Luke Timothy Grimes (born January 21, 1984) was born to a devoutly religious family in Dayton, Ohio, the youngest of four children of Angie (Barker) and the Rev. Randy Grimes. His father is a Pentecostal pastor, at Open Bible Christian Church. Luke graduated from Dayton Christian High School in 2002. He moved to New York City to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first film audition was to play Elvis Presley in the 2005 CBS miniseries, but which went to Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.

Grimes has appeared in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, War Eagle, Arkansas, and Assassination of a High School President, which received a limited release in March 2009. He also appeared in the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters, as Ryan Lafferty, the illegitimate son of William Walker, patriarch of the show’s family. Beginning with Season 4, he became a series regular. He beat out Scott Porter and Jason Ritter, among others, for the role.

He starred in the 2010 FX movie pilot, “Outlaw Country”, with Haley Bennett and Mary Steenburgen. Grimes played a cowboy named Eli Larkin. The series was not picked up by FX, but the pilot aired on August 23, 2012 as a television movie. In 2012, he appeared in the Liam Neeson thriller Taken 2 as Neeson’s daughter’s boyfriend.

On October 25, 2013, Grimes was cast as Christian Grey’s adopted brother Elliot in the movie Fifty Shades of Grey.