CHANNING TATUM
Date of Birth: April 26, 1980
Growing up in Alabama and Mississippi, Channing Tatum never thought of acting as a career choice. A loner who tended to get into trouble, he kept busy with various sports such as martial arts, baseball, soccer and football, and in ninth grade, was sent to military school.
Based on his football skills, he went on to earn a full athletic scholarship to a West Virginia college, but left before graduating. He then took on various jobs as a construction worker, salesman and mortgage broker before falling into modeling.
Tatum did runway, print and music video work before being chosen to appear in a commercial. He enjoyed the experience so much that he decided to take an acting workshop. Tatum soon became hooked. In 2004 he not only landed a guest appearance on CSI: Miami, but a plum role as a basketball player in the major motion picture Coach Carter (2005) (released in 2005), starring Samuel L. Jackson.
Ironically, despite his athletic background, basketball wasn't a sport he had experience with, so he underwent a training session prior to filming.
He played another supporting role in the teen action drama Supercross (2005), followed by the independent feature Havoc (2005), starring Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. His role in War of the Worlds (2005) starring Tom Cruise was so small that he went uncredited, but was promoted to leading man status in She's the Man (2006). Tatum played Duke, a sensitive soccer star with whom the lead character, played by Amanda Bynes, falls in love. He gained immediate recognition, not to mention a huge following of female fans.
Tatum saw a lot of himself in Tyler Gage, the character he played in Step Up (2006). That is, the rebel side of Tyler. For the dancing part, he underwent weeks of training to learn how to convincingly play a talented dancer.
He also played a lead role in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), for which he shared the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for ensemble dramatic performance with Robert Downey Jr., Shia LaBeouf, Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri and Dianne Wiest.
Tatum confesses a love of history and hope to one day play a role in a historical film. In his spare time he enjoys working out with weights and playing sports. He married his Step Up (2006) co-star, Jenna Dewan, in July 2009.
Filmography:
The Brotherhood of the Rose (2010)
Dear John (2010)
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
Public Enemies (2009)
Fighting (2009)
Stop-Loss (2008)
Step Up 2: The Streets (2008)
Battle in Seattle (2008)
Step Up (2006)
She's the Man (2006)
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Havoc (2005)
Supercross (2005)
Coach Carter (2005)