2014's Divergent, a movie about a futuristic version of Chicago,
boasts a bunch of major stars. Some have gone on to break out into stardom while others have
continued their stellar work just under the radar. Let's take a look at what they're up to today.
As Tris Prior, Divergent's central character, young actress Shailene Woodley
absolutely dazzled fans with her poise, ferocity, and stalwart courage. After
spending her life with her family firmly ensconced within the Abnegation faction,
Tris is totally unprepared for the moment when she ends up with a deeply confusing result
that says she's "Divergent." In an effort to hide her true nature, Tris chooses to join the
Dauntless faction, jumping head first into a life of adventure, thrills, and bravery.
After already appearing in prestige films like 2011's The Descendants and 2013's teen romance
The Spectacular Now, Woodley continued her teen fare streak after Divergent hit the silver screen.
2014 saw her star in the young adult blockbuster The Fault in Our Stars. Along with the Divergent
sequels, Woodley popped up in projects like the 2016 bio-pic Snowden before taking a break
from acting and coming back strong in 2017 with a role on HBO's smash-hit miniseries
Big Little Lies as assault survivor and single mother Jane Chapman. With that,
Woodley firmly moved into more adult roles, winning accolades across the board. She followed
it up with the buzzy survival film Adrift in 2019. Woodley made major news in February
2021 when she announced her engagement to superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
When Tris arrives in the Dauntless faction, she's tested by Tobias "Four" Eaton,
played by Theo James, an instructor who is assigned to help new recruits
learn the skills of their chosen group. Four is a tough teacher -
"Are you kidding?"
"No."
"What makes you think you can talk to me?"
- but he eventually takes a real liking to Tris.
When Tris is very nearly forced out of the Dauntless faction due to her lack of skills,
Four decides to personally train her. But Four isn't everything he appears to be, and ultimately,
he reveals his shocking secret: He's actually the son of a strict Abnegation leader himself.
This truth leads to a romantic connection between him and Tris.
Born and raised in England, James was best known for 2012's Underworld: Awakening
prior to his role in Divergent. Alongside reprising his role in Insurgent and Allegiant,
James appeared in the 2016 film The Benefactor and in the Underworld sequel Blood Wars,
which hit movie theaters that same year. In the time since Divergent debuted,
James has shown up in a variety of movies, including 2020's Archive. Since 2015, James
has also worked as an ambassador for Hugo Boss, representing its men's collection of fragrances.
Part of Tris' struggle in joining the Dauntless faction comes from having to leave behind her
family. Losing her mother Natalie, who is played by Ashley Judd, is an especially wrenching loss.
But Natalie isn't just a mother doing her best in impossible circumstances. Eventually,
Natalie reveals something shocking to Tris: She herself is also Divergent, and was raised as a
Dauntless. As a result, she understands better than anybody that Tris is in serious danger.
By the time she appeared in Divergent, Ashley Judd was already famous. She's best known
for her celebrated roles in a wide variety of movies like 1995's Heat, 1996's A Time to Kill,
1999's Double Jeopardy, and 2000's Where the Heart Is, among many others. Since Divergent, Judd has
taken on fewer film roles, showing up in romantic comedies like 2014's Big Stone Gap and the 2016
Barack Obama bio-pic Barry. In 2017, she appeared on the Twin Peaks reboot as Beverly Paige,
followed by a 2017 role on Berlin Station as BB Yates. She's also active politically and socially,
supporting a number of worthy causes. In 2021, she experienced a serious injury
while researching endangered Bonobos in the Congo. Thankfully, her recovery has gone well.
Over the course of her childhood in the Abnegation faction, Tris enjoys a certain level of privilege,
due to the fact that her father, Andrew, played by Tony Goldwyn, is one of the faction's leaders.
Because Abnegation is in charge of the government, Andrew is especially powerful.
As a result, he feels particularly betrayed when Tris doesn't choose Abnegation.
For fans of Scandal, it was a true delight to see Goldwyn pop up in Divergent and Insurgent.
