Hayden Christensen



Hayden Christensen (born April 19, 1981) is a film actor from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Christensen is best known for his portrayal of an adult Anakin Skywalker in both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Christensen also portrayed Darth Vader in the final prequel, in both the character's suited and unsuited forms (painfully enough).

George Lucas is quoted as saying that he chose Christensen for the role of Skywalker because he "needed an actor who has that presence of the dark side" that was essential to solidify the story that Lucas was trying to tell; the tragic fall of Anakin Skywalker and the rise of Darth Vader.

In the final two films of the prequel trilogy, Christensen was the only actor portraying a Jedi who was not allowed to customize his character's lightsaber. This was because in Episode II, Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber was built to be reminiscent of Darth Vader's lightsaber in the Original Trilogy, while in Episode III, Anakin's lightsaber was designed to match the lightsaber that Obi-Wan Kenobi gives his son, Luke Skywalker, in Episode IV. Canonically, the two lightsabers were one and the same.

Hayden Christensen, during the production of Episode III, asked Lucas if a special Darth Vader suit could be constructed to fit his own body, rather than have a different actor don one of the original sets of Vader armor worn by David Prowse. Lucas agreed, and a suit was engineered to fit Christensen's frame, even including extensions to allow for the actor to attain Vader's 2.02 meter stature. Hayden's voice as the "robotic" Vader, however, was dubbed over by James Earl Jones despite rumors to the contrary.

For the DVD release of the Original Trilogy, Christensen was edited in to replace Sebastian Shaw as the Force ghost of Anakin. Shaw's face during the unmasking scene was subtly altered to better resemble an elder Christensen. Also, Shaw's eyebrows were digitally removed in order to reflect Anakin's appearance after being burned alive on Mustafar.

Films

 * LEGO Star Wars: Revenge of the Brick (voice)
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (DVD)

Video games

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith video game (served as basis for Anakin's fighting style)
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (voice)