Who Is Josh Hartnett’s Wife? All About Tamsin Egerton

Josh Hartnett is notoriously low-key, and his wife, Tamsin Egerton, is the same way.

The actor and his longtime love are extremely private when it comes to their personal life. In the early 2000s, Hartnett was one of the most in-demand actors in the industry thanks to films like Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down. But for over a decade, he chose to step back from the spotlight in order to maintain his mental health and build a happy home life.

“I’ve never been great at celebrity,” he told The Independent, adding that “being famous is a full time job.”

He continued, “I had paparazzi chasing me, people approaching me. You weren’t allowed to really be yourself. There was no time for family or friends or any of that normal stuff. Plenty of actors have found that work-life balance, but I found it hard and I really sought it.”

He told the outlet that he now spends most of his time at home with his wife and kids. “That’s essential to me maintaining a healthy mind,” he said.

After meeting on set, the pair began dating in 2012. Nearly 10 years later, Hartnett and Egerton secretly wed in November 2021. By then, they were also parents to three kids.

The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, in late 2015. Their second and third children arrived in 2017 and 2019, respectively. In February 2024, Hartnett revealed that he and Egerton had quietly welcomed baby No. 4.

“It changes everything,” Hartnett told Good Morning Britain of becoming a father. “It’s like where the rubber finally meets the road and everything you’ve done beforehand is preamble.”

So, who is Josh Hartnett’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Tamsin Egerton.

She’s an actress

Like her husband, Egerton is no stranger to the entertainment industry. Although she initially wanted to be a veterinarian, she started acting at a young age, joining a local theatre group in England with her older sister.

“I’m a real animal lover,” she said in a 2011 interview with The Independent. “I adore animals of all shapes and sizes. We had guinea pigs, dogs, cats, rabbits at home – we had everything! But I decided I wanted to be an actress from the age of 11. I got the bug and that was it.”

She also did some modeling as a teen but found it uninspiring and focused on acting instead. The decision paid off, and at 16, she landed a leading role in the film Keeping Mum alongside Maggie Smith.

She and Hartnett met on set in 2011

Hartnett and Egerton first met in 2011 on the set of The Lovers. However, they didn’t confirm their relationship until 2012.

” We played husband and wife in the worst movie either of us have ever made. No offense to the director,” Hartnett said while speaking to Julia Stiles for Interview magazine in August 2024. “We were shooting in London and both had significant others, and both realized that wasn’t going to work because we really liked each other.”

He continued, “So I broke up with my girlfriend, she broke up with her boyfriend, and then after we stopped filming, we started to date.”

She sometimes borrows Hartnett’s clothes

In a 2015 interview with Marie Claire U.K.,  the actress spoke about her personal style, admitting that, more often than not, she enjoys borrowing from Hartnett’s closet.

“I wear my boyfriend’s clothes,” she told the magazine. “He has an amazing array of cashmere jumpers, which I steal a lot. His Saint Laurent one shrunk in the wash and now fits me perfectly.”

She went on to explain that Hartnett is more than happy to share: “He said, ‘That was my favorite jumper. Now it’s your favorite jumper.’ ”

She and Hartnett have four kids

After dating for three years, PEOPLE confirmed that the couple were expecting their first child together in July 2015. The pair welcomed a daughter in London later that year.

During an April 2016 appearance on Live with Kelly and Michael, the Oppenheimer actor gushed about his then-newborn. “She’s the apple of my eye. She’s perfect in every way,” he told the hosts. “It puts things in a totally new perspective.”

“Your ego just melts away when you have a new kid — your heart leaves your body, and you give it permission to walk around with someone else for a while,” he added. “It’s really terrifying, but it’s beautiful. I love it more than anything — I wish I would’ve started earlier.”

At the 2016 Vanity Fair Oscars party, Egerton announced that she was expecting again, showing off her baby bump in a long-sleeved black gown. The couple welcomed a second child in 2017. In 2019, they quietly welcomed their third baby.

Over a year later, Hartnett confirmed the birth of his third child in an interview with Mr. Porter. “The thing I am most proud of is that I’m a father of three and I have a good relationship with my partner and a great family life and I’m still able to do good work and, as I’ve got older, the characters have become more interesting,” he said.

It wasn’t until years later that Hartnett revealed that at some point since 2019, he and Egerton had welcomed their fourth child. Speaking to Gold Derby on the red carpet at the 2024 SAG Awards, he responded to a question about his popularity suddenly surging online.

“I have four kids, I live in the countryside. I’m busy either working or taking care of them, but thank you. That’s really kind,” he said.

