Channing Tatum's Bumpy Road to Stardom

From leaving college in West Virginia early to sweating bullets as a sunburned construction worker in Florida to succeeding as Tinseltown's most desired up-and-comer, Channing Tatum's shot to stardom has beat the odds and surpassed even his own expectations.

Looking fly in his Armani gear, Channing's IFilm.com inspirational interview below was done during the huge Step Up press tour.

I like to watch his interviews, because he often gives us insight into who he was when he was younger and into who he is as a person now. Here are some of the gems we get in this interview:

• Channing has an aversion to computers. More specifically, he feels that computers have an aversion to him. He says he thinks little gremlins come around whenever he tries to use any computer you put in front of him.

• The interviewer asks Channing what was the worst trouble he got in growing up as a teenager in Florida. Channing reluctantly explains, to the dismay of his publicist, that he and his friends used to pass the time with typical "country-bumpkin nonsense" by doing minor damage to housing developments. Unlike his character Tyler Gage in Step Up, they lucked out and never got into trouble with the law, because they would hide out in the surrounding woods if the police ever came around.

• Although he had a variety of jobs prior to getting his break into modeling, Channing's hardest job by far was framing houses in the construction industry in Florida where at some point he lived with his sister. He explains a typical day of getting up at 6:30AM to get to work by 7AM, having lunch at 11 or 12 and working until 4 or 5 in a tank top and shorts in the hot Florida sun while you pray for a rainy day to help beat the heat.

• In acting, Channing feels that some days are relatively easy and some days are are insanely hard. For example, they shot the finale of Step Up in 4 days and the cast was extremely exhausted, bruised, and battered by the end of the rigorous routine.

• Channing's love of dancing extends far beyond the Step Up set. Unlike his competitive raver club-kid days when he was a teenager where you would find him battling on any and every dance floor he touched, he now loves to just dance for fun.

• Channing also feels that over the years luck really played a role in the amazing opportunities that came his way, because he had so many people and friends come into his life at the right time and truly believe in him.

• Channing says that anyone who has dreams should always make an attempt to reach them. His mother, who he is very close to, always told him that success comes when preparation meets opportunity. In short, you have to be ready to walk through that proverbial door when it opens for you.

Here is Channing's IFilm.com interview:



Channing Tatum is about as far away as you can get from his hammer and nail days in the hot Florida sun. What impresses me the most about him is that he has been able to succeed in Hollywood without losing his humility. He instead has the inate ability to appreciate where he came from and the maturity to know where he wants to go and how to get there.


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