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Hayden Christensen is an American-Canadian actor and producer, famous for his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” and “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” Here are 50 interesting facts about the actor
- He was cast in his first commercial for Pringles, at the age of eight.
- He started his film career when he was just 12 years, as he played a supporting role on the German-Canadian television series “Macht Der Leidenschaft/Family Passions.”
- Ranked #11 on Entertainment Weekly's “30 Under 30” list of actors.
- Born on April, 19, 1981 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- His mother Alie Nelson, an American speechwriter, has Swedish and Italian ancestries, while his father David Christensen, a Canadian computer programmer and communications executive has Danish and English ancestries.
- He has three siblings – an older brother Tove Christensen, an older sister Hejsa Christensen and a younger sister Kaylen Christensen.
- His elder brother Tove is a Canadian film producer and actor, while sister Hejsa is an actress known for her roles in TV series like “Top Cops” and “Class of ’96.” His younger sister Kaylen has also been into acting, and has appeared in minor roles in movies like “Mean Girls.”
- He was raised in Thornhill, Ontario, and often spent the summers on Long Island with Rose Schwartz, his maternal grandmother.
- He did his schooling in E.J. Sand Public School, Baythorn Public School and Unionville High School in Unionville, Ontario.
- He attended the Actors Studio in New York and the Arts York program for drama at Unionville High School.
- During his childhood, he was a hockey and tennis player and supports Manchester United Football Club.
- He used to be a “ball boy” at the Canadian Open tennis matches. In a John McEnroe match, he happened to jump out too soon causing an interruption in the play.
- He was discovered at the age of 8, when he was accompanying his sister Hejsa in the search for an agent. His sister took him along, as there was no one at home to baby-sit him.
- Following his supporting role of Skip McDeere, in the 1993 TV series “Family Passions,” he appeared in many films like “In the Mouth of Madness,” “Harrison Bergeron,” “Forever Knight,” “Goosebumps,” “The Virgin Suicides,” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”
- His major breakthrough was in the Fox Family Network’s TV series “Higher Ground” in the year 2000, when he was cast as Scott Barringer, a teen who was sexually molested by his stepmother, and turns to drugs in despair.
- The next year, he played the role of Sam Monroe, a misunderstood teenager in “Life as a House,” which earned him a number of nominations including Golden Globe.
- During the filming of a violent scene, in which Hayden hits a wall, he in fact fractured his hand for real and that his knuckles were swollen and bleeding by the time the scene was finished.
- He was awarded with National Board of Review's award for Breakthrough Performance of the Year.
- His London theatre debut was in “This Is Our Youth” with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin in the year 2002.
- Christensen was cast as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels “Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones” of 2002 and “Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith” in the year 2005.
- Director George Lucas chose him for his raw talent and good chemistry with Natalie Portman. The director was quoted saying that he wanted an actor with the presence of a dark side.
- Lucas turned down big name actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonathan Jackson, along with 400 other candidates to choose Hayden for the role.
- He claims that he greatly enjoyed the shooting of the bar scene in the movie “Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones,” as the entire bar was a real set rather than just a blue screen.
- While the rehearsal, Christensen has made "lightsaber noises" like Ewan McGregor did in “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace” for which Lucas just chuckled and said there are people in Sound Effects who could do a better job during post production.
- He is the only actor in the entire franchise, who didn’t get a chance to choose his lightsaber’s design though it was a tradition to choose.
- For the movie “Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith,” he and McGregor trained in fencing and fitness for nearly two months as a preparation for fight sequences.
- He took six meals a day and gained 24.2 pounds in weight for his character in the movie.
- He is the third actor to play the role of Anakin Skywalker, following Sebastian Shaw and Jake Lloyd.
- He is also the only actor to have portrayed Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, in the same movie, “Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith” in the year 2005, as the characters have been played by different actors all the other times.
- His favorite scenes in this movie are the ones in which he acted with Ian McDiarmid, who played the role of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
- Though he became popular among audience, his performance received mixed reviews and he was awarded with the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor in both films.
- However, he also won the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and ShoWest’s Male Star of Tomorrow Award. He received nominations for Saturn Award Best Actor, MTV Movie Award for Best Fight, Teen Choice Awards for Movie Actor and Movie Bad Guy.
- He was voted as one among the “50 Most Beautiful People” by People Magazine and “25 Hottest Stars under 25” by the Teen edition of the magazine in the year 2002.
- Following the success with Star Wars franchise, Christensen starred in the 2003’s “Shattered Glass,” which was also co-produced by his brother Tove Christensen.
- The movie was the true story of a journalist Stephen Glass. His performance in the movie was well received and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "Hayden Christensen is sensational as Glass.”
- He received the Best Actor award for his performance at the Las Palmas Film Festival. He was also nominated for Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama.
- He was one among the “50 Hottest Bachelors” in the year 2005, by People Magazine.
- He starred in the lead role of Clay Beresford in the movie “Awake,” opposite Jessica Alba in the year 2007.
- It is reported that Jared Leto was initially considered for the role, but Christensen was cast.
- During the filming of the movie, he along with Alba, visited Bellevue hospital and spent time with little children, in an effort to bring them Christmas cheer.
- In 2008, he was cast as David Rice in the movie “Jumper,” opposite Rachel Bilson as Millie. It was reported that Eminem was approached for the role, who turned it down. Director Doug Liman said that he dropped the idea of casting Eminem, right after he met Christensen.
- However, originally it was Tom Sturridge and Teresa Palmer cast as David and Millie. Christensen and Bilson were recast after 2 months of filming.
- The lead pair, who met at the set for the first time in 2007, began dating in real life. After a year, on December 25, 2008, Christensen and Bilson got engaged.
- He was featured in Louis Vuitton's ad campaign and was also named as the face of Lacoste Challenge, the brand new fragrance from Lacoste.
- After “Jumper,” he appeared in a number of movies like “Takers,” “Vanishing on 7th Street,” “Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey,” “American Heist,” and “Outcast.”
- In the year 2007, he bought a farm near Uxbridge, Ontario. The next year, he began renovating the property himself and started learning about livestock, crops and agricultural machinery.
- Inspired by his farm, he released a new men’s clothing line in collaboration with Canadian Fashion Chain RW&Co.
- He modeled for the RED’s Lazarus Effect Campaign, which aims to increase the awareness of AIDS in Africa.
- He and Bilson welcomed their baby daughter Briar Rose on October 29, 2014. He currently resides in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
- Christensen is having a number of movies in the pipeline including a historical drama “Marco Polo,” a story that follows the journey of the 13th century merchant and explorer from Silk Road to Mongol Empire.
