Armie Hammer (born August 28, 1986) is an American actor. Armie played Gabriel Edwards in Gossip Girl, in Season 2.
Early Life[]
Armand Douglas Hammer was born on August 28, 1986, in Santa Monica, California. His mother, Dru Ann (née Mobley), is a former bank loan officer, and his father, Michael Armand Hammer, owns several businesses, including Knoedler Publishing and Armand Hammer Productions, a film/television production company. He has a younger brother, Viktor.
Hammer has described his background as "half Jewish." His paternal great-grandfather was oil tycoon and philanthropist Armand Hammer, whose parents were Jewish immigrants to the U.S. from the (then) Russian Empire, and were of Ukrainian Jewish descent; Armand's father, Julius Hammer, was from Odessa (now in Ukraine, but then in the Russian Empire), and founded the Communist Party in New York. Armie's paternal great-grandmother was Russian-born actress and singer Olga Vadimovna "Vadina" (from Sevastopol), the daughter of a tsarist general. His paternal grandmother was from Texas, while his mother's family is from Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to research by Ancestry.com, Hammer's eighth great-grandfather was Cherokee Chief Kanagatucko, who was a "known advocate of peace and friendship" during the French and Indian War and the Seven Years’ War.
Hammer lived in the Dallas neighborhood of Highland Park for several years. When he was seven, his family moved to the Cayman Islands, where they lived for five years, and then settled back in Los Angeles. He attended Faulkner's Academy in Governor's Harbour, Cayman Islands, and Grace Christian Academy, also in Grand Cayman (a school founded by his father in West Bay, Grand Cayman), and later went to Los Angeles Baptist High School in the San Fernando Valley. He dropped out of high school in eleventh grade to pursue an acting career. Subsequently, he took college courses at UCLA. Hammer said his parents disowned him when he decided to leave school and take up acting but have since become supportive and proud of his work.
Career[]
Hammer's professional acting career began with small guest appearances in the television series Arrested Development, Veronica Mars, Gossip Girl, Reaper and Desperate Housewives. His first ventures into film began with a minor role in the 2006 film Flicka, as well as co-starring in a 2008 psychological thriller, Blackout. His first leading role in film came with his portrayal of the Christian evangelist Billy Graham in Billy: The Early Years, which premiered in October 2008. The film garnered Hammer a "Faith and Values Award" nomination in the Grace Award category, which is awarded for the Most Inspiring Performance in Movie or Television by Mediaguide, an organization which provides movie reviews from a Christian perspective.
In 2007 Hammer was hand-picked by filmmaker George Miller, after a long search, to star in the planned superhero film Justice League: Mortal, as Batman/Bruce Wayne. The film, which was to be directed by Miller, was eventually cancelled. The film's cancellation came in large part due to the looming 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike as well as stalled budgetary rebate negotiations with the Australian Government. In 2009, he played Harrison Bergeron in 2081, based on the short story of the same name by author Kurt Vonnegut, which premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival. In 2010 Hammer's breakthrough film role was in David Fincher's The Social Network, about the creation of Facebook. He portrayed the identical twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, with actor Josh Pence serving as a body double during filming. The filmmakers utilized computer-generated imagery during post-production to superimpose Hammer's face over Pence's as well as the use of split-screen photography in certain scenes. In preparation for the film, Hammer stated that he had to learn how to row on both sides of a boat in order to play the twins, who are rowing champions. Hammer and Pence also went through 10 months of extensive twin boot camp in preparation for their roles, in order to "drill the subtle movements and speech patterns that the Winklevosses would have developed over two decades of genetic equality." This film earned Hammer his first critical plaudits, with Richard Corliss of Time magazine remarking that Hammer's portrayal of the twins was "an astonishingly subtle trompe l'oeil of special effects". For his role in the film, Hammer won Toronto Film Critics Association Awards for Best Supporting Actor.
His next role was that of the first Associate Director of the FBI, Clyde Tolson, in Clint Eastwood's 2011 film J. Edgar. The biographical drama, written by Dustin Lance Black, focused on the expansive career of J. Edgar Hoover, of which the titular role was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio. The acting was largely praised, with David Denby of The New Yorker calling Hammer's performance "charming", and The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy describing it as "excellent". McCarthy goes on further in his review to particularly praise the chemistry between DiCaprio and Hammer, specifically in their depiction of the often speculated romantic relationship between their characters, pointing out that, "...the way the homoerotic undertones and impulses are handled is one of the best things about the film; the emotional dynamics, given all the social and political factors at play, feel entirely credible, and the DiCaprio and Hammer excel during the exchanges of innuendo, covert desire, recriminations and mutual understanding." Despite this, the film received mixed reviews overall, in part due to the direction and writing, but with especially pointed criticism at the makeup used to age DiCaprio and Hammer's characters. Both actors received Screen Actors Guild Awards nods.
