How Many Kids Does Garrett Hedlund Have? 1 Son

The Short Answer: 1 Son

Garrett Hedlund has one son, Rhodes Robert Hedlund, born December 27, 2020, with his former partner, actress Emma Roberts. The actor, born September 3, 1984, in Roseau, Minnesota, was 36 when he became a father — and he has described fatherhood as the most transformative experience of his life.

Hedlund, 42 years old, broke through as Patroclus in Troy (2004) at 19, then headlined Disney's Tron: Legacy (2010) and earned acclaim for Mudbound (2017) and Country Strong (2010) — the latter showcasing a singing talent critics praised. He saved waitering tips as a teenager in Arizona to pay for acting lessons, a hustle that defined his early years.

He and Roberts dated from 2019 to early 2022; though they separated, Hedlund has remained a devoted father to Rhodes, now 5, and has spoken about co-parenting with gratitude and focus.

Biography Snapshot: Who Is Garrett Hedlund?

Garrett John Hedlund (born September 3, 1984) is an American actor. His films include Troy (2004), Friday Night Lights (2004), Four Brothers (2005), Eragon (2006), Georgia Rule (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Tron: Legacy (2010), Country Strong (2010), On the Road (2012), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Unbroken (2014), Pan (2015), Mudbound (2017), Triple Frontier (2019), and The Marsh King's Daughter (2023).

Early life Garrett John Hedlund was born on September 3, 1984, in Roseau, Minnesota, to Kristine Anne (née Yanish) and Robert Martin Hedlund. His father is of Swedish descent and his mother is of Norwegian and German descent. He is the youngest of three children, with a brother, Nathaniel, and a sister, Amanda. Hedlund was raised on a remote beef cattle farm near the small town of Wannaska, Minnesota, in the Scandinavian diaspora. In the 9th grade, he moved to live with his mother in Arizona. From an early age, he has had a great fondness for reading. During his school years he participated in ice hockey, track and field, wrestling, and American football. In Arizona he saved his tips from working as a waiter to pay for lessons with acting coach Jean Fowler, with whom he worked on speeches and script material. Six months after graduating from Horizon High School, he moved to Los Angeles.

2003–2009: Early work and breakthrough In 2003, Hedlund moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career. As a teenager, Hedlund modeled for L.L. Bean and Teen magazine. At the age of nineteen, Hedlund made his debut in his first feature film playing Patroclus, younger cousin of Achilles played by Brad Pitt in the mythological epic adventure war drama Troy, directed by Wolfgang Petersen. The film was released on May 14, 2004. That same year, he also co-starred with Billy Bob Thornton, Amber Heard and Tim McGraw as Don Billingsley in the 2004 sports drama Friday Night Lights, where McGraw played his abusive father. In 2005, he co-starred with Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson and André Benjamin in the crime drama Four Brothers as Jack Mercer. He co-starred with Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou and John Malkovich in the fantasy / adventure film Eragon as Murtagh Morzansson. This 20th Century Fox film is an international co-production between United States, United Kingdom and Hungary. In October 2006, it was announced that the actors from the Eragon film would lend their voices to the game adaptation. Hedlund lends his image and voice to his character Murtagh in the video game Eragon. In 2007, he co-starred with Lindsay Lohan, Jane Fonda and Cary Elwes in the comedy Georgia Rule, directed by Garry Marshall. That same year, he co-starred with Kevin Bacon in the crime thriller Death Sentence, directed by James Wan. In this film Hedlund plays the main villain Billy Darley.

Garrett Hedlund's Children: 1 Son

Rhodes Robert Hedlund, born December 27, 2020, is Garrett Hedlund's only child. Now 5, Rhodes was named with family significance — Robert is a family name — and his arrival was announced with joy by both parents, who shared the news of the pregnancy in mid-2020.

Rhodes' mother is Emma Roberts, the Scream Queens and American Horror Story star and niece of Julia Roberts. She and Hedlund were together from 2019 until their split in early 2022, when Rhodes was just over a year old. Despite the breakup, both have prioritized co-parenting; Hedlund has described fatherhood as his anchor and has structured his work around time with his son.

Hedlund's own upbringing was modest: born in small-town Minnesota, raised partly in Arizona, he worked as a waiter while training with acting coach Jean Fowler — paying for lessons from tips. He has said he wants Rhodes to have the grounded childhood he had, fame aside.

Now 42, Hedlund talks about his son as his proudest role — bigger than Troy, Tron, or Mudbound. Rhodes, 5, is growing up with two actor parents determined to keep him out of the spotlight, and by all accounts, Hedlund is relishing every part of hands-on dad life.

Garrett Hedlund's Relationship with Emma Roberts

Garrett Hedlund dated actress Emma Roberts from 2019 to early 2022. Their son Rhodes was born in December 2020, during the relationship. The pair kept their romance relatively private — no red-carpet overexposure, few joint interviews — before announcing their split when Rhodes was a toddler.

Before Roberts, Hedlund was in a long-term relationship with actress Kirsten Dunst, his On the Road co-star, from 2012 to 2016. He has otherwise kept his dating life out of the headlines.

As of 2026, the 42-year-old is not publicly in a relationship. His focus, by his own account, is Rhodes: co-parenting with Roberts, choosing projects that allow him to be present, and building a life where his son comes first — a priority he has described as non-negotiable.

