Although Taylor Swift has been associated to a number of guys throughout the years, the man she has been with the longest is Joe Alwyn. Alwyn and Swift are one of the most influential couples in the entertainment industry. Alwyn's girlfriend may be more well-known, but let's be real: very few people can say the same about themselves and their significant others. What's most encouraging is that Alwyn, an actor, doesn't seem to be intimidated by the fact that his girlfriend is one of the most renowned women in the world.
It seems that Alwyn and Swift have done their best to keep their connection private. Since Swift's past relationships have been notoriously dissected by the media, it appears that she and Alwyn have taken measures to protect their current one. Alwyn said to British GQ that "The nature of a person's private life is such that it cannot be spoken openly. Nobody has to tell everyone about their private life."
Their private lives is shrouded in mystery as a result, but Swift fans will be delighted to learn a few lesser-known tidbits about Alwyn.
1. Joe Alwyn grew up in the city's North London.
Joe Alwyn was born on February 21st, 1991, to a middle-class household in north London. According to W Magazine, his mother was a psychologist and his father was a documentary filmmaker. His early years were apparently happy ones, full of trips to the theatre. While Alwyn did go to an elite school (City of London School), he assured the Evening Standard in an interview that he did not come from a particularly privileged background. "I made it there with the help of a scholarship and a bursary," he explained. "Bursaries and scholarships attracted people from all over the world. This resonated with me."
Although Alwyn studied drama in school, he did not actively participate in the school's drama department. In an interview with his alma institution, he commented, "I took it for GCSE and A-level, and liked that, but I wish I'd taken better advantage of the resources thereafter." "Fortunately, the school had a fantastic theatre. Why I didn't do more, I don't know. I knew I would enjoy it, but a part of me avoided it, maybe because I was so busy with my other extracurricular activities."
2. He tried out for the Love Actually cast.
As a young man, Joe Alwyn was inspired to pursue acting after seeing Ben Whishaw (of "Cloud Atlas," "The Danish Girl," "The Lobster," and "Paddington" movies fame) in a play. After seeing him play Hamlet, Alwyn recalled to British GQ, "I wanted to do that" when he was 14 years old.
A casting director spotted Alwyn at his fencing school and persuaded him to audition for the role of Sam in the 2003 film "Love Actually." While discussing the film on "Live with Kelly and Ryan," he admitted, "I didn't grasp it in the end. But I do remember meeting Hugh Grant and [screenwriter] Richard Curtis and sitting around reading some stuff."
Alwyn didn't give up on his acting ambitions after losing out on the role to Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
The film Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk marked the first feature film appearance for Joe Alwyn.
3. With Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Joe Alwyn made his film debut.
Though he was passed over for a role in "Love Actually," Joe Alwyn was destined for great things. He went to theatrical school after finishing his degree in English literature. Just before he was to graduate, he got his big break when he was called to audition for "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" in the United States. Alwyn said to British GQ, "I simply quit school and they threw me on an aircraft."
Before getting the role, Alwyn celebrated his 24th birthday on set with the rest of the actors and crew. Alwyn's career took off as he entered his mid-20s after director Ang Lee put him in the starring role.
Based on a novel by Ben Fountain, "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" follows a 19-year-old soldier who "becomes a hero after a traumatic Iraq battle and is brought home briefly for a victory tour," as described by Rotten Tomatoes.
"I'd never been in a film before, let alone seen myself on the big screen before," Alwyn told IndieWire following the film's debut. It was a very powerful experience.
4. He's been in some films that were up for the Oscars.
Joe Alwyn has been in a number of films since starring in "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," including "The Sense of an Ending," "The Favourite," "Mary Queen of Scots," "Boy Erased," and "Operation Finale."
Even though Alwyn hasn't won an Academy Award yet, he's been in a number of Oscar-worthy movies. A number of accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, were up for grabs in 2019 for "The Favourite" (via the Los Angeles Times). Two Oscars were up for grabs that same year, and "Mary Queen of Scots" was nominated for both. Both of these flicks take place in the past. Both "Mary Queen of Scots" (about the tragic Scottish queen) and "The Favourite," set in 18th-century England during the reign of Queen Anne, feature Alwyn in supporting roles.
Although Alwyn has not won an Academy Award, he has been widely lauded for his performances. W Magazine proclaimed, "Joe Alwyn is very, very good in 'The Favourite.'" Producer Ang Lee, who directed the film "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" alongside Alwyn, gave the actor high marks in an interview with GQ. His acting skills are "outstanding," he remarked. From a mile away, I could tell that "he possessed a gift which is unique in my experience." It's not hard to imagine Alwyn taking home an Oscar after all he's accomplished thus far.