The following year Hammer co-starred with Julia Roberts and Lily Collins in Mirror Mirror (2012), playing Prince Andrew Alcott. In January 2012, he voiced the Winklevoss twins in an episode of The Simpsons titled "The D'oh-cial Network". In 2013, Hammer was cast as the title role of Disney's, The Lone Ranger, alongside Johnny Depp as Tonto, in an adaptation of the radio and film serials Lone Ranger. The film, released theatrically in July 2013, was a box office bomb, grossing only $260.5 million worldwide on a reported budget of $215 million. In 2015, he starred in director Guy Ritchie's The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a feature film adaptation of the 1960s TV show The Man from U.N.C.L.E., playing Illya Kuryakin, opposite Henry Cavill.
In 2017 Hammer starred as Oliver in Call Me by Your Name, starring opposite Timothée Chalamet and Michael Stuhlbarg. The film, an adaptation of an André Aciman novel of the same name, was directed by Luca Guadagnino. Production began in May 2016, and the film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. For his performance, Hammer received acclaim and nominations for the Critics' Choice Award, the Independent Spirit Award, and the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.
Personal Life[]
In May 2010, Hammer married television personality Elizabeth Chambers. The pair were introduced by Hammer's friend, artist Tyler Ramsey. They have two children.On July 10, 2020, Hammer and Chambers announced their separation via Instagram.
Hammer is known for his outspoken, politically and socially charged views on social media.
In 2011, Hammer was arrested at a United States Border Patrol checkpoint in West Texas after marijuana was discovered in his car. El Paso's attorney declined to prosecute the case, as the amount of marijuana Hammer had would amount to a misdemeanor. In 2013, Hammer said the arrest "was a misunderstanding of laws and interstate laws versus state laws and apparently federal laws supersede state laws."
In 2021, Hammer dropped out of – or was dropped from – a number of acting productions in development, in the wake of sexual and emotional abuse allegations, including a sexual assault investigation.
Official Accounts[]
Filmography[]
Movies[]
| Movie | Role | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flicka | Male prefect | 2006 | ||
| Blackout | Tommy | 2008 | ||
| Billy: The Early Years | Billy Graham | 2008 | ||
| Spring Breakdown | Beachcomber boy | 2009 | ||
| 2081 | Harrison Bergeron | 2009 | Short film | |
| The Social Network | Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss | 2010 | ||
| J. Edgar | Clyde Tolson | 2011 | ||
| Mirror Mirror | Prince Andrew Alcott | 2012 | ||
| The Polar Bears | Zook(voice) | 2012 | Short film | |
| The Lone Ranger | John Reid/The Lone Ranger | 2013 | ||
| Stan Lee's Mighty 7 | Strong Arm(voice) | 2014 | ||
| Entourage | Himself | 2015 | Cameo | |
| The Man from U.N.C.L.E | Illya Kuryakin | 2015 | ||
| The Birth of a Nation | Samuel Turner | 2016 | ||
| Nocturnal Animals | Hutton Morrow | 2016 | ||
| Free Fire | Ord | 2016 | ||
| Mine | Mike Stevens | 2016 | ||
| Call Me by Your Name | Oliver | 2017 | ||
| Final Portrait | James Lord | 2017 | ||
| Cars 3 | Jackson Storm(voice) | 2017 | ||
| Sorry to Bother You | Steve Lift | 2018 | ||
| Hotel Mumbai | David | 2018 | ||
| On the Basis of Sex | Martin D. Ginsburg | 2018 | ||
| Wounds | Will | 2019 | ||
| Query | Jim | 2020 | Short film | |
| Rebecca | Maxim de Winter | 2020 | ||
| Crisis | Jake Kahane | 2021 | ||
| Death on the Nile | Simon Doyle | 2022 | Post-production | |
| Next Goal Wins | TBA | Post-production |
Television[]
| Title | Role | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arrested Development | Student #2 | 2005 | Episode: "The Immaculate Election: |
| Veronica Mars | Kurt | 2006 | Episode: "Wichita Linebacker" |
| Desperate Housewives | Barrett | 2007 | Episode: "Distant Past" |
| Reaper | Morgan | 2009 | 5 episodes |
| Gossip Girl | Gabriel Edwards | 2009 | 4 episodes |
| The Simpsons | Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss(voices) | 2012 | Episode: "The D'oh-cial Network" |
| American Dad! | Car rental agent(voice) | 2012 | Episode: "The Wrestler" |
| Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | Himself(guest) | 2018 | 1 episode |
| Running Wild with Bear Grylls | Himself(guest) | 2019 | 1 episode |
| We Are Who We Are | Cafeteria worker | 2020 | Episode: "Right here, right now #6" |
Video games[]
| Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Disney Infinity | John Reid/The Lone Ranger | 2013 |
| Disney Infinity 2.0 | John Reid/The Lone Ranger | 2013 |
| Disney Infinity 3.0 | John Reid/The Lone Ranger | 2013 |
Theater[]
| Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Straight White Men | Drew | 2018 |
| The Minutes | Mr. Peel | 2020 |