Aaron Taylor-Johnson: A star firmly on the rise

For someone of such a surprisingly young age, Aaron Johnson has achieved quite a lot both personally and professionally.

Starting out appearing in serialised television shows like 'Casualty', before graduating to smaller parts in features such as Shanghai Knights and The Illusionist; it wasn’t until he was directed by his future wife in the John Lennon biopic, Nowhere Boy, that things really began to change for Johnson.

He was 19 when he starred in the well-reviewed film directed by his future wife, Sam Taylor-Wood, and much was made of the age gap between the two by the press at the time – Taylor-Wood is 23 years his senior. Taking her second name after they got married, the couple have two young children and a glowing professional life.

It was Nowhere Boy that brought Johnson to the notice of Matthew Vaughn, who was looking to cast the titular role in his upcoming comic book adaptation, Kick Ass. At the time Vaughn was looking to cast an American actor in the role, but was so blown away by Johnson’s screen-test, he apparently hired him on the spot. The resulting film remains one of the best comic-book adaptations in recent memory, and it’s no surprise that the cast - including Kick Ass himself of course - will be reuniting for the sequel.

This is a huge couple of weeks for the young actor. Not only is he headlining the Oscar contender Anna Karenina opposite Keira Knightley and Jude Law, he’s also working with iconic director, Oliver Stone in the star-packed crime flick, Savages.

After both Savages and Karenina, expect Johnson’s star to ascend even further as the young British actor continues to impress and scale the movie star ladder.

Anna Karenina is in cinemas right now and Savages is released on September 21st.