5 little-known facts about Hayden Christensen

It feels like just yesterday the then 21-year-old Hayden Christensen was staring in his first Star Wars flick: 2002’s Episode II: Attack of the Clones. 

When he’s not lamenting how sand is coarse, rough, and gets everywhere, Christensen has had a far more private life than his other Star Wars counterparts. Co-stars Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Jackie, Thor) and Ewan McGregor (Christopher Robin, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) have gone on to become award-winning Hollywood stars.

Christensen on, the other hand, has disappeared from the spotlight. He still takes a few film roles but is far from the blockbuster staple his counterparts have become.

Because of this, there’s very little that fans know about him other than his time with Star Wars. So, here are five little-known facts about the galaxy’s chosen one.

1. Christensen started acting at 8 years old

Many Star Wars fans won’t remember Christensen for his earliest role, but the actor got his career off to a start at the young age of eight years old. His first role came in a Canadian soap opera called Family Passions. 

In the series, Christensen played Skip McDeere, a young boy coming to grips with the divorce of his parents.

Skip McDeere would, of course, not be Christensen’s first role as a struggling young adult, as he took over the role of troubled Anakin Skywalker from young Jake Lloyd in Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

2. He always hoped to act in the Darth Vader costume

When he was first cast as young Anakin Skywalker, Hayden Christensen didn’t know what director and writer George Lucas had planned for Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader. If/when he became the mechanic monstrosity we see in Episode IV: A New Hope, would it be Christensen in the costume, or someone else?

In the original trilogy, it was actor David Prowse in the costume, but the iconic voice of James Earl Jones was what became recognizable for the character. In Revenge of the Sith, Christensen got the opportunity to dawn the costume like Drowse before him.

And by all accounts, he loved it. In an interview from around the release of the movie, Christensen revealed what it was like to dawn the classic costume:

"It was exhilarating… I was really hoping that I was going to get put on the Vader outfit when I was cast in the films, and when we got to Sydney for Episode III George [Lucas] told me that I would have the chance… Getting to put on the helmet and whatnot was really one of the cooler things that I’ve gotten to do so far."

Like in the original trilogy, it was James Earl Jones’ voice behind Vader once his transformation was complete at the end of the film. Still, it was Christensen in the costume for his last moments as Vader in the Skywalker Saga.

However, his time as Darth Vader isn’t over just yet.

In the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, Christensen reprises his role as Darth Vader. Whether it’s as flash-backs to pre-Mustafar, as the fully transformed Darth Vader, or both, is unclear as of now. All we have been told is that he’ll be back, and playing a big role in the series.

For Christensen’s sake, we should all hope that he gets to dawn the black again in the series coming to Disney+. That way it’d be just as fun for him as it will be for us watching at home.

3.  He’s an avid Toronto sports fan

Born in Vancouver, Canada, it would make sense for Christensen to be a fan of his nation’s favorite sport. Although born in British Columbia, young Hayden would be raised across the country in Markham, Ontario.

Before he was starring in movies, Christensen was a student-athlete. Competing at the Provincial level, Christensen played tennis and hockey while attending Baythorn Public School and Unionville High School in Markham, Ontario.

He’s retained his love for sports as an adult, rooting for Ontario’s home teams, including the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Raptors. Specifically, though, he is a massive fan of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs.

In 2018, Christensen co-starred alongside Emma Roberts in Little Italy, a romantic comedy set in Toronto and filmed on location. In the film, his character Leo sports a Blue Jays jacket in one scene. When asked about the outfit in an interview with the Toronto Sun for the release of the film, Christensen spoke about his love for the Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, and Toronto sports as a whole.

"I’m a massive Maple Leafs fan. I grew up playing hockey, so hockey’s my first love. But I’m a fan of all things Toronto, so Jays, Raptors, Leafs, Toronto FC… I support them all."

Christensen’s time playing hockey in high school has stuck clearly stuck with him. Paparazzi have caught him at Maple Leafs games many times before, and just out in his Leafs hat or in Blue Jays gear.

In August 2018, he threw out the first pitch for the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre prior to a game against the Baltimore Orioles as part of the promotion for Little Italy.

The pitch was far better than many of the celebrity throws we’ve seen over the years, proving that the force is strong with this one.

4. He and his brother run a production company together

Hayden is not the only Christensen to work in the film industry. He is one of four kids, with a brother, Tove, and two sisters, Hesja and Kaylen. Although he’s the only of the four to shoot to superstardom, he’s not the only cinematically talented one of the bunch.

In 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival in France, Hayden Christensen and his brother, Tove, partnered with production company Russian company Enjoy Movies to create Glacier Films. The new production company would be headed by the two Christensen brothers and was set to create a slate of movies over the coming years.

The company was not Tove Christensen’s first venture into film. In the past, he had produced 2003’s Shattered Glass and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst’s directorial debut on the big screen with The Education of Charlie Banks in 2007.

The first film, American Heist, starred Hayden Christensen alongside Adrien Brody and was based on the 1959 Steve McQueen film The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery.

The movie was released in 2014 to poor critical reception, receiving a 13% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Glacier Films slate originally included six films, but only four have been released so far:  American Heist (2014), Cooties (2014), Lady of Cjeste (2015), and The Tank (2017).

It’s unclear if the decrease in films is due to critical failure, or another undisclosed issue.

Nonetheless, Tove’s track record in the film industry shows that Hayden isn’t the only talented Christensen in the family.

5. He credits Ian McDiarmid for his performance in Episode III

When Hayden Christensen was brought back for 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, he was not the only prequel actor to return. Both Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu appear in the film — but as voices only. When Rey lies on the ground across from the Emperor, their voices lead the chorus of Jedi’s empowering her to finish the fight against the Sith.

It was with that same Emperor, played by Ian McDiarmid, that Hayden Christensen recalls sharing his favorite scenes in the climactic Revenge of the Sith.

At Star Wars Celebration 2017, a panel lead by Wicket the Ewok actor Warwick Davis featured producer George Lucas alongside Christensen and McDiarmid. At the panel, the two discussed what it was like working together in Revenge of the Sith, and how they worked together to put Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side to film. Christensen said:

"Working with Ian was a treat and a privilege. Everyone knows he’s such an amazing actor, but he’s also an incredibly generous actor. [He] really took me under his wing and was just very caring and giving. I owe a lot of what I was able to accomplish in Episode III to being able to work with Ian."

The two share multiple scenes together in the film, as McDiarmid’s Emperor Palpatine slowly lures Anakin to the Dark Side. The panel is a great display of the chemistry between the two actors and the gratitude between the two for being able to create such powerful scenes is evident.

Without being able to work with each other the way they did, Episode III would be far from the same deeply emotional film it is today.

It just goes to show what two Sith Lords can accomplish when they work together.

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