Jonah Hauer-King is Prince Eric in Disney’s live-action version of The Little Mermaid. But who is Jonah Hauer-King? Don’t worry, we got you covered with 18 things to know about the British Jewish actor:
1. Jonah was born in London in 1995, to an American mom, Debra Hauer, and a British dad, Jeremy King. They combined their last names for their children.
2. His maternal grandparents were Polish Jews who fled in the 1930s. As he told a UK magazine, “Because of that I’ve always been really fascinated in how war affects one’s identity.”
3. Hauer-King was raised Jewish, and has dual U.K. and U.S. citizenship. His Instagram bio (as we write this) is just “🇬🇧🇺🇸” right now.
4. “My mum was a director and a producer, so I owe a lot of my love of theatre to her,” he explained. “She’d always take me to shows, and she gave me quite a diverse exposure to the theatre world. Though I grew up with it, I never really admitted to myself that I wanted to act until my mid teens. My parents gave me a very realistic outlook on being in this industry — the uncertainty and instability. They didn’t actively encourage me until I said ‘This is what I want to do’ and they’ve been hugely supportive ever since.”
4. He attended Eton College, then Cambridge, graduating with a degree in theology and religious studies. His dad never attended university and was “really keen” for Jonah to go.
5. He has two older sisters — Margot and Hannah. Hannah is the artistic director of a company called Damsel Productions.
6. He made his lead acting debut in a film called The Last Photograph (he called it “the first movie I ever did”!) which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2017. It’s just being released in the U.S. in 2019. He’s also starred in Ashes in the Snow, Postcards from London, and A Dog’s Way Home.
7. In 2017, he played Laurie in a BBC version of Little Women. (It aired in America on PBS.)
And he posted great behind-the-scenes photos on his insta:
8. He stars in a miniseries called World on Fire, which “follows the hidden lives of ordinary people during World War II.” He plays a British translator.
That’s his face on the thumbnail! Here’s his face, again (it’s a very good face!):
9. And of course, he was cast as Prince Eric in the live-action The Little Mermaid. He kinda really looks like the animated version??
10. And yes, he can sing.
11. He played the younger version of a Jewish violin prodigy, Dovidl, in The Song of Names (out December 2019). Clive Owen plays the older version of Dovidl.
12. Jonah thinks American cereal is “heaven,” according to this December 2013 Instagram post (and yes, this is an important thing to know about a person!):
13. He also has fallen to the trend of instgramming rainbow bagels:
14. He instagrammed a Christmas tree with the caption “wtf.” (Same, Jonah, same.) (His Instagram is a delight, if you can’t tell.)
15. He’s a #feminist — in January 2017, he attended the Women’s March in London. Or at least he instagrammed from it:
16. He’s been to Malta, where he posed with this maybe Jewish art display??
17. Here is Jonah with a baby:
Another Jonah and baby photo??? SURE!
(Not his baby.)
18. Have we mentioned he has a great face??
A GREAT FACE!
Okay, that’s 18 things, bye!
Image of Jonah Hauer-King in header by Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
