Hayden Christensen life and biography

Hayden Christensen is a Canadian actor. He appeared in Canadian television programs when he was young, then diversified into American television in the late 1990s. He moved on to minor acting roles before being praised for his role of Sam in Life as a House, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award. He gained international fame portraying the young Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Christensen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada the son of Alie, a speechwriter for the heads of large companies, and David Christensen, a computer programmer and communications executive. His father is of Danish descent and his mother has Swedish and Italian ancestry. Christensen has an older brother and sister, Tove and Hejsa, and a younger sister, Kaylen. Raised outside Toronto in Thornhill, Ontario, Christensen attended E.J. Sand Public School, Baythorn Public School and Unionville High School in Unionville, Ontario, Canada. He was an athlete in high school, playing hockey competitively and tennis on a provincial level.

He spent summers in Long Island with his maternal grandmother, Rose Schwartz, and attended the Actors Studio in New York as well as the Arts York program for drama at his high school. He was "discovered" when his older sister Hejsa, a former trampoline champion, was shopping around for an agent after he landed a role in a Pringles commercial.

When he was thirteen he began his starring roles in several dramatic television shows. His big break came with Fox Family's troubled youth show "Higher Ground" (2000).

Hayden has had quite notable performances in such films as The Virgin Suicides (1999) and the television movie Trapped in a Purple Haze (2000) (TV). His role as the troubled, misunderstood teen Sam Monroe in Irwin Winkler's Life as a House (2001) won him 'Breakthrough Performance of the Year' from the National Board of Review. The film also placed him as a nominee for 'Best Supporting Actor' at both the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. George Lucas had already set his vision on the young and talented actor for the role of Anakin Skywalker in his final two Star Wars films, which became one of Christensen's most memorable roles.

Hayden then set out to star in Shattered Glass (2003), quoted by some of the real Stephen Glass' colleagues as giving an eerie and uncanny portrayal.

Devoted and loyal, the family man currently resides in both Toronto and Los Angeles. When not working, Hayden enjoys spending quality time with his family - such as big brother Tove, hanging out with his friends, and exploring other hobbies such as the blues, jazz and piano.

Filmography:

2009 : New York, I Love You
2010 : Takers ; Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey
2011 : Vanishing on 7th Street

Television:

1999 : Real Kids, Real Adventures ; Are You Afraid of the Dark? ; The Famous Jett Jackson
2000 : Trapped in a Purple Haze ; Higher Ground

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