Channing Tatum

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.

Channing 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 (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). Channing 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.

Channing 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. In 2010, he won two Teen Choice awards—one for Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and the other for Choice Movie: Chemistry for Dear John (2010), with Amanda Seyfried.

Channing confesses a love of history and hopes to one day play a role in a historical film. In the meantime, he's been cast in unique roles in a long list of high-buzz films like the action-packed thriller Haywire and the romance film The Vow. He also played an underachieving cop in 21 Jump Street, Captain Duke Hauser in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and a male stripper in Magic Mike. He starred in 22 Jump Street (2014) and lent his voice to the animated film The Book of Life (2014). He then starred in Jupiter Ascending (2015) and Magic Mike XXL (2015). He can also be seen dancing up a storm in Hail, Caesar! (2016) and as Tequila in Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).

Channing lent his voice to the animated children's film Smallfoot (2018) as the yeti Migo who stumbles across the elusive species Smallfoot, also known as humans.

In 2022 he partnered with Sandra Bullock for the romantic comedy The Lost City (2022), then played his Magic Mike character one more time in Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023). He recently teamed up with Scarlett Johansson for the period comedy/drama Fly Me to the Moon (2024).

In his spare time he enjoys working out with weights and playing sports. He married his Step Up co-star, Jenna Dewan, in July 2009 and together they have a daughter, Everly, born May 31, 2013. Unfortunately, they divorced in 2019. In 2023, he became engaged to Zoë Kravitz.

Filmography:

Fly Me to the Moon (2024)
Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023)
Bullet Train (2022)
The Lost City (2022)
Dog (2022)
Free Guy (2021)
America: The Motion Picture (2021)
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
Smallfoot (2018)
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Logan Lucky (2017)
Gambit (2016)
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Magic Mike XXL (2015)
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
22 Jump Street (2014)
The Book of Life (2014)
White House Down (2013)
Foxcatcher (2014)
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
Side Effects (2013)
Don Jon (2013)
Magic Mike (2012)
21 Jump Street (2012)
The Vow (2012)
Haywire (2011)
10 Years (2011)
The Eagle (2011)
The Son of No One (2011)
The Dilemma (2011)
Dear John (2010)
Public Enemies (2009)
Fighting (2009)
Stop-Loss (2008)
Step Up 2: The Streets (2008)
Battle in Seattle (2007)
Step Up (2006)
She’s the Man (2006)
A Guide to Recognizing You Saints (2006)
Supercross (2005)
Havoc (2005)
War of the Worlds (2005) (uncredited)
Coach Carter (2005)