Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor, film producer, dancer, and model born in Cullman, Alabama.
Originally growing to prominence with the dance film Step Up, he's since made a name for himself in movies of all genres: Romance (Dear John, The Vow), Comedy (21 Jump Street series, She's the Man, Logan Lucky), Action (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Eagle (2011), White House Down, Jupiter Ascending), and Drama (Side Effects, Foxcatcher). The Magic Mike series —inspired by his time as an exotic dancer— probably brought his career full circle.
He married his Step Up co-star Jenna Dewan in July 2009, with whom he had a daughter named Everly in May 2013. He and Dewan divorced in 2019. In 2012, he was named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine.
Selected filmography
- CSI: Miami (2004) as Bob Davenport
- Coach Carter (2005) as Jason Lyle
- War of the Worlds (2005) as boy in church
- Havoc (2005)
- She's the Man (2006) as Duke Orsino
- A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) as Antonio
- Step Up series (2006 — 2008) as Tyler Gage
- Step Up (2006)
- Step Up; The Streets (2008)
- Battle In Seattle (2007) as Johnson
- Stop-Loss (2008) as Sgt. Steve Shriver
- Fighting (2009) as Shawn MacArthur
- Public Enemies (2009) as Pretty Boy Floyd
- G.I. Joe series (2009 — 2013) as Duke / Conrad Hauser:
- G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
- G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
- Dear John (2010) as John Tyree
- The Eagle (2011) as Marcus Flavius Aquila
- The Vow (2012) as Leo Collins
- Jump Street series (2012 — present) as Greg Jenko:
- 21 Jump Street (2012)
- 22 Jump Street (2014)
- Magic Mike (2012) as Michael "Magic Mike" Lane
- Magic Mike XXL (2015)
- Magic Mike's Last Dance (2022)
- Side Effects (2013) as Martin Taylor
- This Is the End (2013) as himself
- White House Down (2013) as John Cale
- The LEGO Movie (2014) as the voice of Superman
- The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)
- The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
- The Book of Life (2014) as the voice of Joaquin
- Foxcatcher (2014) as Mark Schultz
- Jupiter Ascending (2015) as Caine
- Hail, Caesar! (2016) as Burt
- Comrade Detective(2017) as Gregor Anghel (English dub)
- Logan Lucky (2017) as Jimmy Logan
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) as Tequila
- Smallfoot (2018) as Migo.
- America: The Motion Picture (2021) as George Washington
- Free Guy (2021) as Revenjamin Buttons
- Dog (2022) as Jackson Briggs — Directorial debut
- The Afterparty (2022) As Himself (1 episode)
- The Lost City (2022) as Alan Caprison
- Bullet Train (2022) as a train passenger (uncredited)
- Fly Me to the Moon (2024) as Cole Davis
He provides examples of:
- The Cast Show Off: Attending military school was able to make him be comfortable in doing action films. His dancing is remarkable, as can be seen in movies like Magic Mike and Step Up.
- Dull Surprise: A common complaint of his early works is that he doesn't show a lot of emotions. His later productions where he moved away from his typecast role as a meathead have averted this, as he's come into his own as an actor, leading to critical acclaim in works such as Foxcatcher.
- He Really Can Act: He was typecasted as the male lead of romance films while appearing in the occasional action flick. 21 Jump Street, his first true comedy role, broke that trend and improved many critics' perception on him. Furthermore, Foxcatcher established that he could also be effective in dramatic roles.
- Mr. Fanservice: Tends to do Shirtless Scenes. Considering that he used to be a male stripper, this isn't surprising.
- Person as Verb: He participated in a parodic song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! called "Channing All Over Your Tatum". He noted how weird it was to be repeating his own name dozens of times.
- Romance on the Set: He began dating his Step Up co-star Jenna Dewan in 2006 after they met filming the movie; they were married from 2009 to 2019.
- Those Two Actors: With Jonah Hill, with whom he appears with in 21 Jump Street and its sequels, This Is the End, and Hail, Caesar!. They also both have roles that speak to each other in The LEGO Movie and its sequels.
- What Could Have Been:
- He was set to star as Remy LeBeau/Gambit in the X-Men Film Series in a spin-off on the character; however the film spent years locked in Development Hell and was repeatedly taken on and off Twentieth Century Fox's release schedule, before being officially cancelled in 2019 after Disney acquired Fox.
- His directorial debut was supposed to be an adaptation of the book Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick, but it fell apart following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, who he was developing the film with.
