By: Brittany Hamilton
Channing Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor and former model. After beginning his career as a fashion model, he has branched out into acting roles, appearing in the films Havoc (2005), Coach Carter (2005), Supercross (2005), she’s the Man, then Step Up, and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, all of which were released in 2006.
Born Channing Bryan Isaac Tatum Anderson in Cullman, a small city in
Alabama, and has at least one sister. He has French, Irish and Native American ancestry. His family moved to
Mississippi enjoyed a rural existence, including “All the rattlesnakes and alligators a boy could possibly chase, fishing every day, Pop Warner football league, stuff like that”.
Tatum was athletic while growing up, playing football, soccer, track, baseball and martial arts, and had “a lot of energy”, although he says that “girls were always [his] biggest distraction in school.” During the ninth grade, he “had an option either a military school or a private school”. Tatum won a football scholarship to Glenville State College in
West Virginia, although he soon lost interest in the sport and turned down the scholarship, citing his dislike of the demands of playing football. When he was six, although he visits
Alabama where his mother’s family still lives every summer. Tatum grew up in the bayous near the
Mississippi River, where he enjoyed a rural existence, including “All the rattlesnakes and alligators a boy could possibly chase, fishing every day, Pop Warner football league, stuff like that”.
Tatum was athletic while growing up, playing football, soccer, track, baseball and martial arts, and had “a lot of energy”, although he says that “girls were always [his] biggest distraction in school.” During the ninth grade, he “had an option either a military school or a private school”. Tatum won a football scholarship to Glenville State College in
West Virginia, although he soon lost interest in the sport and turned down the scholarship, citing his dislike of the demands of playing football.
Tatum began his acting career in 2004, appearing in an episode of the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. His first feature film role was in 2005’s high school drama, Coach Carter, playing Jason Lyle, a street smart basketball player opposite Samuel L. Jackson; Tatum also appeared in Twista’s “Hope” music video, which accompanied the film. In the same year, Tatum had a bit role in War of the Worlds when posing as a boy in a church, a factory endorsed top motocross racer in Supercross, and part of the supporting cast in Havoc. Although Tatum has said that he loves modeling, he has taken a break from the profession to concentrate on his acting career, saying that he prefers making more mature movies.