From 2012 to 2018, Goldwyn played United States President Fitzgerald "Fitz" Grant
throughout all seven seasons of Shonda Rhimes' wonderfully soapy political drama on ABC.
Goldwyn is also an accomplished director and stage actor: He's directed four feature films, including
2001's Someone Like You, 2010's Conviction, and has appeared in several off-Broadway plays and
musicals. Since Scandal and Divergent wrapped up, Goldwyn has showed up on Netflix's 2019 original
series Chambers alongside Uma Thurman, and on HBO's 2020 science fiction epic Lovecraft Country.
The fourth member of the Prior family, Caleb Prior, played by Ansel Elgort, faces a similar
challenge as Tris does during his evaluation: Should he stay with his loved ones in Abnegation,
go with his sister to Dauntless, or seek his own unique path? Ultimately, Caleb bucks
every trend and chooses Erudite, alienating himself from both his sister and his parents.
Shortly after appearing as Shailene Woodley's brother in Divergent, Elgort shook things up
by reuniting with the actress for 2014's The Fault in Our Stars. In that film,
Elgort plays Augustus Waters, the doomed love interest to Woodley's Hazel Grace. Elgort also
returned for both Insurgent and Allegiant. In 2017, he earned his first major award nod thanks
to his starring role in Edgar Wright's sleek action flick Baby Driver, which netted the actor
a Golden Globe nomination. In 2018, he followed up Baby Driver with Billionaire Boys' Club,
and in 2019, he played the leading role in The Goldfinch - the highly anticipated adaptation
of Donna Tartt's novel of the same name - which ended up being a major box-office flop.
A violent and strong member of Dauntless who was raised in Candor, Peter is played by Miles Teller
and is a dangerous combination of ruthlessness, honesty, and brutality. Unsurprisingly, he defeats
Tris in hand-to-hand combat right off the bat, and also viciously attacks anyone who ranks above him.
Before he was getting sinister in Divergent, Teller played opposite Woodley as her love
interest in 2013's The Spectacular Now. Alongside the release of Divergent in 2014, he appeared
in Damien Chazelle's film Whiplash, which earned a number of Oscar nods and a few wins,
including one for Teller's co-star J.K. Simmons. He also appeared in two 2014 romantic comedies,
That Awkward Moment and Two Night Stand, Teller went on to appear in both Insurgent and Allegiant,
as well as other big-budget films like 2015's Fantastic Four, indie projects like 2016's
Get a Job, and searing dramas like 2017's Thank You for Your Service.
Dauntless' leaders are some of the toughest and bravest people in Divergent's post-apocalyptic
world. This group includes Jai Courtney's Eric, one of the faction's youngest-ever leaders.
Though Eric is a high-ranking official amongst the Dauntless, he certainly hasn't made many
friends throughout his tenure, acting unnecessarily cruel towards trainees,
taking pleasure from their failures and pain, and even helping Erudite in their evil mission.
Within the series, Courtney went on to appear in Insurgent. Before his turn as
Eric hit the silver screen, Courtney had a recurring role on Starz' historical action
series Spartacus: Blood & Sand. That's not his only small screen success:
He's also appeared on the 2017 Netflix reboot Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later and 2020's
Stateless. You've also likely seen Courtney in some of his blockbuster projects, including 2015's
Terminator Genisys, 2016's Suicide Squad, 2019's Alita: Battle Angel, and 2020's Honest Thief.
Tris only makes a few friends when she arrives in Dauntless. Luckily,
they turn out to be stalwart allies like Zoe Kravitz's Christina,
who proves to be extremely important throughout the entire series. Another Dauntless transplant,
Christina is smart and industrious, but usually suffers in hand-to-hand combat.
Though she and Tris occasionally butt heads, they always team up together.