5. Joe's grandpa was a well-known musician and composer.
Joe Alwyn's love of show business runs in the family. His great-grandfather, William Alwyn, was a famous composer but he did not come from a line of actors. According to his website's history, the elder Alwyn composed music across all genres, including movies. Among the films he has composed music for are Penn of Pennsylvania, The Rake's Progress, The History of Mr. Polly, The Million Pound Note, The Rocking Horse Winner, and A Night to Remember.
Joe Alwyn clearly inherited part of his great-musical grandad's aptitude, but William Alwyn passed away in 1985, so he never got to meet his great-grandson or see him build a name for himself in the film industry. In an interview with Vulture, Alwyn said that he had spent his childhood learning to play the piano and guitar. Even though he is a singer, he isn't particularly confident in his abilities.
6. As a musician, he has worked with Taylor Swift.
Joe Alwyn has revealed to Vulture that he doesn't take himself seriously as a musician and that his involvement in some of Taylor Swift's songs is just coincidental. Alwyn claims that Swift heard him singing one day and thought he was just having fun. Just a random occurrence, he said. "She asked if they could "settle in" and "see it through" together. Well, that's exactly what we did."
Alwyn's first chord and lyric experimentation led to the creation of the opening verse of Swift's "Exile." Since Alwyn wrote under an assumed identity, readers had no idea he was working with his lover. He said on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" that the two of them made the decision to work together so that "people first and foremost" would listen to the music before examining the fact that they worked together (via NME). "We committed these acts while using the alias "William Bowery... Named after my great-grandfather William and the neighborhood of Bowery, New York, where I spent a lot of time when I first settled in the city."
Alwyn reportedly also contributed to Swift's "Betty," "Champagne Problems," "Coney Island," and "Evermore." When "Folklore" was awarded album of the year in 2021, he received a Grammy for his work as a co-producer on the songs "Exile," "Betty," "My Tears Ricochet," "August," "This Is Me Trying," and "Illicit Affairs," as reported by Billboard.
7. Joe Alwyn Is the Subject of a Taylor Swift Song.
Joe Alwyn has made multiple contributions to Taylor Swift's discography. He's inspired a lot of her songs and helped write some of them. The songs concerning Alwyn often directly address his or her feelings for him; for example, "London Boy" is definitely about the native Londoner. CapitalFM reports that "Invisible String" features a reference to Alwyn's time spent as a teenager working in a frozen yogurt shop. The publication claims that "Peace," "Delicate," "Gorgeous," "King of My Heart," "Dress," "The Archer," "Lover," and "Cornelia Street" are all about Alwyn as well.
Although it is difficult to determine how much of Swift's music is actually about Alwyn, it is possible that even more songs have some lyrics inspired by her fiance. The song "Cardigan," for instance, has been seen by some as a tribute to the reliability of Alwyn in her life.
Alwyn, when asked by The Times about how he feels about being the topic of so many of Swift's songs, remained characteristically mum. He responded favorably, saying, "That's flattering" (via Grazia).
8. When asked if he and Taylor Swift are engaged, Joe Alwyn has refused to say.
Do you think Joe Alwyn and Taylor Swift will get married? All we can say is that your guess is as good as ours. The Sun reported in May of this year that the secretive couple had been seeing each other for months, making their relationship official. A source informed People in June of that year that the couple was going to Nashville so that Alwyn could meet the Swifts.
The Sun reported five years later that the pair had secretly become engaged. The insider said, "Taylor has a gorgeous ring, but she only wears it when she's at home - i.e. behind closed doors." "Again, just a select few have been informed of the wedding's specifics, and Taylor hasn't even informed all of her employees of her engagement. They prefer that their relationship not be documented. They're the only ones who will benefit from this."
It was just a few weeks after Alwyn addressed the ongoing engagement rumors in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that these allegations surfaced. A lot of pound coins, he said, if he had a pound for every time he'd been told he was engaged. To this, Alwyn remarked, "I mean, the reality is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn't say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn't say."
9. Ryan Reynolds Has Extolled the Virtues of Joe Alwyn.
The consensus seems to be that Joe Alwyn is a really cool dude. There is a general consensus of acclaim for the actor, with high-profile fans including Ang Lee and Ed Sheeran (who described him as "very pleasant... incredibly friendly, really decent person") (via ET).
