Justin Theroux is an actor, comedian, film producer, and screenwriter of American origin. Many may remember him for his work with renowned movie director, David Lynch. He appeared in two movies directed by Lynch, Mulholland Drive (2001) and Inland Empire (2006).
Theroux also starred in the HBO series The Leftover, as Kevin Garvey. The series ran from 2014 to 2017. He also starred as Tom in another series titled “The Girl on the Train” in 2016. Justin Theroux presented us with another side of his when he worked as a screenwriter on Iron Man 2 and Tropic Thunder.
Asides these, there’s so much to know about Justin Theroux from his career to gossips and rumors about him. We have put all of these together in this post.
Early life and Childhood of Justin Theroux
Justin Paul Theroux as christened by his parents was born in Washington, USA to parents Eugene and Phyllis Theroux on August 10, 1971. Based on his date of birth, his zodiac is Leo. His father, Eugene was a lawyer at the time of his birth. It is clear that he must have gotten his writing skills from his mother, Phyllis Theroux, who was an author.
One thing stands out about the Theroux family. Individuals from this family are highly educated and artistic. Many of his nephews are authors, poets, or journalists. Theroux’s ancestry has been traced to Gustav Kobbe, one of the greatest musicians of the modern age.
Justin Theroux’s Educational Background
For his elementary education, Theroux attended the Lafayette Elementary School. After this, he went on to join the Annunciation School before graduating from the Field School.
Theroux obtained a B.A. in visual arts and drama from Bennington College. While he was in college, he did a bit of acting, taking small roles here and there. This is probably what gave him the inspiration and zest to become a professional actor.
Justin Theroux’s Career
His debut movie role came in the movie “I Shot Andy Warhol” in 1996. This opened the door to several Broadway performances and many other movies majorly in the comedic genre. Here’s a list of the first few movies he acted in:
- The Baxter
- Zoolander
- Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
- Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion.
Theroux also appeared as a guest on the very famous movie “Sex and the City.” Even though he is renowned for his comedic roles, Justin Theroux pushed himself to act several other roles. One of the most famous of such roles was when he acted in a thriller by Christian Bale titled “American Psycho.” He also acted on Inland Empire and Mulholland Drive directed by David Lynch.
Theroux has also had his fair share of appearing in television series. Between 2014 and 2017, he was the lead character in the HBO series “The Leftover.” On this series, he was known as Kevin Garvey,
Justin Theroux made his foray into movie directing when he directed the movie “Dedication.” He has also shown us that he is not limited to acting and directing as he is also a good screenwriter. We already told you about his screenwriting work on Iron Man 2 and Zoolander.
Nominations and Awards
Justin Theroux has had a couple of nominations all through his illustrious career. In 2015, he got the Lab School of Washington award for his achievemtns. Recently, he was also nominated for the Critic’s Choice Television Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award.
Theroux’s Personal Life
Sometime in the 90s, Theroux, and stylist, Heidi Bivens met. They soon became a romantic item, a relationship that lasted more than ten years. In 2011, the couple split and not long after, Theroux was in another relationship.
This time, he was dating famous “Friends” actress, Jennifer Aniston. Their relationship began when they were working on a movie known as “Wanderlust.” Before long, the couple was engaged and three years after their engagement, they were married.
The Anniston and Theroux preferred to have a quiet wedding so the ceremony was held privately in their Bel Air home. As a matter of fact, they only invited a few close friends to their wedding which held on August 5, 2015.
Rumors and Gossips
In February 2018, the love story between Theroux and Anniston came to an end as they got divorced. After a while, Theroux spoke to the press about the divorce and his interview was published in The New York Times. According to him, they parted without any form of hostility.
He said it was heartbreaking considering the fact that their friendship would never be the same. However, he sees their relationship as ever-evolving and something both individuals were proud of.
Net worth
The salary of the actor, director, and screenwriter has not been revealed. However, his net worth is estimated to be in the range of $20 million. His major income source is his acting while he has also made money from directing and screenwriting.
Facts about Justin Theroux you didn’t know
It is safe to say that Justin Theroux is quite a famous character. Despite this fact, there are certain things you probably didn’t know about him. In this section, we present to you a few of these facts about the famous Justin Theroux.
He thinks writing is more difficult than acting
Facts show that Justin’s parents are both writers in their own right. This is definitely where he developed his interest in writing. While his mother worked as a writer with the Washington Post, his father was a novelist responsible for the novel “The Mosquito Coast.” This was beside his regular job as a lawyer and essayist.
Regardless of this, Theroux still believes it is still more difficult to write a screenplay than it is to act. It is ironic that despite his belief, he has openly stated that he is more satisfied with completing his writing projects.