The Divergent films were just the start of a lengthy and fruitful collaboration between
Kravitz and Woodley, who, in 2017, would appear as two of the leading ladies of HBO's star-studded
miniseries Big Little Lies. Kravitz plays a young yoga teacher named Bonnie whose calm exterior is
shattered by a shocking suburban murder. Kravitz has appeared in a ton of other projects as well,
including the short-lived 2020 Hulu reboot of High Fidelity, which, in a modern twist, cast her as
John Cusack's character Rob, renamed "Robyn." She also appeared as Leta Lestrange in 2018's
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, one of Immortan Joe's wives, in 2015's Mad Max: Fury
Road, and as the one and only Catwoman in Matt Reeves' 2022 reboot of the Batman film franchise.
When Tris first takes her personality test and gets the surprising result that she is Divergent,
only one person initially knows about it: Dauntless member Tori Wu,
played by Maggie Q. Shocked by the result,
Tori immediately warns Tris that being marked as Divergent is extraordinarily dangerous.
"They call it divergent. You can't tell anyone about this, not even your parents."
Tori is the first person to tell Tris that those marked Divergent can destroy the entire system,
gives her vital information, and ultimately joins her fellow Dauntless
in the climactic fight against Erudite.
During her time in the Divergent movies,
Q also starred in the title role on the CW's Nikita series, which ran until 2013,
as well as the short-lived 2014 series Stalker, on which she had the main role. The actress was also
a series regular as Hannah Wells on Designated Survivor from 2016 to 2019, and has appeared in
recent movies like 2020's Fantasy Island, 2020's Death of Me, and 2021's The Protégé. She has also
explored voice acting, most prominently in the role of Wonder Woman on Young Justice.
One of the older leaders of the Dauntless faction, Mekhi Phifer's Max has given all
of his responsibilities to Eric by the time Divergent begins, despite the fact that he
wanted Four to follow in his footsteps. Though Max isn't quite as cruel as Eric,
he's also not an ally to Tris or any of the Dauntless rebels.
Phifer was already a popular actor by the time he appeared in Divergent and its sequels. He is
likely best known for his work with Spike Lee in 1995's Clockers, and for his six-year stint on the
popular medical series E.R. Over the years, Phifer has carved out a solid career on the small screen,
appearing on shows like White Collar, Frequency, and the 2020 Hulu original series Love, Victor.
The leader of the Erudite faction, Kate Winslet's Jeanine has a dark past. Jeanine also developed
the personality test that helps sort the young people choosing their new or old factions.
"I think human nature is the enemy.
It's human nature to keep secrets, lie, steal. And I wanna eradicate that."
She's additionally responsible for something much more sinister:
A mind-control serum that the Erudite attempt to use to destroy the Dauntless faction.
As most moviegoers know, Winslet was already a superstar when she took on the villainous role of
Jeanine in both Divergent and Insurgent. Winslet is internationally renowned for her starring
roles in huge projects like 1997's Titanic, 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
2008's Revolutionary Road, and 2008's The Reader, which won Winslet her first Academy
Award. Since Divergent, Winslet has appeared in acclaimed movies like the 2015 biopic Steve Jobs,
the intense 2017 survival film The Mountain Between Us, and the 2020 romantic drama Ammonite.
Abnegation is supposed to be the selfless faction, but one of its leaders,
Marcus Eaton played by Ray Stevenson, is an abusive and cruel man. His behavior drives
Evelyn into the world without a faction, and Four into escaping Abnegation in favor of Dauntless.
A veteran of both the big and small screen, Stevenson was the perfect choice to portray
the austere, inscrutable Marcus. Long before his work in Divergent, Stevenson was known for his
leading roles in 2004's King Arthur and the epic HBO series Rome. He's also beloved by superhero
fans for his turns as Frank Castle, better known as the Punisher, in 2008's Punisher: War Zone,
and Volstagg, an Asgardian warrior and one of Thor's dearest friends
in the first three Thor films. During his time in the Divergent film series,
Stevenson also showed up on shows like Dexter and Black Sails. In the movies' aftermath,
the actor has taken on roles in historical dramas like Medici, The Spanish Princess, and Vikings.
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