Anton Yelchin

Seems to me if you’re looking for a young actor to play an iconic character in a remake, Anton Yelchin is your huckleberry. In the summer of 2009 alone Anton was in two blockbuster franchise reboots. But as accustomed as Anton seemingly is in these types of movies, he says he’s more at home in the edgy, independent projects that make up the majority of his already impressive resume. You won’t be able to hide your light under a bushel much longer, Anton. Some Hollywood heavy hitters have seen your work and there are more interesting roles in your bright future.

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1989 to World Class pair figure skaters Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin. In 1972 Irina and Viktor were ranked third in the nation, which did qualify them to participate in the Winter Olympics that year. But the government prevented their competing for what can only be supposed as prejudicial reasons. (The Yelchins are Jewish.) Even in 1989 the Soviet Union was still an intolerant place, so after being stars of the Leningrad Ice Ballet for 15 years, the family immigrated to the US for the safety and well-being of their newest member, six-month old Anton. When labeled a “Russian” actor, Anton bristles. Sure he was born there but the rest of his life, minus those first 6 months, was spent in the US. Honestly, how much national identity can you acquire at that age?

You’d think with all that athletic talent in his genes Anton would be a skater as well. But that was not to be the case. Anton’s quick imagination and intelligence made him a natural actor. He acted in his first film at the tender age of nine and hasn’t stopped. He attended regular school intermittently, between jobs, and even enrolled at USC to study film. But the concept of organized education is lost on Yelchin. He prefers self-study and concentrated observation, as in the case of some of his co-stars like Robert Downey Jr. Instead, his classroom was on the set of many popular TV shows like “ER”, “The Practice”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”.

When he wasn’t making guest appearances on TV he was establishing a solid reputation for his work in smaller films. His first big break came when he played the younger version of the character Bobby Garfield opposite heavy-hitter Anthony Hopkins in 2001’s Hearts in Atlantis. Anton won a Young Artist Award for that performance. In 2004 actor David Duchovny wrote and directed a film called House of D, casting Anton in the lead as young Tommy alongside Robin Williams and Téa Leone. Then in 2005 a different actor cum director Griffin Dunne chose Anton for another coming of age story, this time co-starring Kristen Stewart and O2W4 Chris Evans called Fierce People. But it was 2006’s Alpha Dog – the fictionalized story of Jesse James Hollywood, a southern California drug dealer who kidnaps the brother of a rival that owes him money, which put Anton front and center for a lot of people.

With a firm foothold in the acting community Anton scored the lead in yet another coming of age story with slight overtones of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off called Charlie Bartlett. Charlie is a likable misfit – a rich kid who is too smart for his own good, been kicked out of every private school he’s ever attended and ends up in the local public school doling out psychiatric advice and medication to the troubled student body. Robert Downey Jr. played the school principal and father of the girl Charlie is in love with. Now here is when it starts to get weird for Yelchin. No sooner does he finish Charlie Bartlett when he gets hired to play Chekov in J.J. Abrams’s reimagining of the classic Star Trek series. Then add into the mix being cast as young Kyle Reese in Mc G’s prequel for the Terminator series, starring Christian Bale as John Connor. To put it into perspective, you could probably take the combined budgets of most of the films Anton had done up until this point, add them together and they probably wouldn’t have paid the catering bill on Star Trek. So these were big changes for our guy.

Gigantic productions aside, the idea of stepping into the shoes of established characters must have been a daunting prospect. Anton was a huge fan the first two Terminator movies but completely ignorant of Star Trek. That problem was solved with a crash course in all things Trek including watching the entire TV and movie series. What made things a little easier was that the way both stories were constructed, we were meeting Chekov and Kyle before we knew who they were in their respective universes. That gave the actor freedom to create the roles the way it felt right to him. Though he had to keep the whole turning “v’s” to “w’s” the way Walter Koenig Chekov’s did. Anton wasn’t too sure why he spoke like that but maybe the fact that Walter was from Chicago had something to do with it.

Anton’s foray into big-budget movies seemed to be over, at least for the moment. He returned to the familiar world of independent films, making The Beaver, directed by and starring Jodie Foster and the beleaguered Mel Gibson. As in Terminator: Salvation, now more famous for star Christian Bale’s on-camera meltdown than anything else, experts theorize that The Beaver’s poor showing at the box office had to do with its star’s recent personal woes. A brighter star for Anton was the indie film Like Crazy, the story of a British student who falls in love with an American boy, only to be separated when her visa expires. Screened at Sundance in 2011, Like Crazy won The Grand Jury Prize and proved that Anton had romantic leading man chops.

