Joe Alwyn
Former Partner
Joseph (Joe) Matthew Alwyn is a British actor and songwriter who was Taylor’s partner from September 2016 to April 2023. His accolades include the “Trophée Chopard” at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and a Grammy Award for “Album of the Year” as a collaborator on Taylor’s folklore (2020).
Table of Contents
Early Life and Education
Joe grew up in Tufnell Park, a well-to-do neighborhood in north London. His mother, Elizabeth, is a psychotherapist. “I never felt like I was lying down on the couch and being analysed every evening, which is probably a good thing. But she’s great with people and great to talk to,” he told The Guardian in 2022. “If I didn’t do this [acting], I’d be interested in something like that.”
His father, Richard, is a documentary filmmaker and teacher who sparked Joe’s love of film, often gifting him stacks of VHS tapes. “He makes fly-on-the-wall, observational stories. I remember him being away a lot, in far-flung places, bringing back cool gifts for me and my brother.”
Joe has two brothers: an older brother, Thomas, who works for an NGO, and a much younger brother, Patrick, who was born when Joe was in secondary school. Joe attended a private boys’ school on scholarship and bursary, enjoying sports like football and tennis, while quietly nurturing his theatrical ambitions. “I secretly would look up drama schools online,” he said, recalling an early obsession with Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and French films his parents showed him.
He occasionally acted in school productions, playing Banquo in a rollerbladed Macbeth and Snowy in a Tintin play. At university, he applied to four drama schools and was accepted by only one.
His father, Richard, is a documentary filmmaker and teacher who sparked Joe’s love of film, often gifting him stacks of VHS tapes. “He makes fly-on-the-wall, observational stories. I remember him being away a lot, in far-flung places, bringing back cool gifts for me and my brother.”
Joe has two brothers: an older brother, Thomas, who works for an NGO, and a much younger brother, Patrick, who was born when Joe was in secondary school. Joe attended a private boys’ school on scholarship and bursary, enjoying sports like football and tennis, while quietly nurturing his theatrical ambitions. “I secretly would look up drama schools online,” he said, recalling an early obsession with Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and French films his parents showed him.
He occasionally acted in school productions, playing Banquo in a rollerbladed Macbeth and Snowy in a Tintin play. At university, he applied to four drama schools and was accepted by only one.
Career Beginnings
People weren’t surprised that Joe wanted to act. “I feel like I’d given enough hints that it wasn’t a complete bombshell,” he told The Guardian. He studied English and drama at Bristol University before attending drama school in London.
Immediately after his final showcase, he signed with an agent and was invited to audition for Ang Lee, the Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain and Sense and Sensibility. “They put me on a plane—I hadn’t been to America before. Within five days, I’d left school, had a visa, and was in boot camp in Atlanta. The first week or two, I was shitting myself,” he recalled. After filming, he returned home, “walked the dog in pouring rain,” and life continued.
Following Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Joe played a string of challenging characters: a slave-owner in Harriet, a Nazi’s son in Operation Finale, and Masham in The Favourite, a comic supporting role opposite Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. He said he preferred interesting supporting roles with directors he admired over flashy lead parts. “The idea of being the lead just for the sake of it seems ridiculous. I’d much rather play an interesting support role in an interesting film,” he told The Guardian.
Immediately after his final showcase, he signed with an agent and was invited to audition for Ang Lee, the Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain and Sense and Sensibility. “They put me on a plane—I hadn’t been to America before. Within five days, I’d left school, had a visa, and was in boot camp in Atlanta. The first week or two, I was shitting myself,” he recalled. After filming, he returned home, “walked the dog in pouring rain,” and life continued.
Following Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Joe played a string of challenging characters: a slave-owner in Harriet, a Nazi’s son in Operation Finale, and Masham in The Favourite, a comic supporting role opposite Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. He said he preferred interesting supporting roles with directors he admired over flashy lead parts. “The idea of being the lead just for the sake of it seems ridiculous. I’d much rather play an interesting support role in an interesting film,” he told The Guardian.
Relationship with Taylor
From September 2016 until April 2023, Joe was in a relationship with Taylor. The couple lived together, primarily in London, and Joe preferred to keep their relationship almost entirely private. “It’s just not for other people. And I don’t say that with aggression,” he told The Guardian:
«I don’t know how best to talk about it. I mean, I’m aware of people’s interest, and that world existing. It’s just not something I particularly care about, or have much interest in feeding, I guess, because the more it’s fed, the more you are opening a gate for intrusion. I think that’s just my response to a culture that has this increasing expectation that everything is going to be given. If you don’t post about the way you make your coffee in the morning, or if you don’t let someone take a picture when you walk out of your front door, is that being private? I don’t know if it is. So I just don’t really feed that.»
His own Instagram is strictly work-based, and there is little hint of anything beyond a film set. “If you and I were having a conversation, and having a shandy in my house, and it wasn’t being recorded, then, of course, other things would be said,” he says, echoing what Taylor told The Guardian in 2019. (“If you and I were having a glass of wine right now, we’d be talking about it – but it’s just that it goes out into the world,” she said, back then.)
However, his constant efforts to maintain that level of secrecy eventually proved unsustainable for Taylor, and contributed to the relationship’s end. In April 2023, media outlets reported that Taylor and Joe had broken up after more than six years together. Sources close to the two of them confirmed the news.
However, his constant efforts to maintain that level of secrecy eventually proved unsustainable for Taylor, and contributed to the relationship’s end. In April 2023, media outlets reported that Taylor and Joe had broken up after more than six years together. Sources close to the two of them confirmed the news.
Music and Songwriting
One topic Joe has spoken openly about is his unexpected musical collaboration with Taylor, which earned him a Grammy in 2021. When folklore was released, two songs, “betty” and “exile“, credited a mysterious co-writer, William Bowery. Fans speculated about the identity until Taylor revealed it was Joe, who also co-wrote songs on evermore (2020). “That was a surreal bonus of lockdown. That’s an understatement,” he told The Guardian:
«It wasn’t like, ‘It’s five o’clock, time to write a song. It started from messing around on a piano, singing badly, and being overheard. Then it was, ‘Let’s see what happens if we finish this.’ It was just like baking sourdough in lockdown. The Grammy was this ridiculous bonus.»
Joe admitted he never had real musical ambitions. As a teen, he played guitar “awfully” in a school band called Anger Management, covering Marilyn Manson’s version of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” He can play piano “pretty badly,” but never with the intent of releasing music himself.
Source: The Guardian, 2022
General Information
| Born | February 21, 1991 Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England |
|---|---|
| Pseudonym | William Bowery |
| Alma mater | University of Bristol Royal Central School of Speech & Drama |
| Occupation | Actor Songwriter |
| Partner | Taylor Alison Swift (2016-2023) |
| Brothers | Thomas Alwyn Patrick Alwyn |
| Parents | Richard Alwyn Elizabeth Alwyn |