Following years on the fringes of stardom, Glen Powell has finally become a veritable Hollywood celebrity. After appearing in Oscar-winning (for Best Sound) Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and garnering attention for his part as Ben in the sleeper hit Anyone but You (2023), the 35-year-old actor has moved swiftly from a lesser-known treasure to one of the industry’s favourite leading men.

Born in Austin, Texas, into a close-knit family, Powell and his two sisters were raised to have a strong work ethic and a sense of ambition. His paternal ancestors were Lipka Tatars – a Turkic ethnic group which settled in Lithuania – adding a unique layer to the actor’s identity.

A sporty child, he attended Westwood High School, where he played both football and lacrosse. After graduating, he enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in communication, but left before completing his degree to pursue acting full-time. As a mark of his determined and responsible nature, he is still intent on finishing his tertiary studies, setting next year as his deadline. With film roles now flooding in, it’s one commitment he may not be able to meet.

Lost Star

Powell’s foray into acting began in his mid-teens, with a role in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003), where he shared the screen with legends like Antonio Banderas and Sylvester Stallone. His Hollywood journey began after appearing in The Great Debaters (2007), directed by Denzel Washington when he caught the eye of agent Ed Limato. He was encouraged to relocate to Los Angeles, but it was no easy transition. He faced numerous rejections and struggled to find consistent work, auditioning unsuccessfully for roles in Friday Night Lights (despite being from Texas and a high-school football player), Cowboys & Aliens, and more.

“I was having a really hard time,” admits Powell, while promoting this year’s star turn in Twisters. “It’s just a miracle. Any time you can pay the bills and survive on acting, it’s a miracle.”

Becoming Indispensable

The struggling actor’s fortunes turned in the mid-2010s and he started to land larger roles. He played a hacker in The Expendables 3 (2014), which reunited him with Stallone and Banderas. It was a crucial experience as Powell sought guidance from Stallone on navigating Hollywood.

Two years later, he starred in Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, a nostalgic look at college life, and his portrayal of astronaut John Glenn in Hidden Figures further showcased his versatility. His comedic talent shone in films like Set It Up (2018) and the Ryan Murphy horror-comedy TV series Scream Queens (2015).

Sky is the Limit

In 2022, Powell’s career reached new heights with Top Gun: Maverick. Initially auditioning for the key role of Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw, he was offered the part of hot-headed Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin instead and it took a call from Maverick himself, Tom Cruise, to persuade him to take it. The film not only became a box-office success but also established Powell as a breakout star. His performance resonated with audiences, cementing his status in the industry.

Following Maverick, he lent his voice to the animated film Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood and starred in Devotion, a biographical war film that he also produced. Despite mixed reactions to his latter venture, his roles continued to showcase his range and dedication.

Passion Projects

Powell’s recent romantic turn in Anyone but You alongside popular Euphoria and The White Lotus actor Sydney Sweeney generated significant buzz and box-office success. The film’s marketing strategy played on the chemistry between the two stars, leading to speculation about their off-screen relationship.

Many view Powell’s other release last year, Hit Man – which he co-wrote and produced with Linklater – as a defining moment in his career. Revisiting the undercover cop theme but with a twist, the film received critical acclaim. His performance was praised and highlighted his growth as both an actor and a filmmaker.

He says: “I think we were all confident that when a genre is being ignored, it just means you haven’t made a really good one in a while. It doesn’t mean the genre is poisonous. It doesn’t mean that audiences don’t want it.” Are romcoms over? Clearly not. “The genre isn’t dead – you just stopped caring!”

Marvelous Future?

He enjoys DC and Marvel movies but has received no offer to star in one – at least not yet. “You know I’ve never gotten a call from DC or Marvel,” he notes. “But I’m a fan of everything they do.”

Powell has featured in a DC film, however. Way back in 2012, he had a tiny, tragic role in The Dark Knight Rises as a stock dealer who is strangled by Bane (Tom Hardy). He has expressed a desire to portray Batman one day, sharing that he has a “wild take” on the role.

Commenting on his rationale in selecting from the slew of scripts now beckoning, he states: “It’s about choosing where you’re going to make an audience happy and where you’re going to make yourself happy.”

Looking ahead, he will star in the thriller Huntington and the Hulu series Chad Powers, which he co-created. He is also set to headline a new adaptation, directed by Edgar Wright, of the Stephen King dystopian novel The Running Man, which promises to expand an already broad artistic repertoire.

Staying Humble

Powell wisely distances himself from disparaging remarks about his Hollywood contemporaries. An anonymous producer tweeted in late August that Powell is now a movie star “in the sense that audiences go to movies to see him”, then threw some Gosling shade: “Unlike an actor like Ryan Gosling, whose appeal is mostly limited to female audiences, Glen appeals to both females and males.”

Powell’s reaction was on point. “Gosling is a legend. I’m just Glen,” he posted, riffing on the Barbie star’s ‘I’m just Ken’ catchphrase. The answer rapidly gained traction on social media, with 100,000 likes and counting, at time of writing.

Trust Issue

Of Powell’s many positive traits, caring is up there near the top. His films have a level of attention, devotion and effort rarely seen in modern-day Hollywood. And he plans to keep it that way.

“I’m trying to build trust with the audience that I’m going to work my butt off to make sure they’re entertained,” he says. “That way, when they show up and pay their US$15 for a ticket, they’ll at least be able to say, ‘I know that this dude is going to try to deliver quality. He’s going to summon every bit of himself to try to deliver quality.’”

As Glen Powell continues to evolve both personally and professionally, audiences eagerly anticipate what the high-flying star will achieve next.