Hayden Christensen (born April 19, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He gained recognition for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader in the Star Wars media franchise. He first appeared in the prequel trilogy films, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), and later reprised his role in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) and Ahsoka (2023).
Christensen began his career on Canadian television at the age of 13, then diversified into American television in the late 1990s. His early work includes The Virgin Suicides (1999), Life as a House (2001), and Shattered Glass (2003). He earned praise for his performances as Sam in Life as a House and as Stephen Glass in Shattered Glass. Christensen's honours include the nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard. His other notable works include Awake (2007), Jumper (2008), Takers (2010), and Little Italy (2018).
Early life
Christensen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Alie, an American speechwriter, and David Christensen, a Canadian computer programmer and communications executive. His father is of Danish descent, and his mother has Swedish and Italian ancestry. Christensen is one of four children, with three actor siblings: older brother Tove, older sister Hejsa, and younger sister Kaylen. He spent summers on Long Island with his maternal grandmother, Rose Schwartz.
Christensen attended Unionville High School in Markham, Ontario. He was an athlete in high school, playing hockey competitively and tennis on a provincial level. He attended the Actors Studio in New York City; he studied as well at the Arts York drama program in high school. After accompanying his older sister to her agent's office after she landed a role in a Pringles commercial, he began being cast in commercials as well, including for Triaminic cough syrup in 1988.
Career
1993–2005: Early work
Christensen made his acting debut in September 1993, when, at the age of 12, he played a supporting role on the German-Canadian television series Family Passions. The following year, he had a minor role in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness. From 1995 through 1999, he appeared in several films and television series, including Harrison Bergeron, Forever Knight, Goosebumps, The Virgin Suicides, and Are You Afraid of the Dark?
He acquired wider notice while starring in Fox Family Channel's television series Higher Ground in 2000, portraying a teen who was sexually molested by his stepmother, and then turned to drugs in his despair.
Christensen's critically acclaimed portrayal of a misunderstood teenager in Life as a House (2001) earned him Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations, as well as the National Board of Review's award for Breakthrough Performance of the Year. However, the performance did not receive widespread public notice. In 2002, Christensen made his London theatre debut with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin in This Is Our Youth.
He went on to receive positive reviews for 2003's Shattered Glass, which tells the true story of journalist Stephen Glass, who was discovered to be fabricating stories as a writer for The New Republic and other publications. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "Hayden Christensen is sensational as Glass, finding the wonder boy and the weasel in a disturbed kid flying high on a fame he hasn't earned."
In 2005, Christensen made his Broadway debut when he appeared briefly in a 10-minute play. Also in the same year, he took part in the fifth annual "24 Hour Plays" benefit, which raises cash for nonprofit groups in the Big Apple.
2000–2005: Star Wars prequel trilogy
On May 12, 2000, Christensen announced that he would be starring as an adult Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005); Skywalker was previously portrayed by Jake Lloyd as a child in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). The casting director reviewed about 1,500 other candidates before director George Lucas selected Christensen. Lucas is quoted as saying that he chose Christensen because he "needed an actor who has that presence of the Dark Side". This was essential to solidify the story that Lucas was trying to tell: Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace and transformation into Darth Vader. Christensen was cast after Leonardo DiCaprio turned down the film.
Christensen admitted to Star Wars Insider in 2005, that he found it difficult bridging the gap between Jake Lloyd's Anakin as an innocent boy and the villain Vader was introduced as in the original trilogy. While his co-star, Ewan McGregor had Alec Guinness to emulate, Christensen had no one to emulate. He said, "Ultimately, I had to be the linear connection between the Anakin that Jake Lloyd played, and capture Darth Vader as portrayed by Sebastian Shaw when he was demasked in Return of the Jedi."
During the production of Revenge of the Sith, Christensen asked Lucas if a special Vader suit could be constructed to fit his own body, rather than have a different actor don one of the original sets of Vader armour worn by David Prowse. Lucas agreed, and a suit was engineered to fit Christensen's frame, even including extensions to allow for the actor to attain Vader's 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) height. His voice as the "robotic" Vader, however, was dubbed over by James Earl Jones, who first made the voice famous in the original trilogy.
In one of the most controversial changes made to the Star Wars original trilogy, Christensen was inserted into the 2004 DVD release of Return of the Jedi, where he replaced Shaw as the Force ghost of the redeemed Anakin Skywalker. Lucas wanted Anakin's inner person to return to who he was before he turned to the dark side. Christensen insisted this was done without his knowledge, an act that was confirmed by Lucasfilm itself in the featurette "Return of the Jedi: What has changed?" as seen on the official website to commemorate the 2006 DVDs.
Christensen's performance in both Episode II and Episode III received generally mixed reviews from critics, although contemporary reviews note that his performance was mostly affected by Lucas' directing and the dialogue, and has since seen positive reappraisal in retrospect. However, long before the reappraisal, Christensen received praise from the cast and crew while filming the two prequels. At the time of the release of Attack of the Clones, C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels described Christensen as "such a hero, and terrific, clever actor." He also witnessed Christensen in his Darth Vader costume on set during filming for Revenge of the Sith. He said, "I've lived with Darth Vader for years, but there was something about Hayden being in the costume.... He had a presence. I cared that this nice guy had become this ultimate vision of evil." Following the reappraisal, in his 2019 memoirs, Daniels praised Christensen and McGregor for their lightsaber duel in Revenge of Sith describing them as "marvellous." In 2022, when reflecting on the prequel trilogy and the reappraisal, Christensen said, "It's like those films had a gestation period, where they needed a little time to ferment in the public psyche. The reception that the films have now, it's very heartwarming."
Christensen was named in both People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People and Teen People's 25 Hottest Stars under 25. For his performance in Episode III, he won the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.
2006–2018: Further work, films and television
Between 2006 and 2007, he starred in Awake, with Jessica Alba, which tells the story of a man who remains awake but paralyzed during heart surgery, and co-starred in Factory Girl, opposite Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce. Christensen next co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Bell, and Rachel Bilson in the film Jumper, the story of a young man who discovers he has the…