The studios siren’s song called out to Anton again. This time it was director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, 2007) and he had in his hands the remake of the 80’s cult classic Fright Night. Anton won the role of hero Charlie Brewster who does battle with the neighbor from Hell, Jerry, this time played by Colin Farrell, with the help of O2W4 David Tennant (doing his very best Chris Angel) as Peter Vincent. In interviews for the film Anton laughed off concerns that Fright Night’s vampire may not be as well received as the emo, vegetarian vampires so popular with the kids today. Be afraid, be very afraid of Jerry folks. He’s a good, old-fashioned vampire out to with either “f*cking f*ck you or kill you or both.”

(I hesitate mentioning the other summer of 2011 blockbuster that Anton worked on, for fear it may tarnish his indie cred. That movie was The Smurfs. To be fair – Anton only provided a voice and that was for the smurfiest of Smurfs, Clumsy. Don’t judge too harshly.)

As of press time Anton had two projects in various stages of production. The first, Odd Thomas, is based on a novel by Dean Koontz and directed by The Mummy helmer Stephen Sommers. Yelchin is the title character – a fry-cook who is in touch with the spirit world and sees looming danger surrounding a mysterious stranger. The second is a film called Winter Queen co-starring Mila Jovovich. Taken from the international bestseller of the same name, Yelchin will play a young detective on the Moscow police force out to solve a crime in Czarist Russian, just prior to the Revolution. And of course there will eventually be the big sequel to Star Trek – should the elements all come together.

Clearly toggling between big blockbuster movies and passion indies is the way to create and maintain a long career. Our man Anton is a shining example of that. Having come through the child actor into awkward teen stages and out the other side, the world is open to him in terms of what future roles will come his way. And if the whole acting thing doesn’t pan out – there’s always the family business or that now defunct punk band, The Hammerheads to fall back on. Yeah, right. I don’t see that happening. Do you?

Official Sites:
Like Crazy
Star Trek
Fright Night

Fan Sites:
Anton Yelchin Online
Yelchin Fans on Live Journal

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Mark Salling

When I heard that Ryan Murphy creator of one of my favorite shows, “Nip/Tuck” was creating a new show for Fox, I was curious to find out what it was all about. “Glee,” Murphy’s new baby is a show about a fledgling glee club where the misfits and jocks come as one and like “Fame” belt out current pop hits. It was the little show that could and while most people were focusing on Finn Hudson, the jock turned Gleek, I was drooling over his fellow football players that were throwing nerds in dumpsters. I am referring to one particular Noah “Puck” Puckerman, the hot Mohawked jock and resident bad boy.

Why do the good girls always like the bad boys!? Rachel Berry, Mercedes Jones, Santana Lopez and even squeaky clean cheerio Quinn Fabray fell for Puck’s charms. Maybe it’s the Mohawk or the swagger or the brooding good looks or maybe it’s just the actor Mark Salling himself. Standing at 6’feet this delicious piece of eye candy is breaking hearts nightly, especially when he opens his mouth and sings. Is it possible to have somebody that hot and talented!? Yes! Although he plays a bad boy on TV, Mark is a self proclaimed bird enthusiast who volunteers with the James Hunter Wildlife Rescue charity and even has a song entitled “Echo Park Ornithology Club” on his “Smoke Signals” album.

Not only an actor, but Mark is also a musician, In 2008 he released “Smoke Signals” under the name Jericho. His solo album “Pipe Dreams” will be released October 12, 2010 on his own label Pipe Dream Records in association with Universal Music Group and Fontana Distribution. Mark produced, wrote and performed all the songs himself! Hot and TALENTED! Oh my! He debuted and introduced his first single “Higher Power” on Ryan Seacrest’s morning show in August. I was lucky to have been listening in at the same time.

He was born Mark Wayne Salling in Dallas Texas on August 17th, the youngest of two. His mother Condy, a school secretary, and father John, an accountant, home-schooled him early on. In high school, Mark was the typical jock, active in wrestling, rugby and basketball. While still in school, he played cover gigs at his local bar and also performed in the school variety show. He enrolled in acting workshops at the Dallas Theatre and booked a commercial before landing a role in the film “Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering” alongside Naomi Watts, as well as guest starring on “Walker, Texas Ranger” with Chuck Norris and the indie horror film “The Graveyard,” all of which were shot in his hometown. After being bitten by the acting bug, Mark packed up and moved west and attended the Los Angeles Music Academy in Pasadena to study guitar and got a job teaching guitar lessons while acting and scoring the music in several USC student films.

