Aaron Taylor-Johnson Looks Unrecognizable After Shaving Off His Beard

Aaron Taylor-Johnson has a new kick-ass look.

The Bullet Train star recently debuted a fresh ‘do, trading in his beard and long hair for a more clean-cut style.

"From one look.." Aaron wrote on Instagram Stories Aug. 1, "..to another."

In a photo taken before his dramatic transformation, Aaron sported shoulder length hair and a long, full beard. For his follow-up, the 34-year-old showed off his close-crop haircut and clean shaven face—as well as his rippling biceps—in a gym selfie.

The Kick-Ass alum has had a busy 2024 with roles in The Fall Guy, as well as the upcoming Nosferatu remake and the Spider-Man universe set Kraven the Hunter. In March, online speculation started swirling that he had been cast as James Bond in the Bond franchise following Daniel Craig's 2021 departure.

However, a source with knowledge told E! News at the time that no offer had been made to Aaron.

And while Aaron—who is married to British director Sam Taylor-Johnson—hasn't confirmed the rumors, he hasn't dispelled them either.

"It's not really for me to say anything," he told Esquire in August 2023, when asked about the role. "I just focus on the things I can have my hands in right now. What's in front of me right now."

And what's in front of him right now is his family, including daughters Wylda, 13, and Romy, 12, as well as stepdaughters Angelica, 27, and Jessie, 18, from wife Sam's previous marriage to Jay Jopling.

Since meeting on the set of the 2009 film Nowhere Boy—which Sam directed—the two have been questioned about their 23-year age gap. But according to Sam, it's something that doesn't come up much for the couple in their day-to-day life.

"I mean, it's coming up now because you're asking," she told The Guardian in April. "And it comes up on the outside perspective of people who don't know us, because I guess people will always…We're a bit of an anomaly, but it's that thing: after 14 years you just think, surely by now it doesn't really matter?" 

The 57-year-old shared that she has never been "cynical" about their relationship, and instead prefers the approach that "love conquers all."

And for her, being with Aaron has made a huge difference in her life.

"He gives me that sort of stability, calmness," the Fifty Shades of Grey director explained. "I'm definitely the kind of frenetic, mad energy that needs someone to anchor me. Keep me a bit more grounded. Which he certainly does. He really loves being quiet, in nature. He's a real stay-at-home person."

As for Aaron, he has echoed Sam's feelings, explaining that choosing to settle down with a family in his 20s was a conscious decision.

"What you gotta realize is that what most people were doing in their twenties, I was doing when I was 13," he said to Rolling Stone U.K. in their April/May 2024 issue, later adding, "You're doing something too quickly for someone else? I don't understand that. What speed are you supposed to enjoy life at? It's bizarre to me."

To see more of Aaron and Sam's love story throughout the years, keep reading.

Love at first read? “I wasn’t expecting anything that day," Sam Taylor-Johnson told Harper's Bazaar of future husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson's 2008 audition for her directorial debut Nowhere Boy. "Just to see a bunch of actors pretending to be John Lennon.”

The 18-year-old impressed in more ways than one—nabbing the role and eventually the director's heart. "I knew instantly," she later told The Telegraph of him nailing the read. "I could see how much research he'd done already just by the way he was standing and the few words he said."

Though she would later tell Harper's Bazaar they "were very professional through the entire film," after they wrapped, she continued, "He told me he was going to marry me. We had never been on a date, or even kissed.”

Precisely one year after they met, he shared, "I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.” The pair announced their engagement at their film's London premiere. 

By the time he was 11, Aaron recounted to Esquire, he was already planning for a big family. So not only was he ready to embrace the role of stepdad to Angelica and Jessie, Sam's daughters with ex-husband Jay Joplin, but he was eager to add a few of their own. 

"I knew I was going to be a young father," he explained. "I knew I was going to have many kids.” The couple welcomed daughter Wylda in July 2010. 

Receiving an OBE recognizing her artwork and photography from the future King Charles III at Buckinham Palace, Sam brought along Aaron and her eldest daughters. 

A year and a half after Wylda's birth, daughter Romy joined the team in January 2012. "The great thing about Aaron is that he's happy not working and being at home with the kids while I work," the director told The Guardian in 2015. "We're actually fighting over it. He's like, 'No no, I like being an at-home dad, doing the cooking and the school runs.'"

Months after their June wedding in Somerset, England, the couple (at the London premiere of Skyfall) revealed they'd decided to combine their last names into one. 

"I just don't see why women need to take the man's name," Aaron explained to the London Evening Standard. "I wanted to be a part of her just as much as she wanted to be part of me."

Mrs. Taylor-Johnson will see you now. While promoting Fifty Shades of Grey, the director raved about her years-long romance.

"Being in an amazing relationship, having come out of a difficult one, it felt so good," she noted to The Guardian. "And I feel like that stability has enabled me to get on with doing this momentous project."

But, no, she never once considered casting her man as Christian Grey. "We both read it and knew right then that when she went into direct it, I wouldn't be the one to step into those shoes," he told Marie Claire U.K. "And that was fine. It didn't feel like one of us was like, "I really wanted to do that'...I'm obviously really, really proud of Sam and it was great to see her take that project and make it her own, and not have to feel like just because there's a role...I feel like I'm too young for that role anyway!"

When the actor won his first Golden Globe, as the star of Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals, he shouted out all of his girls. 

"I want to thank my wife for being there with me, supporting me through this," he said. "Thank you for putting up with me. Jesus, that was not very pleasant in this role, so you're my soulmate and I love you very much."

"I'm blessed," he continued. "I have four beautiful daughters: Angelica, Phoenix, Wylda, and Romy, I love you all very much."

Before teaming up for A Million Little Pieces, the duo teased their future plans. "We are definitely working towards something interesting," Aaron told E! News at the 2017 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. "Hopefully we can get it off the ground. I mean, this is the best director right here I'm desperate to work with again."

Forgoing the traditional tin, the pair celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary with a vow renewal. "Yesterday was the most beautiful day, summer solstice, our 10th anniversary," Aaron wrote, sharing the photos on Instagram. "We renewed our vows to one another and confessed our love in front of our nearest and dearest friends and family it was a celebration of love and joy!"

Echoed his bride, "10 glorious years. My incredible husband, father to all 4 girls. I love you, I love you, I love you."

While the stars (at the London premiere of Back to Black) are aware others want to address their age gap, "When you're solid with someone in your own love," she told The Sunday Times, "you don't think about it." 

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