Louis Tomlinson was born Louis Troy Austin in Doncaster, England on December 24, 1991. His parents were divorced, and he subsequently took on his stepfather Mark Tomlinson's surname. Prior to becoming famous as one of the boys in One Direction, Louis was into acting and used to perform in several musical productions during his school years. Besides, he had extra roles on TV series "Fat Friends", "If I Had You" and BBC's "Waterloo Road". It was after he took the lead role of Danny Zuko in his school musical production of "Grease" that he had an interest to audition for "The X Factor".

Failing as a solo act, he was picked by judge Simon Cowell to be put in One Direction alongside Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Liam Payne. The five-some came third on the show and were immediately signed to Simon's Syco record label. Their debut single "What Makes You Beautiful", which arrived in September 2011, was a huge success in music charts, propelling the boys to international fame.

Later that year, Louis and his bandmates unveiled their first album "Up All Night", followed by a sophomore LP "Take Me Home" in 2012. Both sets were chart-toppers and so was the band's third album "Midnight Memories". By that time, One Direction already became a worldwide phenomenon and had scored some awards, including American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards.

Besides his singing career, Louis was signed to Doncaster Rovers of Football League Championship on a non-contract basis. He, additionally, is a joint owner of the football club. Personally, he is a big fan of Robbie Williams and admires fellow singer Ed Sheeran.

Louis had been actively involved in some charity works. He donated two million pounds to Believe in Magic, an organization which supports terminally ill children. He was also one the patrons of Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice. As a talented football player, Louis had played in several charity matches to raise funds for charities in War Child, the Celtic Foundation and the Rio Ferdinand Foundation among others.

Louis was romantically linked to Eleanor Calder, who was a friend of his bandmate Harry Styles. The pair were dating for nearly four years before announcing their split in 2015. In July, Louis was rumored to be expecting a baby with former stylist Briana Jungwirth. In the following month, he confirmed the reports on "Good Morning America". Their son, Freddie Reign, was born in January 2016.

Months after Zayn's departure from One Direction, the group decided to go on hiatus starting March 2016 to pursue solo careers. Louis continued songwriting before teaming up with Steve Aoki for "Just Hold On" by the end of the year. He dedicated the song to his late mother, who died from leukemia at the age of 43.

On March 4, 2017, Louis was arrested for battery after attacking a paparazzo at Los Angeles International Airport. However, he was released on $200,000 bail. Later that year, Louis finally revealed that he had been working on debut solo album, becoming the last member of One Direction to release solo project. He tapped Bebe Rexha on his debut solo single "Back to You", which was released in July 2017. He shared that his album would be lyrically inspired by Arctic Monkeys and Oasis.