Chris Evans

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 breakthrough 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). By the time he starred in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" (2010) and as Captain America, one of the central pillars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in films including "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011), "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) and "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), Evans was a star assured of accomplishing even greater things. Simultaneously, his work starring in and directing romantic drama "Before We Go" (2014) and starring in family drama "Gifted" (2017) showed off his non-superhero range.

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 store owner - 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, teen-flick spoof "Not Another Teen Movie" (2001), 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 - "Just Married" (2000) and "Eastwick" (2002) - Evans appeared in another 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 teen comedy roles behind later that year with a starring role in the kidnapping thriller, "Cellular" (2004).

Luckily, the box office failure of "Cellular" proved only a momentary bump in the road for Evans' career. In 2005, Evans prepared himself for stardom 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. Evans nearly stole the show with his fiery, unfettered performance, which he reprised in the inevitable sequel, "The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer." In "Sunshine" (2007), he played an engineer aboard a spacecraft tasked with reigniting the sun with a massive stellar bomb. He followed it up with turns opposite Scarlett Johansson in "The Nanny Diaries" (2007) and as a police detective in "Street Kings" (2008). Next, he was the star of "Push" (2009), a sci-fi thriller about a team of telekinetic warriors trying to topple a secret government agency. Evans followed with co-starring role in "The Losers" (2010), an adaptation of the graphic novel about a CIA black ops team who hunt down those who target them for assassination. After appearing opposite Michael Cera in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" (2010), Evans starred as "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011), a blockbuster adaptation of the famed comic book hero that helped set up "The Avengers" (2012). A well-received sequel, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014), was followed by the American release of an international science-fiction dystopia, "Snowpiercer" (2013), directed by South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho. Keeping up his central status in the Marvel Cinematic Universe through "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) and "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), Evans also made his debut as a director with the romantic comedy "Before We Go" (2014) and starred opposite Octavia Spencer and Jenny Slate in "Gifted" (2017), a family drama about an orphaned young math prodigy.