Channing Tatum biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Channing Tatum was born on April 26, 1980, in Cullman, Alabama, later moving to Wetumpka and then Mississippi when he was 6 years old. Tatum attended Gaither High School in Tampa, Florida and transferred to Tampa Catholic High School after his sophomore year. Upon graduation, he was offered a football scholarship to Glenville State College in Glenville, West Virginia, but turned it down to pursue other interests.

Acting Career

Tatum was discovered on the streets of Miami and signed with a modeling agency, soon appearing in print ads for brands such as Nautica, Gap, American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch. His first job in front of a motion picture camera came when he was cast as a dancer in Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" music video. Tatum also starred in a few television commercials for the likes of Pepsi and Mountain Dew.

The dancer and model began his acting career in 2004, with a small role on TV's CSI: Miami. He decided then to pursue acting fill-time, and his first feature film role came the next year in the drama Coach Carter, opposite Samuel L. Jackson. That same year, Tatum had small roles in Havoc, Supercross and Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds.

Tatum had a big 2006, landing two lead roles in Step Up—in which he co-starred with Jenna Dewan, whom he would marry in 2009—and She's the Man. He also had a primary role in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and landed Tatum nominations for both Gotham and Independent Spirit awards.

After acting in four films in 2007 and 2008, Tatum hit the big screen in 2009 with two high-profile projects: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Michael Mann's Public Enemy, which also starred Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. Showing his range as an actor, Tatum's next roles were a change of pace from the action dramas of 2009, as he took the lead role in the romantic drama Dear John and appeared in the comedy The Dilemma. Around this time, he was also in Haywire (an action film), The Vow (a romance) and 21 Jump Street (a comedic action film), routinely refusing to pigeonhole himself as an actor.

In 2012, Tatum found himself once again working with Steven Soderbergh (who directed him in Havoc), with Magic Mike, a film about an enterprising male stripper. Tatum's 2013 schedule sees him reprising his role of Duke in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and brings him and Soderbergh together for a third time in the thriller The Bitter Pill.

Recent News

On May 30, 2013, Tatum and wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum welcomed their first child, a baby girl, in London.

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