Hayden Christensen, whose films have been attracting the attention of viewers in recent years, has become both a famous person and someone hated by Star Wars fans thanks to George Lucas. For one role, he was nominated for a film award as the best and worst actor at the same time. Christensen has more than 35 works in film and television, 9 film awards, including two Golden Raspberries. Let's talk about his works in more detail.
Photo: Kino-Teatr.RU
Hayden Christensen owes his career success to his relatives. At the age of 6, he was noticed and invited to appear in a commercial because his sister took him to a meeting with an agent, and at the age of 19, his brother persuaded Hayden to go to the Star Wars casting.
Christensen showed interest in studying acting during his holidays with his grandmother in America. A visit to the New York theater studio made an indelible impression on him. The only relative who dissuaded Hayden from acting was his father. Nevertheless, the actor transferred half of the large fee for “Star Wars” to his parents.
The best films of his career were:
"The Virgin Suicides" (1999)
Photo: forum.hartnettjosh.org
For director Sofia Coppola, The Virgin Suicides is his debut, and for Hayden Christensen it is the third full-length film in his career, which cemented his role as an actor in teen films.
The film tells about the plight of the teenage girls of the Lisbon family. Good Catholics, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon have five daughters. Unexpectedly for them, the youngest Cecilia tries to commit suicide. The second attempt turns out to be successful, and, naturally, the grief-stricken parents want to protect the remaining children from any problems, not realizing that in this way they are depriving the girls of a normal life.
The film received positive reviews from critics. Sofia Coppola was talked about as a director with her own original style, which is no worse than that of her talented father. Experts also admired the selection and performance of young actors, among whom was Hayden Christensen.
Interestingly, in the same 1999, Sofia Coppola played a cameo role in the film “Star Wars. Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” and a few years later the continuation of the film will become Christensen’s finest hour.
Biography
Canadian actor Hayden Christensen was brought to the pinnacle of fame by the second and third parts of the space opera Star Wars. Who knows what the artist’s fate would have been like if the director and screenwriter of the saga, George Lucas, had not seen his hero Anakin Skywalker in the little-known boy from Vancouver.
Hayden Christensen was born in April 1981 in Vancouver, but his childhood years were spent in the heart of Ontario - Toronto. The parents of the future star of the Star Wars project had no direct connection to the world of cinema: Dane David Christensen and Italian-Swedish Eli Nelson owned a telecommunications company. Hayden's father is a programmer by training, his mother is a speechwriter.
Actor Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen calls his childhood and teenage years happy, because they passed in a large family, where the parents were keenly interested in the lives of their four children: sons Tove and Hayden and daughters Heisa and Kaylen.
Hayden Christensen as a child
Christensen's interest in television and acting began as a child. At the age of 8, the boy advertised cough syrup, and at 12 he received an invitation to a cameo role in the German-Canadian soap opera Family Passions. In addition to filming, Hayden Christensen was interested in sports: the boy reached professional heights in hockey, and demonstrated a good amateur level in tennis.
Hayden Christensen in the series "Family Passions"
The shift towards cinematography happened during a vacation in Long Island, when Hayden was visiting his grandmother. Christensen became interested in acting after attending classes at an acting studio in New York. After returning home, the teenager enrolled in the school drama studio.
Hayden Christensen in his youth
Hayden’s father did not like his son’s desire to become an actor; he spent a long time admonishing the boy to abandon this idea: David Christensen understood how difficult it was to get to the top of the film “Olympus”. But the guy persisted. From 1993 to 2000, Hayden Christensen starred in six TV series, where he was entrusted with supporting roles. These works did not bring the young artist either fame or recognition, but he believed that he would certainly find success.
"Life is like a home" (2001)
Photo: FilmoPotok.RU
The film “Life Like a House” did not pay for itself at the box office, but became an important stage in Christensen’s career. For his role as Sam Monroe, he was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and the National Board of Film Critics awarded him the Breakthrough Male of the Year Award.
The film tells the story of architect George Monroe, who is fired from his job that took away 20 years of his life. Adding to the misfortune is a fatal diagnosis. Realizing that he has nothing more to lose in life, George begins building a house, which he could not begin for many years. He involves his son Sam in the case.
