9 Roles You'd Probably Forgotten That Aaron Taylor-Johnson Once Played

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the man everyone’s talking about right now.

After initially being known for roles like Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging, Kick-Ass and the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, he’s now one of Hollywood’s most bank-able action heroes, appearing in the likes of Bullet Train, Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron, The Fall Guy and that near-hypnotic Vanity Fair video of him doing backflips in a vest.

And that’s without even diving into the Calvin Klein campaign, the near-constant media scrutiny surrounding his marriage to director Sam Taylor-Johnson and, oh yeah, the ongoing rumours that he’s about to succeed Daniel Craig as the next James Bond.

But even though it feels like the British actor is absolutely everywhere right now, there’s still plenty you might not know about Aaron and his career.

Like, did you know he and Daniel Kaluuya shared the screen in a critically-panned dystopian teen drama? Or that he shared the screen with Glenn Close in an Irish period drama about a butler with a secret?

Here are eight Aaron Taylor-Johnson roles you’d probably completely forgotten he once played…

Tom & Thomas (2002)

Casual fans often consider Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging to be Aaron’s breakthrough moment, but he actually started his acting career long before that.

After his screen debut in the Australian biblical TV movie (yes, really!), the then-11-year-old pulled a Lindsay Lohan when he played a pair of identical twins who’ve been separated at birth in Tom & Thomas.

The film also featured Sean Bean as Aaron’s on-screen dad, while the latter’s sister Gemma also  makes a brief appearance.

The Bill (2003)

Before it went off the air in 2010, police drama The Bill was pretty much a rite of passage for any aspiring British actor, with everyone from David Tennant and Keira Knightley to James McAvoy and even Spice Girls singer Emma Bunton playing bit parts before making it big.

Aaron is no exception, appearing in a particularly chaotic live episode of the long-running show when he was still a teenager.

Oh and before you ask, yes, he did Casualty as well...

Shanghai Knights (2003)

Another of Aaron’s biggest roles as a child actor was in the action comedy Shanghai Knights, opposite Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson.

The young performer played Charlie, a boy who it later emerged was actually silent film star Charlie Chaplin as a child.

Sherlock Holmes And The Baker Street Irregulars (2007)

The same year he was winning the hearts of teens everywhere in Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging, you might have missed that Aaron also appeared in a BBC TV movie based on the Sherlock Holmes stories.

At 16, Aaron acted alongside Oscar nominee Jonathan Pryce as Finch, the leader of the so-called Baker Street Irregulars.

The Greatest (2009)

A truly star-studded drama, The Greatest tells the story of a young man whose parents are left bereft when he dies suddenly in a car wreck. Their lives are then turned upside down when they meet his pregnant girlfriend, who is need of help.

Aaron played Bennett, the teen who dies early on in the film, with Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Carey Mulligan and Zoë Kravitz also among the cast.

Chatroom (2010)

Chatroom’s extremely 2010 premise centres around five teenagers whose lives change when they encounter one another in an online chatroom, and wind up encouraging toxic behaviour all-round from afar.

As well as a young Aaron, the film stars Daniel Kaluuya, Imogen Poots and Skins star Hannah Murray, while Richard Madden, Tuppence Middleton and Ophelia Lovibond are among the supporting cast.

Albert Nobbs (2011)

Glenn Close landed her sixth of eight Oscar nominations for her performance as the title character in Albert Nobbs, a butler in 19th century Ireland.

Aaron stars as his protégé, Joe Mackins, with Mia Wasikowska, Janet McTeer and Pauline Collins also putting in appearances.

Anna Karenina (2012)

The classic story of Anna Karenina has been adapted countless times over the years, but this 2012 big-screen version is among one of the most memorable.

Keira Knightley stars in the title role, leading a cast that also includes Jude Law, Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen, Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Line Of Duty’s Kelly Macdonald and Ruth Wilson.

Oh, and it doesn’t stop there.

Further down the billing are a pre-Downton Abbey Michelle Dockery, a pre-Saltburn Emerald Fennell, a pre-It Bill Skärsgard and a pre-anything Cara Delevingne.

A Million Little Pieces (2018)

Adapted from the book by James Frey (which attracted huge controversy when it emerged large parts had been fictionalised, despite it being marketed as a memoir), A Million Little Pieces marked the second collaboration between Aaron and his wife, filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson.

He and Sam actually co-wrote the screenplay for the film, which received mostly negative reviews upon its release in 2018.