Troye Sivan

Young actor Troye Sivan enjoyed initial fame with roles in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2008) and other features, but experienced greater success and critical praise with a string of melancholy pop EPs and his debut album, Blue Neighborhood that addressed issues of romance and struggle for LGBT youth like himself.

Born Troye Sivan Mellet on June 5, 1995 in Johannesburg, South Africa, he was raised, along with his three siblings, in Australia. He began singing and acting at an early age, performing on television and on Australian stages before earning his big break as the young Wolverine in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

The following year, Sivan was cast in "Spud" (2009), a film version of the popular South African young adult novels by John van de Ruit. He reprised the role for two subsequent sequels, but shifted his focus to singing after the completion of the third film, "Spud 3: Learning to Fly" (2014).

He had already released two independently produced EPs in 2007 and 2012, but his profile as a singer rose dramatically after posting songs on his YouTube site. The tracks earned millions of views, which led to a contract with Universal Music Australia in 2013 and his third EP, TRXYE, that same year.

Its first single, "Happy Little Pill," reached the Top 10 on the Billboard singles charts in Australia, New Zealand and other countries, which in turn propelled the EP to No. 5 in the United States. Sivan, who came out as gay on a 2013 YouTube video, addressed issues of his sexuality in songs like "Wild," from his fourth EP of the same name, which soon earned considerable attention from the LGBT media on both sides of the Atlantic.

Wild debuted at No. 1 in Australia and provided him with a second Top 5 EP in the U.S., while the single formed part of a trio of music videos that followed a storyline about two male childhood friends who become romantically involved.

The three songs - "Wild," "Fools" and "Youth" - were all featured on Sivan's first full-length LP, Blue Neighborhood, which debuted at No. 7 on the stateside Billboard 200.