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Hayden Christensen was born on April 19, 1981 in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to his parents Alie and David, who are both in the
communications business. The blue-eyed, blond-haired actor spent the first three years of his life in BC, before moving with his family (mother Alie, father David, brother Tove, sister Hejsa and later on
sister Kaylen) to Thornhill, Ontario.
He started acting when he was 7 years old. His sister Hejsa, who had been in a Pringles commercial, brought young Hayden along with her while she searched
for a talent agent. They ended up finding one for him. He was offered jobs for commercials and decided to give it a shot. After that, he appeared in numerous commercials, in theater and television. His
attractive blue-eyed, blonde-haired looks (which is due to his unique cultural heritage-Swedish, Italian, Danish and English) landed him a regular role [Skip McDeere] on the first Canadian daily
hour-long soap opera ever entitled "Family Passions" when he was just twelve years old.
Hayden moved on to several bit parts on TV movies (i.e. The Mia Farrow Story, No Greater Love) and
guest spots on TV shows (has appeared on "Goosebumps", "Real Kids, Real Adventures", "Forever Knight", "Are You Afraid of the Dark", and "The Famous Jett
Jackson"). He also played minor roles in two movies, "In the Mouth of Madness" [the paper boy] and "Strike" [Tinka's Date].
During this period of time, Hayden
attended Unionville High School in Unionville Ontario, where he became a relatively normal teenager (except for a few TV roles and movies now and then). He played competitive triple A hockey, competitive
beach paddle tennis with brother Tove, worked out on the trampoline, enjoyed skateboarding, rollerblading and mountain biking and became a provincially ranked tennis player, even planning to go to
university on a tennis scholarship (athleticism runs in the Christensen family--brother Tove went to the University of Pennsylvania on a track and field scholarship and his father also went to university
on a football scholarship). However Hayden's true love was acting.
In 1999, he appeared in a TV movie entitled "Freefall" [Patrick] which also starred former Charlie's Angel
Jaclyn Smith. He was also in "Trapped in a Purple Haze" [Orin Krieg], among many other TV movies in which he has appeared. Hayden then got a role in the haunting movie "The Virgin
Suicides" [Jake Hill Conley]. During the same year, he signed on to star in a new low budget, Canadian drama entitled "Higher Ground" which earned him a rapidly growing fan base.
On May 12, 2000, it was officially announced that Hayden was the new Anakin in Episode II and III, the prequels of the original Star Wars series. Hayden was away in Australia from June-December
of 2000 as well as on location in Tunisia and Italy for some scenes. Because of the special effects, a lot of his scenes were shot using a blue screen background. His athletic and stage fighting skills
also came in handy as he learned the art of fencing in order to master handling a light saber.
Hayden is one of those truly extraordinary actors of his generation. He is one of the very few who
has incredible talent and shines brightly in everything that he does. More fame and success is definitely ahead for Hayden.
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