Tomlinson has been involved in extensive philanthropy since 2010, donating millions of pounds towards charities and participating in causes such as Soccer Aid.

Louis was born on 24 December 1991,[1][2] in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England,[3] to then 18-year-old Johannah "Jay" Poulston and Troy Austin,[4][5] who left when he was an infant.

He also has three other half-siblings; a younger paternal half-sister, Georgia, and twins Doris and Ernest (born 2014) from Poulston's marriage to Dan Deakin.

[9]: 276, 281 [10][11] Taking the lead role of Danny Zuko in the Hall Cross musical production of Grease motivated him to audition for The X Factor.

[8]: 109 Tomlinson was a singer in a school band called "The Rogue" for two years, covering acts such as Oasis, Blink-182 and Green Day.

[16] He failed to progress to the "Boys" category at the end of the final bootcamp stage of the competition at Wembley Arena, London, in July 2010.

However, after a suggestion from Scherzinger, he was put together with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Harry Styles to form a five-piece boy band called One Direction, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category at judges' houses, mentored by Cowell.

[16] Cowell chose to put them through to the live shows and later commented that their debut performance singing "Torn" convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends and kind of fearless as well.

[17] One Direction finished in third place,[18] following which it was confirmed that the band had been signed by Cowell to a reported £2 million Syco Music record contract.

[66] Tomlinson again appeared on The X Factor during the twelfth series in 2015, assisting Simon Cowell with his decisions in the "Over 26s" category during the judges' houses stage.

[71] Tomlinson and Aoki performed the song live for the first time on The X Factor thirteenth series final on the day of its release.

[118] Tomlinson's documentary All of Those Voices, which describes his personal journey of transitioning from a member of One Direction to a solo musician, released in limited theatres on 22 March 2023.

[129][130] During the Latin America leg, Tomlinson became the first male solo artist to headline Mexico City's Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

[147] The second annual edition of the festival took place on 30 August 2022 at Marenostrum Music Castle Park in Málaga on Costa del Sol, featuring artists such as The Vaccines, Sun Room, STONE and Voodoos.

[149] The third Away From Home Festival took place in Camaiore, Italy on 19 August 2023 and was supported by the likes of Blossoms, The Cribs, Andrew Cushin and HotWax.

[160] Tomlinson's early influences and favourite artists included Robbie Williams, The Fray, Green Day, and Ed Sheeran.

[163] In an interview with BBC Music following the release of "Miss You", Tomlinson said lyrically his debut album is inspired by Arctic Monkeys and Oasis.

[164] On a review of "Kill My Mind", MTV News wrote "Louis Tomlinson sounds like the Britpop star he was born to be.

[172] Lyrically, while Tomlinson's first album is heavily based on his personal experiences, his second delves more into conceptual, metaphorical, and creative storytelling, though not without emotional honesty, and broader ideas of love than solely romantic.

[173] Tomlinson, whose previous football experience had been to play and run his own pub team called Three Horseshoes, had agreed to play in a charity game at the Keepmoat Stadium in his home town of Doncaster to raise money for the Bluebell Wood Charity and was offered a deal by professional football club Doncaster Rovers to join the club on non-contract terms after impressing in the game.

[174][175] The deal was brokered for Tomlinson to be a development player and to participate in reserve games, working around his music commitments with One Direction.

During the game Tomlinson was injured following a tackle by Aston Villa and England striker Gabriel Agbonlahor and was substituted straight away.

[179] His rescheduled debut for Doncaster's reserve side in the Central League came as a 65th-minute substitute in a 0–0 game against Rotherham United on 26 February 2014, a charity match in aid of Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice attended by a crowd in excess of 4,000.

[183] Tomlinson returned to Celtic Park on 7 September 2014, to take part in the MAESTRIO Charity Match, having been recruited to play for Rio Ferdinand's All-Stars against Paul McStay's Maestros.

He co-hosted a charity ball with band member Liam Payne held by Believe in Magic, an organisation that supported terminally ill children.

[189] A tweet by Tomlinson helped to promote the work of a cancer charity, Niamh's Next Step, in memory of a girl diagnosed with neuroblastoma.

[190] In April 2016, Tomlinson was announced to be joining the Soccer Aid 2016 star line-up, an biennial fundraiser for the children's organisation UNICEF.

He played for the England squad alongside Robbie Williams, Olly Murs, Paddy McGuinness, Jack Whitehall, Marvin Humes, John Bishop and others on 5 June 2016.

[213][214][215] Tomlinson's lawyer Martin Singer said in a statement to Rolling Stone, "The paparazzi provoked and caused the altercation with Louis at the airport this morning.

[217][218] Since One Direction's conception, Tomlinson has been subject to rumours and speculation of a romantic relationship between him and bandmate Harry Styles by conspiracy theorists known as Larries.