He began his career on the stage, and performed in London's West End productions of Rent, Miss Saigon, and Piaf before making his film breakthrough in the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans.

In 2013, Evans starred as the antagonist Owen Shaw in Fast & Furious 6, and also played Bard the Bowman in Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

[11] From 2000 to 2008, Evans starred in many West End productions including La Cava, Taboo, Rent, Miss Saigon and Avenue Q, as well as several fringe shows in London and at the Edinburgh Festival.

Also in 2010, he appeared as Clive in the film Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, directed by Matt Whitecross, as the Sheriff of Nottingham's thug in Robin Hood, alongside Matthew Macfadyen (whom he would later play alongside again in The Three Musketeers), and played handyman and good guy Andy, in director Stephen Frears' film Tamara Drewe, based on Posy Simmond's comic strip.

Evans went on to portray DI Craig Stokes in Blitz (2011), the film adaptation of Ken Bruen's novel of the same name, in which he starred with Jason Statham and Paddy Considine.

In the film, released in 2012 and set in mid-nineteenth century Baltimore, Evans played Detective Emmett Fields, who investigates a series of murders inspired by the poetry and short stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

[19] In 2017, he had the villainous role of Gaston in Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon and co-starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens.

[20] Evans was also set to reprise his role as Gaston in a Beauty and the Beast prequel limited series for Disney+, alongside Josh Gad, who was serving as co-creator, co-writer and executive producer.

[23] On 8 November 2019, Evans starred in Roland Emmerich's war movie Midway, alongside Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Mandy Moore, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Dennis Quaid, and Woody Harrelson.

[24][25][26][27][28][29] In 2021, Evans played Lars Lee in the Hulu miniseries, Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, which features Nicole Kidman in the lead role, alongside Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Samara Weaving, Asher Keddie, and Bobby Cannavale.