How does a skinny, gay Welsh boy raised in a strict community of Jehovah’s Witnesses become a famous Hollywood action star with credits in “Clash of the Titans” and the “Fast & Furious” franchise? As Luke Evans reveals in his candid memoir Boy From the Valleys, musical theater, singing lessons and friends in useful places eased his path to London’s West End and then to film stardom. and television.

In Los Angeles to promote his latest action role in “Weekend in Taipei” from “Swimming With Sharks” director George Huang, Evans will soon return to Portland, Ore., to work on the Prime Video series “Criminal,” in in which he plays the lead role of Tracy Lawless. Among other press tasks, he answers questions about his memoir, published November 7. The star of Disney’s live-action film “Beauty and the Beast,” now 45, has been used to juggling incessant obligations since childhood.

Having started out in musical theater, he did not have the luxury of financial security. “It was literally work for work, and there was no chance of saving money,” Evans says. “I could never sit down and say, ‘I’m OK,’ and for many reasons that worried me.”

As the only child of a mason father, “I knew I had a responsibility to protect us, to take care of us, and I didn’t see that happening” at this point in his career.

At the age of 26, Evans decided he would give himself until age 30 to find financial security in his job, or else he would give it up. Almost inevitably, at age 30, Hollywood agents came calling.

“When this film and television business started for me, it came out of nowhere,” he says. “It was not something I had planned and it changed our lives. »

He loves “telling stories and bringing characters to life and that ability to create conversations and entertainment,” but says, “Part of the reason I have this work ethic is because I have people I want to take care of and keep them safe.

Once Evans started answering calls in Los Angeles, he hit the ground running. Before long, he had landed roles as a Greek god in “Clash of the Titans,” a thug in Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” and Andy, a lovelorn farmer, in Stephen Frears’ “Tamara Drewe.” He went on to play a villain in the “Fast & Furious” franchise, Aramis in “The Three Musketeers”, a dragon slayer in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films, Vlad the vampire in “Dracula Untold” and the the vain Gaston in Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast.” Most recently, he appeared alongside Nicole Kidman in Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” and starred in the upcoming Luc Besson-produced “Weekend in Taipei.”

When he has a break between projects, he spends time at home in Lisbon or Ibiza, “doing nothing but reading, cooking and going to the beach.”

All this is a far cry from the actor’s beginnings, which his memoir details in depth. Growing up in the village of Aberbargoed in South Wales, he accompanied his mother on her door-to-door duties, an obligation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion. It was a religion that categorically refused to admit or dealing with homosexualsSo when young Evans came out to his friends and later to his parents, it seemed obvious that he would have to move out and make his own way at 17. Since then, he has worked tirelessly.

Among his accomplishments: recording a solo album (two in fact, in 2019 and 2022), performing on Broadway, traveling the world, headlining action films, portraying gay characters with all the nuances they were once denied and write a thoroughly entertaining memoir.

“In an autobiography, you want your voice to come through. I wanted to feel like I was talking to a friend and sharing my story the way I want to tell it,” he says.

The memoir developed following a BBC radio interview broadcast in late 2022. In it, Evans revealed many previously unknown stories about growing up in a strict Witness family. Jehovah, of struggling with his sexual identity, of performing musical theater and of achieving late success.

A week later, Evans recalls, a division of Penguin Random House “contacted my literary agent in London and offered him a memoir. I immediately said, “I’m 45, wait!” They can’t do a memoir at 45.

But after some thought, Evans decided to write the book not so much for himself as “for young people, people who have struggled with their identity, people who are perhaps lost, who live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, or who were raised.” in a very religious house,” he says.

“I am all these people,” he notes. “I thought it might be an inspiration to anyone who might read it, because I had many struggles in my life and wanted to give up. This is me sharing stories that could possibly help someone.

From the moment Evans sat down to write, without distractions, it took him 10 months to complete his life story.

“It was sometimes painful to reread, but there is so much hope,” he says. “I thought I had a really bad memory, so I was afraid when I started this book that I would forget all the nuanced details,” but in reality, when given enough space and time, he discovered that he could “open a collection of doors and memories.

Evans admits he didn’t expect the process to be as emotional as it turned out. As an actor, he is able to distance himself from roles “because the character is not you, his story is not yours, but it is up to you to portray it as honestly as possible.” But in this case, “there were times when I couldn’t distance myself.”

After writing passages from his memoirs, there were days when he had to be alone “and take a very long walk. It was a profound and above all enriching experience.

Some moments were upsetting, “because I was there alone, or in pain, and I had no one, and I remember what it was like,” he says. “It’s probably the actor in me, showing empathy and putting myself in someone else’s shoes. But this time, I was just putting myself in my place when I was younger. “

Considering all the tough guy roles he’s played, it’s telling that Evans finds it scary to share his own life story.

“This book is really like putting my life on a plate and giving it to someone,” he says. “It’s a really scary moment for me to give this away.”