Although it took seven years, but Mark is finally getting the recognition and adoration that he soo deserves! As his character becomes more developed, we are seeing the softer side of the bad boy slushee throwing/ throwing nerds in dumpsters jock. But even with lines like “I’m a Sex Shark, if I don’t stop swimming, I’ll die” the bad boy is here to stay! I hope you don’t EVER stop swimming Puck! *meow*

Official Sites:
Mark on Twitter
Mark Salling Music
Mark’s Facebook Page
Glee
Glee on Facebook
Glee Music Site

Fansites:
Mark Salling World
Mark Salling dot Net

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Joe Manganiello

Being that I’m a huge fan of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire series of mystery books, the choice of actors who would bring her beloved characters to life for the HBO series “True Blood” was one of great importance to me. And no doubt, to the other countless millions of readers and viewers as well. So when I first heard the part of the werewolf Alcide Herveaux had been cast I was a bit surprised to find the part went to a fairly unknown actor Joe Manganiello. As I rushed to scour the internet for tidbits on Joe I was immediately taken aback by his incredible good looks. Clearly he’d been sculpted by a roman god (*please refer to the Gallery O’Joe below) with his washboard abs, gorgeous dark wavy hair and easy smile. Even so, I was still holding judgment until I could see him in action on screen. After watching Joe make his first appearance as Alcide, judgment be damned, he wasn’t just a pretty face, the boy could act!

I quickly found out that Joseph Michael Manganiello was a graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. But even with a BFA degree there are no guarantees of success in the fickle world of Hollywood. Luckily for Joe his dark Sicilian good looks got him noticed quickly and landed him his first role in the 2002 movie, Spiderman as Flash Thompson along side Tobey Maguire. As much as I would love to see those dark chocolate eyes playing sexy on the big screen most of Joe’s work has been on television. From the CW’s “One Tree Hill” to CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother” he’s even appeared on CBS’s “CSI”, alive. And thank God for that because seriously, cutting up that body would have been pure sacrilege!

Even with all the television appearances Joe has had to resort to good old fashioned labor, like shoveling gravel and sand out of the back of trucks as well as doing some stunt work in Hollywood, just to pay the bills at times. Not that I’m bothered by that, hell no! There’s something to be said for a guy who isn’t afraid to get dirty and use his hands. Now if he’s a romantic at heart too that just might put him in league to be the perfect man. I’m just saying. Thankfully, with his confirmed recurring role as Alcide on “Trueblood” Joe won’t have to resort to using shovels and cement bags to keep his glorious body in tip-top shape. Working with a personal trainer three days a week twice a day should do the trick. He’s sure to be nice and tight for all those naked scenes. And bless him for it.

Beyond topping every Hot List of 2010 Joe’s future looks bright. Season 4 of “True Blood” will start filming in November and it’s just a matter of time before we see Joe’s sexy mug on the big screen as well. So, get on the ground floor of this investment. He’s definitely one2watch4!

Official Sites:
True Blood

Fansites:
Joe Manganiello Central

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(7 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)


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Paul Wesley

Werewolves and Vampires and Angels…….Oh my!! If you are in the market for a supernatural, then you need to look no further than the one and only Paul Wesley. I can without a doubt (yes, without a single solitary doubt) say that Paul Wesley is the hottest, most amazing out of this world creature alive….or dead as the case may be. I have been a fan of Paul’s for a while but became really interested when he appeared in the ABC miniseries Fallen in which he portrayed a nephilim named Aaron Corbett. Can I just say that he captured my heart the first time I saw him and my napkin captured the drool! I must admit that I have not seen everything he has been in–after all, his mom will just not budge on allowing me to view his childhood home movies!!

Paul started his career in acting while still in high school but his interest was peaked when he was in third grade while attending a summer arts program in New Jersey. He was first cast in the soap opera Another World as Sean McKennon and then went on to star in another daytime drama, Guiding Light, where he played the role of Max Nickerson. Paul decided early on that acting was the way to go for him. Although, if he had not decided to become a professional actor, you might have found Paul digging up dirt or juicy bits of news as an investigative journalist since that was another career choice on his list.

