflected in interviews. By 19, after honing his craft at a Melbourne acting school, Elordi packed his bags for Los Angeles—arriving with little more than ambition and a few hundred dollars, reportedly sleeping in his car during those lean early days.
Influenced by icons like Heath Ledger (whose Joker in The Dark Knight left an indelible mark), Marlon Brando, and Daniel Day-Lewis, Elordi devoured their biographies and practiced accents in the mirror. At 14, he mimicked Vin Diesel’s gravelly timbre; by 15, his mother floated modeling as a side hustle, only for agencies to balk at his “unmanageable” height. Little did they know that stature would become his signature.
Breakthrough: Teen Idols and Dark Turns
Elordi’s Hollywood baptism was humble: an uncredited extra as a redcoat in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), rubbing shoulders with Johnny Depp on the Gold Coast. But 2018 marked his explosion onto the scene. He scripted and starred in the short film Max & Losefa, then landed the lead role as Rooster in the Australian dramedy Swinging Safari, alongside Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce. That same year, Netflix cast him as Noah Flynn, the brooding, leather-jacketed love interest opposite Joey King, in The Kissing Booth. The film became a global smash, spawning sequels in 2020 and 2021 that racked up over 282 million hours streamed. Elordi learned to ride a motorcycle for the role and, despite calling the franchise “ridiculous” in hindsight—a “trope-filled cash grab” he took reluctantly to fund his career—the bad-boy archetype made him a heartthrob overnight.
Fame’s double-edged cut deep. Long-distance strains ended his real-life romance with King, and the objectification grated: “I was reduced to a tall, dark fantasy,” he told GQ. Seeking substance, Elordi pivoted to HBO’s Euphoria in 2019, embodying Nate Jacobs—a narcissistic, abusive high school quarterback—as his breakout antihero. Critics hailed it as an “impressive career pivot,” with IndieWire dubbing it his defining role. The Zendaya-led series, blending raw teen angst with operatic excess, earned him AACTA nominations and solidified his dramatic chops. Amidst Euphoria’s chaos, he delved into rom-dramas like 2 Hearts (2020) and erotic thrillers like Deep Water (2022), starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas.
Critical Acclaim: Elvis, Aristocrats, and Monsters
By 2023, Elordi shed the teen idol skin. In Sofia Coppola’s intimate biopic Priscilla, he channeled Elvis Presley with a haunting vulnerability, capturing the King’s magnetic yet manipulative allure opposite Cailee Spaeny. “Jacob gives Elvis a tragic fragility,” raved The Guardian. That same year, Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn cast him as Felix Catton, the posh Oxford hedonist ensnaring Barry Keoghan’s obsession in a tale of class warfare and twisted desire. His aristocratic nonchalance earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor and People’s Choice nods.
Elordi’s range deepened in 2024 with the serial-killer turn in He Went That Way (which he executive-produced) and the sensitive gambler Julius in On Swift Horses, a queer period drama critics called his “best performance yet” for unveiling a “vulnerable side.” He hosted Saturday Night Live that year, leaning into self-deprecating jabs at his looks, though reviews were middling.
2025 has been Elordi’s apex. He led Amazon Prime’s miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North, adapting Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel, as WWII POW Dorrigo Evans, forced into labor on the Burma Railway—a grueling role that blended physical torment with emotional depth. But it’s del Toro’s Frankenstein that has electrified audiences. Premiering at the 82nd Venice Film Festival on September 4, 2025, the gothic sci-fi reimagining stars Elordi as the Creature—a patchwork of Crimean War soldiers, portrayed with butoh-inspired grace and canine innocence.
Amid a 14-minute standing ovation, Elordi teared up, later telling The Hollywood Reporter that he channeled “suffering” from past shoots into the role’s rage, born of longing. RogerEbert.com praised his “marvelous” conveyance of the monster’s “intelligence, sensitivity, and inherent gentleness,” while The Washington Post deemed it “transformative.” The film hit theaters on October 17 before streaming on Netflix on November 7, garnering praise and a Gotham Vanguard Tribute. He followed with a brooding cameo in Bon Iver’s “Day One” video and a viral Venice dust-up with a festival official—shouting “Don’t tell me what to do!” in a clip that’s spawned “diva” memes.
Personal Life: Romances, Rumors, and Resilience
Elordi’s off-screen life reads like tabloid fodder: a whirlwind of high-profile flings, starting with Joey King (2017–2018), then Euphoria co-star Zendaya (rumored 2019–2020), YouTuber Olivia Jade (2021–2022), and model Kaia Gerber (2020–2021). As of mid-2025, he’s reportedly single, prioritizing craft over conquest. A February 2024 altercation with Australian radio producer Joshua Fox—allegedly involving a shove over a Saltburn “bathwater” gag—drew scrutiny, but no charges followed.
Beyond headlines, Elordi’s passions run deep: photography, literature, and film production. He’s the face of Hugo Boss’s Boss the Scent (since 2022) and TAG Heuer’s global ambassador (since 2023), blending rugged charm with luxury. Socially conscious, he advocates for mental health and Indigenous rights, drawing from his Aussie roots. And yes, he’s turned down superhero suits—like a 2025 audition for Superman—to chase “real stories.”
The Future: Heights Unscaled
Elordi’s trajectory points skyward. Post-production buzz swirls around his Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights (2026), a gothic romance poised to clash passion and peril, and Hig in Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi. Euphoria Season 3 looms, potentially his farewell to Nate, while an untitled Paul Schrader thriller beckons in 2026. With a net worth estimated at $4–10 million—fueled by Netflix paydays, endorsements, and producer credits—financial woes are history.
In Venice, amid applause for his Creature, Elordi confided feeling “in the right place” after years of hustle. From Brisbane rugby fields to del Toro’s lab, Jacob Elordi has stitched together a career as poignant and monstrously ambitious as the roles he inhabits. Hollywood’s enigma is just getting started.
