Taylor Kitsch
Taylor was born on April 8th, 1982 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, but he grew up in Vancouver and still lives there when he’s not shooting. When he was a kid Taylor wanted to be a professional hockey player. He was on his way to this when he took a bad hit and blew his knee, ruining his prospects for having a career in professional sports.
In 2002 Taylor moved to New York City (a prize Taylor received after being scouted by modeling scouts in Canada) and was signed to IMG Models. There he modeled for famous clothing lines Abercrombie & Fitch and Diesel. In his two years staying in NYC he also signed up with Untitled Entertainment. In between all the modeling work he found time to study the art of acting with coach Sheila Grey. In that time he also managed to become a certified personal trainer and nutritionist. While in New York Taylor landed a role in the movie Pacific Air Flight 121, later called Snakes On A Plane (released in Augustus 2006).
In 2004 Taylor moved to Los Angeles because he wanted to learn more about acting. He stayed in Los Angeles for about 8 months and did some print work with Nous Modeling Management. It didn’t take long for him to realise he didn’t want to stay there, because he thought things were going a little bit too fast for him. In the summer of 2005 he moved back to Vancouver to spend more time with his family. In 2006 he signed up with Endeavour Agency in Toronto.
That same year he got a role in The Covenant, where he starred together with Steven Strait, Chace Crawford and Toby Hemingway. In the movie he playes Pogue Parry. This got him recognised by the bigger audience, even though the movie wasn’t as successful as the makers hoped it would be.
Not long after his role in The Covenant the casting directors from the football movie Friday Night Lights saw the potential of Taylor and hired him to play the ever drunk Dillon Panters’ full-back Tim Riggins. In Friday Night Lights, Taylor showed his acting skills to the fans and the television critics, both being very impressed. Gaining a large fanbase for his role in Friday Night lights he got the breakthrough he was waiting for.
In 2008 he got casted as Gambit in the in may 30th, 2009 released X-Men Origins Wolverine, a prequel to the successfull X-Men trilogy. Furthermore he also got a leading role in The Bang Bang Club, which released in 2010. and landed the role of John Carter in the movie John Carter From Mars in 2012.
Source: TaylorKitsch.org