Fair, with dark hair, and a youthful, freckle-faced innocence, Canadian actor Christian Campbell did resemble his younger sister (Neve Campbell, of "Party of Five" fame), but had a multifaceted career all his own, active on stage and screen, and undertaking the duties of actor, director and producer. Campbell started his television career close to home, with a recurring role on the edgy Toronto-filmed CBC teen drama series "Degrassi High" (aired in the USA on PBS). He also starred in the early 20th Century children's adventure film "City Boy", lensed in Vancouver and aired on PBS as a WonderWorks Family Movie in 1994. The following year Campbell played a teen who, in a bid to win a contest, poses himself and his single mother along with his best friend and her single father as an ideal family in the ABC telefilm "Picture Perfect". 1996 saw the actor with a featured role in the NBC's "Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchard Story" starring as one of three students coaxed into murder by their well-liked high school teacher (Ann-Margret) and two years later he was featured in the NBC thriller "I've Been Waiting For You", a tale of witchcraft. Campbell's guest series work includes a role in a 1993 episode of the ABC comedy "Jack's Place" and a 1995 recurring supporting part in "TekWar", a Sci-Fi Channel series based on William Shatner's genre novels. Campbell won a regular role on Aaron Spelling's drama "Malibu Shores" (NBC, 1996), starring as Teddy, a young man who tries to solve his home life problems with arson, but who emerges as an honest and loyal friend, one of the more likable characters on the ill-fated program.
The stage-trained Campbell's independent film work would offer more opportunities than his previous television work had afforded. On the big screen, Campbell starred in the acclaimed drama "Next Time" (1998), playing a young displaced white man who meets and develops a close friendship with an older black woman, set against the backdrop of a racial unrest in 1992 Los Angeles. The actor gave a memorable performance in the film, bringing an appropriate ingratiating innocence to his role. He worked alongside his younger sister Neve Campbell as co-producers of the odd romantic comedy "Hairshirt", with both also undertaking supporting performances in the film in the low-budget indie that debuted at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. Campbell found his breakthrough role starring along with Tori Spelling and newcomer J P Pitoc in the engaging romantic comedy "trick" (1999), playing a sensitive young composer unlucky in love who meets the go-go boy of his dreams on the subway one night. Together they embark on a fruitless quest to be alone, and find love in their unfortunate situation. The film had a refreshing universality, and Campbell gave a particularly charming performance as Gabriel, a writer who pens grand and emotional songs but who has yet to experience such feelings in his real life.
In addition to film and television work, Campbell has been very active in the theater, from his professional acting debut in Herb Gardner's "A Thousand Clowns" to "Man of La Mancha" on the Toronto stage. Additionally, he took a role in a German production of "A Clockwork Orange" before acquiring the Lexington Theatre in his adopted home of Los Angeles in 1997. He founded The Blue Sphere Alliance, the Lexington's resident company, which has presented "Nagasaki Dust", starring Campbell, and "Reach", an acclaimed one-act starring Matthew Lillard and marking Campbell's directorial debut.