The Fault in Our Stars' Ansel Elgort Tap-Dances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon—Watch Now!

Divergent actor used to study ballet before pursuing his other passions

By Zach Johnson Jun 03, 2014 2:56 PMTags

Ansel Elgort is a man of many talents.

The actor, who plays Shailene Woodley's love interest in The Fault in Our Stars, made his first-ever appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Monday. While there, the actor admitted that he's always been a bit of a performer. "I started in ballet," he said. "I wasn't very good, to be honest."

"I got more into tap-dance because my dad [fashion photographer Arthur Elgort] took me to see Savion Glover at the Joyce Theater," the 20-year-old movie star said. "I love Savion. I can tap-dance a little bit. But the thing about the tap-dancing is I always got stuck. I got so obsessed with tap-dancing."

Jimmy Fallon asked the native New Yorker to show off his skills, and Ansel happily obliged.

"You're really talented, buddy. That's awesome," Fallon told him. "You gotta tap in the next movie!"

Ansel was being a tad modest. At the age of 9, he performed in The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. During his teen years, the Divergent star attended the famed LaGuardia High School to study acting.

Douglas Gorenstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

The Fault in Our Stars recently set the record for the most-liked trailer in YouTube's history. In spite of his early success, Ansel remained humble about the achievement. "It's really the book," he said of John Green's best-selling novel, told from the perspective of a cancer-stricken teen. "People love this book."

The Fault in Our Stars is Ansel's third movie, and it's also his third role to be adapted from literature; he previously starred in 2013's Carrie (by Stephen King) and 2014's Divergent (by Veronica Roth). To hear him talk about Divergent's sequel, Insurgent, watch the rest of his Tonight Show interview now.

(E! and The Tonight Show are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)