Tampa (Florida), 1999: On the stage of a male strip club, the young Channing Tatum, 19, does not feel too in his plate. He’s been doing stripping for almost eight months and he finds it quite fun, but the muscular post-teen feels that this boy scout disguise worn on stage that evening does not seem super appropriate. “Everything is going pretty well until I realize all these screaming women are of childbearing age in Boy Scouts!”laughingly remembers the actor in Interview (August 2015). At that moment, Channing Tatum thinks it’s time to move on, it’s time to self-frame. And for that, he knows that his steel morale, specific to the great sportsman that he is, will quickly allow him to turn around.
“My specialty was full-throttle screwing”
Raised in a rather modest environment – flight attendant mother, roofer father – first in Cullman (Alabama), then in the bayous of Mississippi and finally in Tampa (Florida), Channing Tatum, a name of Native American origin , spends most of his time on sports fields. The reason: little Tatum is an invigorating child, bordering on hyperactive and, to better channel this overflow of energy, his parents make him practice a plethora of sports: athletics, baseball, martial arts and above all Football : “I dreamed of being a professional. I gave up when I discovered a more compelling passion: girls”.Marie Claire (August 2014) The truth is less glamorous and more prosaic: football allowed him to access the University of West Virginia where, far from parental authority, he is seriously loose: “The well-watered chugs, I chained them. And not just one! For the short time that I stayed at university, you could even say that my specialty was the full-throttle banging”. Audience (January 2019).
Channing goes a little too far in the “deconnade” precisely and following a big confusion with his football coach, he is fired from college and finds himself in the water, at 18 years old. The years that follow will be those of hardships, depression and odd jobs (employee in a pet store, seller of clothes…) but above all of alcohol, drugs and unbridled sex in the clubs of Tampa. It is this everyday life in mess mode that will relate, years later, magic mike, by Steven Soderbergh, but we are not there yet. Relieved of his bimboy activities, the young man decided to take his destiny into his own hands. He knows he has a significant asset: his good-looking physique. He then runs the castings and appears (furtively) in the clip of Ricky Matin, Shebangs.
In 2001, Channing left Tampa for Miami, determined to embark on a modeling career. He then regularly squatted the pages of the men’s magazine Men’s Health, a fashionable publication in the early 2000s, focused on sport, fitness and dietetics. Enough to open the doors to a career as a supermodel by becoming the image of a brand that is on the rise: Abercrombie & Fitch, then, another stroke of luck, he gets noticed by a casting director. in 2004. He appeared in small roles, notably in the series CSI: Miami and, in 2006, began serious things with sexy dancingby Anne Fletcher, a bluette for teenagers who will be a hit.
“I didn’t particularly want to be an actor, or even famous”
The beginning of a career that was not really planned according to the weak-willed and cool Channing. “I didn’t particularly want to be an actor when I was young, or even famous. At first, I did it a bit out of opportunism, to earn a good living. I’ve only started to understand how it’s an art since two or three years”he explained in the pages of Unbreakable (August 2012). “Make a pleasant living” by chaining teen-movies or action films with somewhat low-key scenarios, it’s okay for a while, but it ends up getting boring. Especially since with his chippendale physique and his little close eyes, some gossips have classified him as a vaguely remained brute – which he is not in reality. And before weary the public and the producers, Channing has an idea: to evoke his past as a stripper to Steven Soderbergh, a filmmaker who, like a journalist, nourishes his art by closely observing the evolutions of society. American.
These discussions between the actor and the director lead in 2012 to magic mikewhich will impose Channing in the Hollywood circuit while allowing him to exorcise a past which was beginning to weigh on him. “At 19 and for nine months, I was propelled into an adult world, crazy and wild, dark, synonymous with sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. When you take your first steps as a erotic dancer, you don’t feel cool or sexy. You put your ego aside and wait for the number to end” analyzed the now star in the JDD (August 2012). Ten years later, Channing Tatum, 42, continues to play on his physique or his past to excel, especially in comedies with a good dose of second degree. Evidenced by his performance in the delirious Secret of the Lost City where, opposite Sandra Bullock, he embodies a somewhat delicate and somewhat superficial model, who will have to transform herself. On arrival, a comic role that singularly echoes the path taken by the actor: from toy boy to top star.
The supermodel years
With his shaved head and concrete pecs, Channing played the muse of Abercrombie & Fitch. This launched her career as an international supermodel, from Paris to Milan, working for great fashion designers like Dolce & Gabbana. A bit like Mark Wahlberg with Calvin Klein, this job will allow him to do TV, then cinema. Modeling leads to everything provided you get out of it…
junk food addict
The man with the (almost) perfect physique likes to let go between two films. And completely assumes his taste for junk food and certain excesses, as he admitted to Public in January 2019: “I tend to be gluttonous. I do everything excessively. So I drink too much, I eat too much, cupcakes, bacon, popcorn. I like excess. I put on an average of fifteen kilos between two films. (…) I’m addicted to sugar… more so than alcohol, by the way!” Years Men’s Health seems definitely over…
His commitment to Rwanda
Tatum isn’t just a handsome, movie-star, superficial guy. He is also a committed man with a brain who has set up his production company to produce unexpected documentaries. Testifies to this Earth Made of Glassby Deborah Scranton, who looks back on the Rwandan genocide that occurred in 1994.
parade of cannons
With actress Jenna Dewan, Channing apparently formed a united household, married since July 11, 2009 and parents of Everly, 8 years old. Alas, their relationship will be shattered in 2019 when Channing leaves Jenna for singer Jessie J. A relationship that will last two years. Since 2021, Channing has been living an idyll with Zoë Kravitz. And between the star and the daughter of Lenny Kravitz, things seem serious. They are complicit, joyful, tactile… all the trappings of a beautiful love story!
His Filmography
2006: SEXY DANCE
A teen-movie with an explicit title that will be a hit to the point that Channing Tatum will return for a sequel in 2008.
2009: PUBLIC ENEMIES
In front of Michael Mann’s camera, he pulls out of the game by playing a gangster.
2011: THE EAGLE OF THE NINTH LEGION
An impeccable Kevin Macdonald peplum, in which Tatum plays the leading role. His name begins to impose itself.
2011: TRAPPED
A first collaboration with Steven Soderbergh for an action film with a big cast: Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor…
2012: 21 JUMP STREET
His friend Jonah Hill calls him in for a comedy adapted from a cult series from the late 80s. A box office hit in which Channing begins to play on his image.
2012: MAGIC MIKE
Always in front of Steven Soderbergh’s camera, he portrays a stripper inspired by his past. A film that definitely imposes Channing Tatum.
2014: FOXCATCHER
Bennett Miller’s oppressive thriller in which he plays a wrestling champion sadized by a psychologically deranged billionaire.
2021: FREE GUY
Faced with Ryan Reynolds, he makes an appearance in second degree mode in this comedy around video games.
2022: THE SECRET OF THE LOST CITY
In duet with Sandra Bullock in this adventure comedy between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Magnificent. Very heavy.
See also: Radical change of look for Channing Tatum!
Renaud Leclercq