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Hayden Christensen, Superstar
A Good Canadian Boy Playing the Good Ol’ Hockey Game Christensen learned to stay afloat in fame’s waters quickly, and he credits his family with keeping him well-adjusted. His mother certainly isn’t starstruck by her own son. She treats him the same way my mother treated me when I was 26 and living away from home: She shows up in town a couple of times a year to make sure his eating and sleeping habits haven’t gone out the window and that he hasn’t fallen prey to any serious vice. He has two sisters: Hejsa and Kaylen. His older brother Tove lives in Los Angeles, where he runs their production company, Forest Park Pictures. When he looks back now on his role in the Star Wars films and on that day in the convenience store, he compares it to his first love – hockey – and sees it for exactly what it was. “In hockey, you invest tons of time and effort into specific, technical skills,” he says. “As you develop your skills, you advance to a higher level; that’s how you progress. That’s not how it happened for me.” His arrival among Hollywood’s elite “came from this one role that was part of a huge phenomenon and really had nothing to do with me.” Meaning it had less to do with his talent and more to do with the fact that he fit George Lucas’ vision of the young Anakin Skywalker. “That it happened that way is probably fortunate because I’ve managed to see it for what it is and keep it off to the side.” At age 26, Star Wars has made Hayden Christensen rich and famous. Now he’d like to try some acting. From Boy to Man – Sort Of “An actor won’t last as a leading man unless he plays characters who want something passionately,” wrote New York film critic David Denby. “Gary Cooper and James Stewart seek justice; John Wayne and Clint Eastwood seek revenge. Humphrey Bogart and George Clooney demand candour from a duplicitous world.” |
