Actor Chris Evans began his acting career in typical fashion, but it was his rapid rise to stardom which was unusual. Bitten by the acting bug in the first grade, Evans started out appearing in school plays and theater camp; from there it was a quick jump to local community theater, and later, an internship for a casting office. Once Evans made friends with a few agents on the job, it was a straight shot to television and blockbuster features. One of the more talented of the fair-haired, pretty-boy actors to emerge in the early years of the new millennium, Evans scored with roles in a succession of high-profile releases. His most famous part, however, came in 2005 when he was tapped to play the role of the Human Torch in director Tim Story’s adaptation of the Marvel Comics classic “The Fantastic Four” and its subsequent sequel, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007).
Born on June 13, 1981 in Framingham, MA, Christopher Robert Evans was the second of three children born to a dentist father and a dancer mother. In the early 1990s, the Evans family moved to suburban Sudbury when Chris was 11 years old. It was while attending Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, that Evans fully realized his potential as an actor, after receiving lavish praise and encouragement from his drama teacher. After more school plays and some local theater, Evans made a move to New York, where he attended the famed Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. While living in a hole-in-the-wall in Brooklyn, Evans landed an internship at a casting office, where he befriended a couple of talent agents. Sure enough, when Evans was ready to make the move, one of them agreed to take Evans on as a client.
It was around this period that the young actor moved his focus from theater to film and television. He made one of his first appearances as a guest star on an episode of “The Fugitive” (CBS, 2000-01), the short-lived remake of the 1960s series and 1993 feature film. In the episode titled “Guilt,” Evans played the son of a small-town sheriff who tries to exact revenge on Dr. Kimble – incognito as a liquor storeowner – after the latter refuses to sell him and his friends alcohol. Other small roles followed, including the two little-seen low-budget features, “Cherry Falls” (2000) and “The Newcomers” (2000). Evans got greater exposure, though, for a memorable guest appearance as a murder suspect in David E. Kelley’s acclaimed high school drama series, “Boston Public” (Fox, 2000-04). This part led to his first major feature, “Not Another Teen Movie” (2001), a tiresome spoof on teen comedies in which he played a jock who bets that he can turn an unpopular girl (Chyler Leigh) into prom queen material.
After filming a couple of television pilots he felt confident would be successful – “Just Married” (2000) and “Eastwick” (2002) – Evans appeared in another listless teen comedy, “The Perfect Score” (2004) as an average, ho-hum student who takes part in a plot to steal the SAT test. Luckily, Evans was able to leave the inane teen comedy roles behind later that year with a starring role in the kidnapping thriller, “Cellular” (2004). A suspenseful B movie with a cheesy gimmick but an A-list star – a random wrong number on his cell phone forces him into a high-stakes race to save an unknown woman’s (Kim Basinger) life – the film received better-than-average reviews from test audiences. Despite this, however, “Cellular” failed to break any box office records or please a wide majority of critics.
Luckily, the box office failure of “Cellular” proved only a momentary bump in the road for Evans’ career. In 2005, Evans prepared himself for superstardom when he signed on to play Johnny Storm – a.k.a. The Human Torch – in “The Fantastic Four” (2005), 20th Century Fox’s long-awaited adaptation of the Marvel comic franchise. Although the film was wildly uneven and disappointing, Evans nearly stole the show with his fiery, unfettered performance. In 2007, Evan would reprise his role in the inevitable sequel, “The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”