Armand Douglas Hammer was born in Los Angeles, California, to Dru Ann (Mobley) and Michael Armand Hammer, a businessman. His great-grandfather, Armand Hammer, was a prominent tycoon and philanthropist who ran the company Occidental Petroleum for many decades. Armie's recent ancestry includes Russian-Jewish, English, and Scots-Irish. He has one younger brother, Viktor Hammer. His father is chairman and CEO of the Armand Hammer Foundation, where his mother is a board member. His parents also serve together on the boards of the Los Angeles Dream Center and Knoedler & Hammer Galleries in New York. In addition, his father is a member of the board of trustees for Oral Roberts University, and his mother, a former bank loan officer, teaches Bible study in Los Angeles.
His family moved to Dallas, Texas, when he was approaching school age. They moved to the Cayman Islands in 1993, where they stayed for 5 years. While here, Armie attended the Grace Christian Academy, a school that his father set up. They returned to Los Angeles when Armie was age 13. He attended L.A. Baptist High School and Calvary Junior High School. He made his stage debut playing "Rooster Hannigan" in a 6th-grade production of "Annie". He left school in the 11th grade so that he could pursue acting. His parents were keen for him to continue his studies, so he took courses at Pasadena City College and UCLA.
He had various small parts, before being cast as Billy Graham in Billy: The Early Years (2008). His breakthrough role came when he played the "Winklevoss Twins" in The Social Network (2010). He has since played "Clyde Tolson" in J. Edgar (2011), "Prince Alcott" in Blanche Neige (2012), and starred in the title role, John Reid, in the 2013 version of Lone Ranger, naissance d'un héros (2013), opposite Johnny Depp as Tonto.
In 2015, Hammer starred with Henry Cavill in the spy thriller Agents très spéciaux: Code U.N.C.L.E. (2015), playing Russian spy Illya Kuryakin and American agent Napoleon Solo, respectively. His upcoming films include the thriller Mine, the historical drama The Birth of a Nation (2016), and the crime drama Free Fire (2016).
Armie has been married to actress, model, and television personality Elizabeth Chambers since 2010. They have one child.