At some point during his dive into acting, Paul decided to change his last name from Wasilewski to Wesley because he decided that it may be “too hard to pronounce” for people. He may be right. I heard him pronounce his full name in Polish and while it was one of the sexiest utterances ever from a man, I still can’t get my mouth to form that sound. Wesley is good, Paul…very good. Besides, most gals just call you Mr. ABSolute perfection anyway…..Oh wait, that is what I call you. Paul went on to star in such shows as Army Wives (Logan Attwater), Everwood (Tommy Callahan), Smallville (Lucas Luthor), The O.C. (Donnie), 24 (Stephen) and my favorite Wolf Lake in which he portrayed Luke Cates who was a wolf. HOOOOWWWWL!! Paul was also cast in quite a few movies alongside some high profile stars such as Tom Cruise (Minority Report), Nick Nolte (Peaceful Warrior),and Burt Reynolds (Cloud 9). Paul stared in the movie Killer Movie as Jake Tanner and I must give this one 2 thumbs up. His future girlfriend also appears in this movie with him as well.The list of movie and TV appearances goes on and on so he certainly gave his acting chops some major practice over the years. Most recently, he filmed the movie Beneath the Blue as Craig Morrison.

Currently, Paul is staring on the CW’s amazing hit The Vampire Diaries as Stefan Salvatore–the hot, brooding young vampire (well, ok, 162 years is not a spring chicken but he is still allowed on the high school football team so it works) who is a tortured soul not only by his past actions but also by his brother who is determined to make him suffer for all eternity for tearing him away from his love Katherine. Eternity=long time. Whew. In the beginning, Paul first auditioned for the role of Damon but the part just , “did not quite fit him”. So, when the part of Stefan needed to be cast, he was called back in and won the hearts of the writers and definitely the hearts of millions of swooning fans who tune in week after week to take a gander at this hot vampire while they wish he would sink his teeth into them. And he certainly could do it since he actually has natural fangs in his mouth which production had not even noticed until it was time to film on set. Talk about born for a role!!

Paul has in many interviews expressed an interest in possibly directing and writing in addition to his talent as an actor. We would love to see Paul’s vision from behind the camera as well. Although, behind the camera does not lend well to being able to oogle the abs but I will deal with it. In his off time, which is very rare these days, he loves to snowboard and play ice hockey.

So again, I repeat, if you need a supernatural in your life, you will have it made with the most awesome Mr. Paul Wesley. It seems to me that the only supes he needs to add to his repertoire is a ghost and a zombie. And I for one would let him haunt me and eat my brains any day!! Indeed my friends, Paul Wesley is definitely One2Watch.

Follow Melinda on Twitter @paulwesleylover.

Official Sites:
The Vampire Diaries at CW.com
The Vampire Diaries on Facebook
Beneath the Blue
Beneath the Blue on MySpace

Fan Sites:
Paul Wesley Fans
Paul Wesley Australia
The Paul Wesley

Rate this Actor: (7 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)


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John Cho

I just LOVE Harold and Kumar. Those movies are a sinful pleasure for me. Lucky for me John Cho who plays the stalwart Harold is in the new Star Trek movie. That affords me an opportunity to profile him and maybe introduce him to a few folks. Everyone, this is John. John this is everyone. Read more

Chris Evans

I realize this is going to sound incredibly shallow but all Chris Evans has to do is a scene without a shirt in any of his movies and I’m satisfied. (See photo.) I won’t be so crass as to go through and catalog where and when in each film we get some chest action. I do have a small measure of decorum. But let’s face it, Evans hasn’t had many opportunities to show off his acting chops up till now. However for a guy from suburban Massachusetts the momentum is picking up for a satisfying career.

Chris has got all-American looks and a sassy charm that’s hard to resist. Most of you will recognize him as Johnny Storm, or The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four movies. And even a few of you may remember him from the forgettable Nanny Diaries with Scarlett Johansson. But I’m willing to lay odds that his 2009 supernatural thriller Push, co-starring Dakota Fanning, is going to open some doors for him. And sure enough, he’ll next be in cult-favorite director Edgar Wright’s new project Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as one of several evil ex-boyfriends Michael Cera must defeat in order to date the girl of his dreams.

The burning question is: do better roles mean less exposed flesh? If that’s the case, then that’s a Hollywood I want no part of. (I’m looking at YOU Hugh Jackman!) I wish Chris the best of luck at any rate.

FAN SITES:

Chris-EvansV.net

Chris Evans Web

Chris R Evans.com

MOVIE SITES:

Captain America

VIEW THE TRAILER FOR PUSH:

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(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)


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