The relationship between them does not initially work out, but as construction progresses, trust and mutual love return. Gradually, all of George’s close people, to whom he did not pay enough attention due to his busy schedule, join the business.
After the death of his father, Sam, who has reconsidered his attitude towards life, completes the construction, becoming the person his father would be proud of.
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Hayden Christensen was born in Vancouver, Canada in April 1981. His father David Christensen worked as a programmer. Lee Nelson's mother was a speechwriter. Hayden is of Danish (on his father's side) and Italian-Swedish (on his mother's) ancestry.
The profession of a film actor always attracted the young man, but his father was categorically against such a career. Christensen was supported by his grandmother, with whom he went on summer holidays to New York. There, little Hayden studied in the acting studio. He also took a drama class at his school in Toronto.
Hayden Christensen, whose filmography includes more than twenty works, began his career by filming commercials. He was only eight years old then.
"Star Wars. Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
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In Star Wars, Hayden Christensen played the most famous and controversial role of his career - Anakin Skywalker. For it, he received a prize at the Cannes Film Festival, a Golden Raspberry, and nominations for the Saturn and Teen Choice Awards.
There is a legend in Hollywood about the “Skywalker Curse.” All the actors who played them did not achieve success in the future, but regularly appeared on the pages of the yellow press as persons involved in scandals.
Thus, the first victim of the “curse” is considered to be David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original trilogy. He was re-voiced, and in Return of the Jedi, in the episode where the villain takes off his mask, a different actor was shown. Prowse fell out with Lucas, who banned him from attending any events related to the film. To add insult to injury, the actor fell ill with arthritis.
In the 2000s, Jack Lloyd, who played the role of little Anakin, aroused such hatred from fans that he abandoned his acting career forever; he said in an interview that the film ruined his life, and in 2016, with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, he ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
Hayden Christensen spoke about the role of Anakin as the embodiment of his dream. Lucas chose him from four hundred applicants. Moreover, he made changes to the original trilogy, inserting Christensen into the final scene of Return of the Jedi instead of the actor who played Vader in the film.
But this did not save Hayden from the anger of fans. He was criticized for his monotonous facial expressions, clumsy speech, spoiled love story and primitive dramatic schemes.
In 2005, Christensen returned to the role of Skywalker in the film Star Wars: Episode III: Attack of the Clones. In his interview, the actor admitted that the work became a real challenge for him. In the film, Anakin had to grow from a gruff teenager into a grown man with responsibilities and problems. In addition, he had to try on Darth Vader's armor, which, according to him, weighed at least 18 kg.
In 2020, the Disney studio released the first spin-off of the series, Rogue One. Star Wars: Stories". Right up until the premiere, there were rumors that the actor would again appear as Darth Vader on screen. But shortly before the release of the film, it became known that Hayden Christensen was not involved in “Cast Away.” Darth Vader appears only in small cameos and is played by actor Spencer Wilding and voiced by James Earl Jones.
Personal life
The Canadian star’s relationship with her colleague in the “Teleport” project, actress Rachel Bilson, was uneven: in the summer of 2010, the artists broke up, but in the winter of the same year they reconciled.
In the spring of 2014, fans of the star learned that Hayden and Rachel were looking forward to a happy event. In October 2020, the couple welcomed a daughter, Brier Rose Christensen. The girl's name in translation sounds like "Rosehipnichek". This is what the fairies called Princess Aurora in the fairy tale film “Sleeping Beauty”.
Hayden Christensen adores her daughter and claims that she has many similarities with the heroine from Sleeping Beauty.
Hayden Christensen with his wife and daughter
Fans of the actor have repeatedly noticed Hayden's touching habit: when he concentrates on work, he sticks out the tip of his tongue. This feature of Christensen can be traced back to childhood. The star is also afraid of bees, to which he is allergic.
"The Stephen Glass Affair" (2003)
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According to stories about the “curse of Skywalker,” the actor does not receive invitations to interesting projects after playing Anakin. Christensen was an exception. The film "The Stephen Glass Affair" was highly praised by critics, received 11 film awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe.
