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.
Plus, he was a pretty adorable kid:
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.
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.”
5. 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.
6. He has two older sisters — Margot and Hannah. Hannah is the artistic director of a company called Damsel Productions.
7. 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.”
8. In 2017, he played Laurie in a BBC version of “Little Women.” (It aired in America on PBS.)
And he posted a great behind-the-scenes photo on his Insta:
9. 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.
10. He instagrammed a Christmas tree with the caption “wtf.” (Same, Jonah, same.) (His Instagram is a delight, if you can’t tell.)
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 likes this hat!
13. Of course, he is the Prince Eric in the live-action “The Little Mermaid.” He kinda really looks like the animated version??
We mean, come on!!
14. And yes, he can sing.
15. Like his character, Jonah nearly drowned while filming!
16. Fans of “The Little Mermaid” have been really thirsting after him…
@thecommonroomshop he was so gentle and kind and hufflepuff im down BADDDD #princeric #jonahhauerking #ericthelittlemermaid #whiteboyofthemonth
17. But can we blame them?? Just look at this poster:
We’re sweating.
18. He’s already been cast in his next project: “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.” He will play Lale Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz who was forced to tattoo identification numbers on his fellow prisoners.
“It was a surreal experience, having your head shaved every day and putting on that prison uniform and going to an Auschwitz set,” he told W Magazine, adding, “Because of my own personal connections to that time, it just felt impossible for it not to be hugely impactful and draining.”
We cannot wait to see it!
