Lucas Hedges

Background

Lucas Hedges was born in New York on December 12, 1996. He is the youngest son of poet and actress Susan Bruce and screenwriter and director Peter Hedges. Hedges enrolled in theater classes at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and graduated in 2016. He comes from a family of artists. His maternal grandfather was a former vice president in New York at H.B.O. His maternal grandmother, Narcissa Titman, was a former theater director and teacher.

He grew up in Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill, frequently visiting his father’s movie sets. As a child, Hedges made his film debut in 2007 as an extra in his father’s film “Dan in Real Life.” During a high school stage production, Hedges was noticed by the casting director of “Moonrise Kingdom” and he was cast in the film as Redford. Hedges then went on to play small roles. In 2014, Hedges played a minor role in “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and played the son of Jeremy Renner’s character in “Kill the Messenger.” For his role as the orphaned nephew of Casey Affleck’s character in “Manchester by the Sea,” Hedges received a Critic’s Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer in 2016.

He played a teenager who violently bullies his younger brother (played by Sunny Suljic) in the comedy-drama “Mid90s,” Jonah Hill’s directorial debut. In 2018, Hedges made his first Broadway appearance in Kenneth Lonergan’s play “The Waverly Gallery” alongside great actors such as Elaine May, Michael Cera, and Joan Allen. He played a teenager dealing with his grandmother who had Alzheimer’s disease.