The plot is based on the true story of a journalist from the respected publication The New Republic, who in the second half of the 1990s managed to become a journalistic star and the face of the magazine by falsifying facts. Stephen Glass studied the system of journalistic work so well that he easily managed to bypass all possible information verification procedures and write articles about non-existent facts and events.
Critics noted that the writers focused not on digging into Glass's personality and motives, but on the story itself, which made the film more authentic and interesting.
It is curious that Stephen Glass himself, who works in a law firm and helps prepare clients for trial, said that he liked the picture and the only difference from real life is that Christensen’s character enjoys deception, but he does not.
"I Seduced Andy Warhol" (2006)
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The founder of pop art, Andy Warhol, is a legendary figure. He came up with the idea that an ordinary object used in everyday life can become a work of art. He drew canned food, Coce-Cola cans, spent 8 hours filming the Empire State Building and a man's face during a blowjob.
The film tells the story of young actress Edie Sedgwick, who began affairs with Warhol and Bob Dylan at the same time, causing the men to conflict with each other. Since Dylan did not give permission to use his image in the film, the character resembling him was named Billy Quinn. This role went to Hayden Christensen.
The film was received negatively by critics, noting the good performance of the lead actress, Sienna Miller.
"Virgin Territory" (2007)
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The second film in Christensen's career to feature virgins in the title. Director David Leland made a beautiful pseudo-historical film based on Boccaccio's work "The Decameron".
In the story, three men lay claim to the heart of the beautiful Pampinea: the vile deceiver Gerbino, who convinced the girl that her father on his deathbed commanded her to marry him, the noble young man Lorenzo, who is not averse to having fun with nuns in his spare time, and the Novgorod prince Dzerzhinsky. The heroes find themselves in curious adventures, vaguely reminiscent of the plots of Boccaccio, and the “territory of virgins” is a convent where the action leads the heroes.
Critics wrote that from the costume drama in the film there are only Roberto Cavalli's costumes, but no drama. Little remains of the great Italian’s original stories, and the film is more reminiscent of “American Pie” in Italian landscapes.
The film was released in limited edition, only for distribution on DVD.
Hayden Christensen played the role of the noble Lorenzo in “Virgin Territory”.
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- Hayden has two sisters (Kaylin and Hayesa) and a brother (Tuv).
- Christensen loves pets. He has two parrots and a rabbit.
- As a child, he played hockey and tennis. He loves football and is a fan of English Manchester United.
- Likes to read the works of Hermann Hesse.
- Hayden is allergic to bees.
- His height is 189 cm.
- The Star Wars director chose Christensen for the role out of four hundred applicants.
- To work in the third episode of Star Wars, the actor had to gain eleven kilograms.
- Loves Italian cuisine, especially pizza and lasagna.
- Loves rap and hates country music.
"Narcosis" (2007)
Photo: Allmovies.uz
The film is an excellent example of how the opinions of critics can diverge from the tastes of viewers. Having received mostly negative reviews from professionals, “Narcosis”, with a budget of $8.6 million, grossed $33 million at the box office.
Hayden Christensen plays the role of the wealthy heir to the Clay business empire in the film. He falls in love with a simple girl, Sam. Naturally, the mother is categorically against her son’s relationship. A doctor he knows suggests that Clay solve the problem by marrying Sam, secretly from his mother.
And in order to live happily ever after with his beloved, Clay needs a heart transplant. During the operation, despite the anesthesia administered, the hero remains conscious and finds out that the surgeons intend to kill him in order to take possession of his fortune.
But the guy’s mother realizes that something wrong is going on, finds her son and gives him her heart.
Hayden Christensen now
The parents of little Briar Rose are protecting the girl from the annoying attention of the paparazzi. In May 2020, photo reporters managed to photograph Christensen’s daughter when the couple gape at a farmers market in Los Angeles.
Hayden Christensen in 2020
A new film starring Hayden Christensen will be released in the fall of 2020. This is the action thriller film First Murder by Stephen S. Miller. In addition to the Canadian, Bruce Willis and Shea Buckner starred in it.
The 39,000-strong army of subscribers will learn about the actor’s personal life and work on Hayden Christensen’s Instagram page.
