Who can say "no" to a cute kid?
Chris Evans appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Monday to promote his new movie, Gifted. Midway through the interview, the actor was joined by his 10-year-old co-star, McKenna Grace, who plays his niece in the movie. Grace is a big fan of Ellen DeGeneres' hit talk show, revealing that she loves watching the host bust a move with tWitch. In fact, Grace said, "I love to dance!"
"You know, he took tap," DeGeneres said, pointing to Evans.
"Yes, I do know that," Grace said. "He did promise me he would tap dance for me sometime."
"Maybe today is the day," DeGeneres said. "Why don't you tap dance for us?"
As the studio audience cheered, he realized he would have to do a little demonstration. "Please! I won't make you if you don't want to," Grace told Evans. "But it would be amazing!"
"So sweet!" Evans replied, acknowledging that it was "too late" to turn Grace down. "I can do a little soft shoe." After his dance, he asked, "Can you hear it? They were good. They were clean!"
After returning to his chair, Evans joked, "That's all you get!"
"A little goes a long way with you," DeGeneres said. "I mean that in a good way."
"I hope so," the 35-year-old actor laughed. "That's not what you want to hear, usually."
Evans has been talking about his tap dancing talents for years, but Monday marked the first time he'd ever performed on TV. "I do tap-dance," the Sudbury, Mass., native told E! News in July 2011. "We grew up tap-dancing. My mother was a dancer for a long time. We had a tap floor in our basement. So, my brothers and sisters and I got lessons. We were the Von Trapps."
The following year, Evans called tap-dancing his secret talent. "My mother was a tap dancer," he explained to Details, "and as a result, we all grew up with an understanding of tap dancing."
Evans briefly tap danced in the 2015 rom-com Playing It Cool (co-starring Michelle Monaghan), and DeGeneres got Evans to show off some of his other moves when he appeared on her show in the spring of 2016. While playing "Last Dance" with Elizabeth Olsen, his co-star in Captain America: Civil War, Evans demonstrated everything from "the running man" to "Single Ladies."
And yet, Evans still hadn't shown the full extent of his tap-dancing talents on TV. But, as Olsen said at the L.A. premiere, "He's an incredible tap dancer, and everybody should know about it!"
Thanks to DeGeneres and Grace, now everybody does.