One more of Alwyn's outspoken supporters is Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds wrote an emotional obituary for the publication when Alwyn was included on the Time100 Next list in 2022, which honors "emerging stars" from around the world in 100 different fields.
"For the past six years, Joe Alwyn and I have shared each other's lives, and in that time, I have seen his heart. A sufficient amount of time to determine their quality, "Reynolds started his Time article tribute to Alwyn. And Joe Alwyn is solid gold. After praising Alwyn's charisma and talent, Reynolds noted that the actor is more than just a professional. As he put it in his writing, "it's exhilarating to observe where he's gone." "Where he's going next is even more intriguing. But before I conclude this eulogy, I must emphasise his compassion, generosity, and kindness."
10. Joe Alwyn has made a lot of money.
Success has come Joe Alwyn's way after much effort. His career has reportedly earned him $4 million thus far, and that number is only expected to rise thanks to sites like Celebrity Net Worth. While it is unclear how much he makes per picture, Cosmopolitan reports that he probably makes a nice fortune because both "The Favourite" and "Mary Queen of Scots" made over $100 million and $50 million worldwide. It's conceivable that Alwyn's payments will increase as his fame grows.
Given that Alwyn has only been an actor since 2016, his wealth is all the more remarkable. Although Taylor Swift's $400 million wealth may make Joe Alwyn's look meagre, it's important to remember that she began her career in the music industry more than a decade before he earned his first film role. Both of these celebrities are already extremely affluent on their own, but when they join forces, they become even more formidable.
11. He Was a Superstar Hulu's "Conversations With Friends"
The Hulu series "Conversations with Friends," based on the Sally Rooney novel of the same name, added Joe Alwyn to its cast in 2022. Nick, played by Alwyn, is Melissa (Jemima Kirkehusband )'s who begins to have affections for Frances (played by Alison Oliver).
Alwyn's first TV show was "Conversations with Friends," and he noticed a big difference between making a movie and a TV show. He told Entertainment Weekly, "Obviously, you hopefully feel invested in everything, but it's a different feeling being a part of something that you pop into maybe just for three weeks, two weeks, or even a week, as opposed to actually sitting in something for that length of time and feeling really grounded and embedded in it." "This is an absolute luxury and beauty. There's something quite unique about the relationships you build with other survivors. Having such a long period of time to work on it was fantastic."
According to Cosmopolitan UK, Alwyn's performance got rave reviews and set Twitter ablaze. After peering into Joe Alwyn's eyes for over six hours, one viewer concluded, "I get why Taylor Swift is so like blue."
12. Stars At Noon starred Joe Alwyn.
Joe Alwyn's subsequent film appearance was in "Stars at Noon," another film based on a book he had previously featured in. Margaret Qualley stars in the film as "a young American journalist stranded in present-day Nicaragua [who] falls in love with an intriguing Englishman (Joe Alwyn) who seems like her best hope of escape," as described by Rotten Tomatoes. The film is set to be released in 2022.
According to Variety, the film version of Denis Johnson's 1986 novel shifts the action from the midst of the Nicaraguan Revolution to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even both Robert Pattinson and Taron Egerton were considered for the male lead role before settling on Alwyn, he was the clear choice. The film "Start at Noon" was so favourably acclaimed that it shared the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival.
"When the opportunity presented itself, I jumped at it. We waited until the very last minute, "Alwyn confirmed the casting news to E! News. "I got a call asking if I could talk to Claire Denis this afternoon in her capacity as director. In addition, she would be thrilled to hear from you if you follow the directions on the form. So, naturally, I did."
13. Besides Him, His Brothers Patrick and Thomas
Joe Alwyn's family life, like the rest of his private existence, is shrouded in mystery. There is some information we do have, however: he has two brothers named Patrick and Thomas. It would seem that the siblings get along well with one another. It was reported in December 2018 by ET that Taylor Swift and the Alwyn brothers had lunch in New York City. According to the Daily Mail, Swift and Patrick are so close that in 2017, Swift took Patrick to a fan's house for a meet-and-greet.
Patrick has also been connected to a few other well-known figures. According to Cosmopolitan, in 2021 he was spotted with "Stranger Things" star Sadie Sink, while in the years prior he was linked to Iris Apatow. Patrick and Thomas appear to be following Joe's lead by avoiding the spotlight: neither of them has a public Instagram account, and despite their renowned acquaintances, they have largely avoided making headlines.