The names and birthdates of Hartnett and Egerton’s four kids have never been revealed.

She lives in England with Hartnett

Born and raised in Minnesota, Hartnett has never been shy about wanting to live away from the limelight. Shortly after his rise to fame, he moved back to his hometown of St. Paul, telling Huffington Post, “I think [Hollywood] can be an unhealthy environment.”

His stance hasn’t changed, and the actor now lives in Surrey, England. “My partner is English,” he explained in a 2020 interview with Variety.  “When we started having children, she wanted to be near her family, so we’re here a lot of the time to make that happen.”

“We have a place in the States, too, and we go back and forth,” he added.

At the 2018 British Independent Film Awards, Hartnett confirmed that his two oldest children were both born in London. “I love it here,” he said. “I spent 22 years living in New York and London is very similar to New York … The city has such great cultural amenities, it’s a fun place to be.”

Although Hartnett frequently travels for work, he prioritizes spending time with his family. Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment in May 2021, he explained: “I started doing smaller films, [since they] didn’t take me away from the kids very often.”

Even before the pandemic hit, he told Mr. Porter that he took “a lot of time off to be a dad, first and foremost.”

“We’ve been trying to keep [the kids] occupied as best as we can,” he told the magazine of parenting three kids under age 5 during lockdown. “But it’s a lot of work and it takes both of us all day and by the end of it, all we want to do is reach for a bottle of wine and go to sleep.”

She and Hartnett secretly married in 2021

After nearly a decade together, Hartnett and Egerton tied the knot in November of 2021. That same month, Egerton shared a photo on Instagram that showed her wearing two bands on her ring finger.

“It’s been one incredible week and I can safely say we’re all happily exhausted,” she wrote, explaining that there were multiple birthdays, including her own, in November. “Anyway, this is me getting some special birthday time with my man sans children.”

Despite this subtle hint, the pair kept their nuptials a secret for several months. In March of 2022, PEOPLE confirmed the news, which was first reported by The Sun.

According to the U.K. outlet, the couple said “I do” in London at the Old Marylebone Town Hall in front of a handful of close friends and family.

She didn’t watch his Black Mirror episode

After a four-year hiatus, season 6 of Black Mirror premiered on Netflix in June 2023 with a star-studded lineup, including Hartnett. The actor starred in the third episode, “Beyond The Sea,” along with Aaron Paul and Kate Mara.

While fans reacted with predictable heartache, they’ve also praised the performances, but according to Hartnett, there’s one person who didn’t watch his work on the hit show.

“My wife already told me she’s not going to watch it,” he said in an interview with ET Canada ahead of the premiere. “She asked me what it was about when I read it right off the bat. And she was like, ‘No, I won’t be watching it,’ ” he explained. “She can’t separate herself from the entertainment that she’s watching it on like a visceral level. So, I get that. I totally understand it.”

He told the outlet that Egerton is a fan of Black Mirror, adding: “Eventually she’ll watch it and then she’ll be mad at me.”

They keep their life private

Despite their celebrity status, the couple have done their best to maintain their privacy. Hartnett doesn’t have social media and rarely opens up about his personal life to the press.

“I think if you spend too much time courting people’s attention into your personal life, you lose your ownership of it,” the actor told USA Today in 2015. “That’s why I make sure my life is my own.”

In his interview with Mr. Porter, he spoke about prioritizing family over a splashy career. “I decided to have a life. To put that first. That was always my goal,” he said.

He went on to say, “I don’t know what the possibilities of my life could have been had I chosen different routes, but I will say that in giving in to the allure of Hollywood entirely, I know that I would not have a happy life. I feel very strongly about that.”

Egerton holds the same strong family values. “I enjoy being at home and I’m a complete nester,” she told the Daily Mail in 2013. While she does document some of her personal life on Instagram, she keeps photos of their children to a minimum.

The pair have never disclosed their kids’ names, and according to Hartnett, the little ones are unaware of who their parents are. “I want them to be as unadulterated as possible when they grow up. I don’t want them to have any sort of knowledge of what we do,” he said on the BIFA red carpet in 2018. “It’s nice that they’re just children, having a good life.”

She’s very supportive of Hartnett’s career

While the couple are very private, Egerton does join Hartnett on the occasional red carpet.

In July 2023, Egerton supported Hartnett at the London premiere of his film Oppenheimer. The mom-of-four dazzled in a floral dress, while the actor looked effortlessly handsome in a charcoal suit.

A year later, the pair coordinated in black ensembles at the New York City premiere of Hartnett’s film Trap.