Hayden Christensen - Biography

Last Editor: maggie64				Hayden Christensen Biography -   Name : Hayden Christensen Date of Birth : 19 April 1981 Place of Birth : Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Height : 6' 1'' Education : Unionville High School, Toronto, Ontario Nationality : Canadian Profession : actor Claim to Fame : as Anakin Skywalker in George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) Also called : Hayden Christiansen

Hayden Christensen Trivia -

Brother of Tove Christensen. Hayden Christensen has a younger sister, named Kaylen (1984) Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2002. Was discovered when his older sister Hejsa, a former trampoline champion, was shopping around for an agent. No one was home to baby-sit him so he went along and it was suggested that he get an agent himself. Attended Unionville High School, Toronto, Ontario. Hayden Christensen is one of Teen People Magazine's "25 Hottest Stars under 25" [2002] Resides in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Attended Unionville High School, Markham, Ontario. Hayden Christensen fractured his hand during the filming of a rather violent scene in Life as a House in which his character hits a wall. Grew up playing competitive tennis and hockey. A digital rendering of Hayden appears in the 2004 DVD version of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), as the spirit of Anakin Skywalker. This replaced Sebastian Shaw as the ghostly image that appears beside Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda at the end of the film. Said in an interview that he was unaware that George Lucas had digitally replaced the late Sebastian Shaw with his image for the DVD release of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983). Shares a birthday with Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno. Graduated from Baythorn Public School in 1995. Was a "ball boy" at the Canadian Open tennis matches. Jumped out too soon during a match in which John McEnroe was playing, causing an interruption in play. He, his brother, and their friends, "kidnap" one another on each of their birthdays, drive to a location unknown to the birthday-boy, and then spend the day riding dirt-bikes.

Hayden Christensen Detailed Biography -

Hayden Christensen made headlines in the spring of 2000, when director George Lucas announced that the 19-year-old actor would play the much-coveted role of Anakin Skywalker in Episode II and Episode III of the venerable Star Wars franchise. Born in Vancouver but raised in Toronto, Canada, Hayden Christensen became involved with Canadian television productions at a young age and carried his skills over to American TV movies and series in the late '90s. Though he would appear briefly in 1999's The Virgin Suicides for director Sofia Coppola -- a family friend of Lucas' -- it was Hayden Christensen's work in the Fox Family Channel's drama series Higher Ground which convinced Lucas to give the actor a reading. Adamant in his desire to find new talent for the role, Lucas passed over such potential adolescent Anakins as Ryan Phillippe, Jonathon Jackson, and even Leonardo DiCaprio in favor of Christensen. It remains to be seen whether the young actor will survive the typecasting that a similarly unknown Mark Hamill suffered some two and a half decades prior, in Episode IV. Before Episode II made it to the screen, Hayden Christensen won accolades -- including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor -- playing a troubled goth teen in the family melodrama Life as a House. The stage thus set for his blockbuster debut, Hayden Christensen would be omnipresent on magazine covers and talk shows in the months leading up to Attack of the Clones' release. The media blitz was not enough, however, to quell some critics' responses to the film and its star, citing Lucas for his simplistic dialogue and singling out Hayden Christensen for an impudent, one-note performance. Though the detractors weren't enough to prevent the film from grossing more than 300 million dollars stateside, Episode II still didn't perform to predictions, as both the nascent Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings franchises stole a little luster from Lucas' crown jewel, and heartthrobs the likes of Tobey Maguire, Elijah Wood, and Orlando Bloom quickly eclipsed Hayden Christensen's "it"-boy status. Perhaps feeling the need to stretch his cinematic muscles, Hayden Christensen took on the role of a brash young plagiarist in the micro-budgeted Shattered Glass. The true-life tale of journalist Stephen Glass, whose fabricated stories brought shame to the hallowed halls of The New Republic, the film made the festival rounds before its release in the fall of 2003, and Hayden Christensen found himself back in the good graces of critics with his enigmatic, cipher-like turn as the duplicitous young writer.