Also See: Nicole Scherzinger – Biography, Boyfriend, Life, Net Worth & More
He was born into an artistically talented family
We have already shown you that Justin Theroux’s parents were both artistically talented. However, they aren’t the only talented members of the Theroux lineage. He has three very successful and talented uncles. One of them, Paul Theroux, is a renowned travel writer and novelist.
Alexander Theroux, another of his uncles, is a novelist and poet. His third Uncle, Joseph Theroux, is also a novelist as well as an educator. Two of his cousins Marcel and Louis Theroux are documentary makers and journalists.
It is amazing that Justin’s younger brother, Sebastian Theroux, is in no way linked to any form of art, be it writing or acting.
He could have been on the cast of Friends
Justin Theroux could have been on Friends and if he had, he probably would have met his ex-wife earlier. It is no secret that Jenifer Anniston is one of the stars of one of the most successful comedy TV shows of all time. Why did Theroux not star on Friends?
According to E-Online, the actor declined to attend the screen test for the show. If he had, then he may have hit success on the show faster than he did without it. This would have had a significant impact on his net worth too. Despite all of these facts laid out, Theroux says he has never regretted not being on the show.
He is extremely artistic
Theroux is an extremely artistic individual and his artistic tendencies even influence what he studied in college. We told you earlier that he graduated from Bennington College with a B.A. in visual arts and drama.
To date, he is still very artistic and sees it as fun to hang around people of his type. He enjoys hanging out with friends who are also passionate about art. According to him, the best places to hang out are artsy places.
He played two different roles on Sex and The City
We all know that Theroux appeared on Sex and The City, that’s very obvious. What isn’t obvious is the fact that he played two roles on the set. This technically counts as two different appearances when you come to think about it.
His first role was as the novelist Jared who flirted with Carrie in one of the episodes titled Monogamists. One year later, he returned to play the character, Vaughn. This was in an episode titled Shortcomings.
Justin is a Talented Illustrator
We have told you about Theroux’s acting, writing and directing talents. However, we haven’t told you yet that he a talented illustrator. Theroux had his hands on two books by Amy Sedaris as the illustrator. These books are “Simple Times” and “I like you.”
He is a Vegetarian
You probably didn’t expect this by Justin is vegetarian. He made up his mind to be one while he was a teenager. It was at this time that he also developed a passion for animal rights and animal welfare.
To this day, he continues to be a vegetarian. It is one fact about himself he never wants to hide. He has even gone ahead to express his support for the welfare of animals openly. Theroux has also been part of several PETA campaigns.
He is a fitness enthusiast
When you see Theroux without his shirt, one thing comes to mind. Justin is a ruthless fitness enthusiast and he loves keeping in shape. This is another thing he really loves to speak about as he never fails to show his love for fitness.
One of his choicest ways to keep fit is boxing. Despite this, he prefers not to have female partners as he says it is always difficult hitting them back. His love for fitness is so evident that he once graced the front cover of one of the issues of “Men’s Health.” Of course, he showed off his amazing physique.
He does tattoos
Like we said earlier, Justin is incredibly talented. One such talent is that he is able to do tattoos, a quality many people do not know about. Because of this, he has tattooed quite a number of his friends, one of whom is Conan O’Brien. He did the ladybugs and unicorns you see on O’Brien’s abs.
He may never have married Jenifer Anniston
Anniston and Theroux got married in 2015 and immediately, their marriage became one of the biggest romance stories of Hollywood. Some rumors that tell us that Theroux was never married to Anniston. This story began making rounds when TMZ searched for the couple’s marriage records.
According to TMZ, they found no legal records of the marriage. TMZ, therefore, insinuated that they never filed for any confidential marriage records. If these records were not available, then it is possible that the couple were never married legally.
To date, neither Anniston nor Theroux have responded to the claims, either to confirm or refute them.
Theroux found it difficult to come to terms with Anniston’s fame
Justin Theroux has never liked the attention side of being a celebrity. This is why he always tried to keep his private life away from the press. He is fine with appearing at public events but shies away from the invasion of the public.
This was always one of his challenges while he was with Jennifer Anniston. Obviously, she was more famous at the time which resulted in a lot of attention from the paparazzi. He always saw press interest in their relationship as too invasive.
Theroux nearly drowned during his honeymoon
Justin described one of the most frightening incidences in his life as when he nearly drowned. His honeymoon with Anniston was spent in Bora Bora. Scuba diving is a very popular activity in this location.
Theroux, before this time, had only done this once before. As he went on a dive with one of the instructors, he had some communication issues due to the language barrier. While he was trying to inform the instructor that his tank was low on oxygen, the instructor asked him to continue diving. This was because of a misunderstanding of language.
Soon, Theroux was almost out of oxygen before he was able to communicate his predicament to the instructor. This was when the instructor saved his life by putting him on an emergency respirator.
