Taylor Kitsch

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Taylor Kitsch
Taylor Kitsch, 2012.jpg
Kitsch in April 2012.
Born (1981-04-08) April 8, 1981 (age 43)
Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation Actor, model
Years active 2002–2004 (model)
2006–present (actor)

Taylor Kitsch (born April 8, 1981) is a Canadian actor and model. He is best known for his role as Tim Riggins in the NBC series Friday Night Lights (2006–2011), Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and Lieutenant Alex Hopper in Battleship (2012).

Kitsch has also starred in John Carter (2012) as the eponymous lead character, Savages (2012), and Lone Survivor (2013), in which he portrayed Michael Murphy. He also starred as Officer Paul Woodrugh in the second season of the HBO series True Detective.

Early life

Kitsch was born in Kelowna, British Columbia. His mother, Susan Green, worked for the BC Liquor Board while his father, Drew Kitsch, worked in construction.[1][2] His parents separated when he was one, and he and his two older brothers (Brody[3] and Daman) were raised by their mother in a mobile home park.[4][5] He also has two younger maternal half sisters. Kitsch lived in Port Moody and Anmore.[6] He started playing ice hockey at age 3.[7] He attended Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam.[8] He played junior ice hockey for the Langley Hornets in the British Columbia Hockey League, before a knee injury ended his career.[9] Following his injury, Kitsch took nutrition and economic courses from the University of Lethbridge for a year and lived with his brother.[6]

Career

Modeling

Kitsch moved to New York in 2002, after receiving an opportunity to pursue modeling with IMG; he studied acting there as well, and became a nutritionist and personal trainer.[10] For a time in New York he was homeless and took to sleeping on subway trains in the middle of the night.[11] In 2004, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he modeled for Diesel and Abercrombie & Fitch.[11][12] He also appeared in the limited edition coffee table book About Face by celebrity photographer John Russo.[13]

Acting

In 2006, Kitsch was cast in his breakout role on the NBC sports teen drama television series Friday Night Lights, based on Peter Berg's 2004 film of the same name and set in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas. For five seasons, Kitsch portrayed the role of Tim Riggins, a high school student who is the fullback/running back of the Dillon Panthers.[14] The series premiered in October 2006 to universal critical acclaim from critics and over 7.7 million viewers.[15] Kitsch has ruled out reprising his role in a potential film sequel to the television series.[16]

He played Pogue Parry in The Covenant alongside Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Laura Ramsey, Toby Hemingway, Jessica Lucas, and Chace Crawford. In February 2008, he signed on to play Gambit in the X-Men franchise spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine, released in May 2009. Of the fan-favorite character Gambit, Kitsch states, "I knew of him, but I didn't know the following he had. I'm sure I'm still going to be exposed to that. I love the character, I love the powers, and I love what they did with him. I didn't know that much, but in my experience, it was a blessing to go in and create my take on him. I'm excited for it, to say the least."[17]

In 2010, Kitsch starred in Steven Silver's The Bang Bang Club, an historical drama set in South Africa which documents the final bloody days of the apartheid.[18] He had to lose 35 pounds in two months to play the role of photojournalist Kevin Carter, alongside Ryan Phillippe and Malin Åkerman.[19] In November 2010, The Hollywood Reporter named Kitsch as one of the young male actors who are "pushing – or being pushed" into taking over Hollywood as the new "A-List".[20][21]

In the Disney film John Carter, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs's sword-and-sandal novel A Princess of Mars, he played the title character, a Confederate soldier who is transported to Mars. Released in March 2012, it made back less than a third of its budget domestically, and worldwide grosses barely recouped its production and marketing costs.[22] Despite this, Kitsch has said, "I'm very proud of John Carter. Box office doesn't validate me as a person, or as an actor."[23] In May 2012, Kitsch starred in Peter Berg's Battleship, based on Hasbro's toy game, as Lieutenant Alex Hopper.[24] It, too, failed at the domestic box office, boasting the worst opening in history for a film that cost more than $200 million. Again, international revenues are expected to help mitigate its performance.[25] The film marked his reunion with Berg and former Friday Night Lights co-star, Jesse Plemons.[26] In July 2012, he starred in Oliver Stone's Savages with Blake Lively, Salma Hayek, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. HitFix's film critic Drew McWeeny was positive of Kitsch's bond with Johnson which he described as "not only credible but lived in and authentic throughout the film". McWeeny wrote that Kitsch was used the right way in this film with an ensemble that pushes him or challenges him in scenes which resulted in his playing hard, playing intense.[27]

In 2013, Kitsch starred in The Grand Seduction, remake of Jean-François Pouliot's French-Canadian La Grande Séduction (2003) directed by Don McKellar,[28] and another Peter Berg film, Lone Survivor, based on Marcus Luttrell's book.[29] He plays alongside Jim Parsons, Julia Roberts and Mark Ruffalo in Ryan Murphy's The Normal Heart, which aired on HBO on May 25, 2014.[30] Kitsch is in negotiations for the lead role in the American remake of The Raid.[31] Kitsch starred in the sophomore season of True Detective, opposite Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, and Colin Farrell.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2006 John Tucker Must Die Justin
2006 Snakes on a Plane Kyle "Crocodile" Cho
2006 The Covenant Pogue Parry
2008 Gospel Hill Joel Herrod
2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Remy LeBeau / Gambit
2010 The Bang Bang Club Kevin Carter
2012 John Carter John Carter
2012 Battleship Lt. Alex Hopper
2012 Savages Chon
2013 Lone Survivor Michael P. Murphy
2014 The Grand Seduction Dr. Paul Lewis
2015 Almost Heroes Sam (voice)
2015 Pieces (short) Kyle Also writer and director
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2006 Godiva's Colm Episode: Flipping Switches
2006 Kyle XY Male Camper Episode: Pilot
2006–2011 Friday Night Lights Tim Riggins 68 episodes
2014 The Normal Heart Bruce Niles Television film
2015 True Detective Paul Woodrugh Main role

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2007 Teen Choice Awards Choice TV: Breakout Friday Night Lights Nominated
2008 Choice TV Actor: Drama Nominated
2009 Choice Movie Fresh Face Male X-Men Origins: Wolverine Nominated
2010 People's Choice Awards Favorite On-Screen Team Nominated
2012 Genie Awards Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role The Bang Bang Club Nominated
2012 CinemaCon Awards Male Star of Tomorrow N/A N/A
2014 Online Film & Television Association Awards Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries The Normal Heart Nominated[32]

References

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  8. ↑ The Georgia Straight: John Carter's Taylor Kitsch is taking Mars and Hollywood Retrieved on March 7, 2012
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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