Career Context: Why Garrett Hedlund Is Famous

In 2010, Hedlund played Sam Flynn, the main protagonist in the science fiction / action film Tron: Legacy, acting alongside Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde. Hedlund won a "Darwinian casting process" which tested hundreds of actors, being chosen for having the "unique combination of intelligence, wit, humor, look and physicality" that the producers were looking for in Flynn's son. Hedlund trained hard to do his own stunts, which included jumping over cars and copious wire and harness work. The film was released on December 17, 2010, and directed by Joseph Kosinski. It is a sequel to the 1982 film Tron, whose director Steven Lisberger returned to produce. Like its predecessor, Tron: Legacy has also been described as a cult film. Hedlund was also considered by Disney to play Captain America / Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but had to abandon the project because his film schedule got in the way of Tron: Legacy. Hedlund co-starred with Gwyneth Paltrow, Leighton Meester and his Friday Night Lights co-star, country musician Tim McGraw in the musical drama Country Strong, which was released on December 22, 2010. He recorded a number of songs for the film including "Chances Are" which appeared on Country Strong: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. His performance was well received by critics. Noting voice similarities between Hedlund and Charlie Robison, Roughstock said "the best song on this album belongs to him" and Country Weekly wrote that of all the songs performed by actors in this film, his was "the most convincing". Six other songs, including a duet with Meester, were featured on a second soundtrack titled Country Strong: More Music from the Motion Picture. On June 7, 2011, Hedlund was named "Man of the Year" at the Glamour Awards. He also co-starred with Kristen Stewart, Sam Riley, Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen as Dean Moriarty in the 2012 adventure drama On the Road, produced by Francis Ford Coppola. The film was directed by Walter Salles and based on Jack Kerouac's novel of same name. Hedlund's performance in this film was praised by critics. In The Hollywood Reporter, veteran reviewer Todd McCarthy writing "Although the story is Sal / Kerouac's, the star part is Dean, and Hedlund has the allure for it; among the men here, he's the one you always watch, and the actor effectively catches the character's impulsive, thrill-seeking, risk-taking, responsibility-avoiding personality." Entertainment Weekly magazine's Owen Gleiberman wrote, "The best thing in the movie is Garrett Hedlund's performance as Dean Moriarty, whose hunger for life – avid, erotic, insatiable, destructive – kindles a fire that will light the way to a new era. Hedlund is as hunky as the young Brad Pitt, and like Pitt, he's a wily, change-up actor". That same year, he was an advertising and catwalk model for the Italian fashion firm Prada. Hedlund was cast as Kaneda Shotaro in the live-action version of Akira but production of the film was cancelled. Hedlund reportedly turned down the roles of Christian Grey in the film adaptation of E. L. James' best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey and Finnick Odair in the sequel to the dystopian science fiction / adventure film The Hunger Games titled The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

In 2013, Hedlund co-starred with Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver in the French-American black comedy-drama film Inside Llewyn Davis, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Hedlund pays homage to a fallen cowboy whose name is Lane Frost in the music video of the song Beautiful War by American rock band Kings of Leon. Also in 2013, he was the image of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté's French men's fragrance "La Nuit de l'Homme". He starred in the drama film Lullaby in 2014, directed by Andrew Levitas. In this film Hedlund sings the main musical theme. That same year, he co-starred with Jack O'Connell and Domhnall Gleeson in the historical drama Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie. Hedlund played James Hook in the film Pan in 2015, co-starring alongside Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara and Levi Miller, directed by Joe Wright. In September of that same year, Hedlund wrote the book The Art of Pan with Joe Wright and Christopher Grove. He co-starred with Joe Alwyn and Vin Diesel in the 2016 film war drama film Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, directed by Ang Lee. In 2017, he co-starred with Carey Mulligan in the film Mudbound, directed by Dee Rees. Also that same year, he co-starred with Sharon Stone as an aspiring artist in Steven Soderbergh's HBO murder mystery drama series Mosaic. It was released in two forms: as an iOS/Android mobile app and as a television drama. In 2018, Hedlund produced and starred alongside Juno Temple in the short film Tocsin filmed in Cayman Islands and directed by Frank E. Flowers. That same year, he was the protagonist of the movie Burden playing Mike Burden, in this dramatic film inspired by true events Hedlund acted alongside Forest Whitaker and Usher. He co-starred with Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, and Pedro Pascal in the action / adventure film, released by Netflix in 2019 and directed by J. C. Chandor, Triple Frontier recorded between Soacha and Bogotá, where he plays a former Special Forces Soldier in a particular mercenary operation in South America. That same year, he co-stars with Kelly Macdonald in the romantic drama film Dirt Music, directed by Gregor Jordan. This film is a United Kingdom / Australian co-production and is based on the novel of the same name by Tim Winton; Hedlund recorded a number of songs for the film. In August 2020, a "Dirt Music" soundtrack album (featuring music from the film) was released as a digital download. Hedlund portrayed controversial U.S. government official Harry J. Anslinger in the biographical film The United States vs. Billie Holiday in 2021, directed by Lee Daniels; Anslinger was actually in his mid 50s to 60s during the setting of the film. In September 2021, he stars in the first Stephen King podcast titled Strawberry Spring. Hedlund's first single not associated with an acting role, "The Road", was

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