Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in the 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean. He played a monk's apprentice alongside Sean Connery in The Name of the Rose before gaining wider recognition for his breakthrough role in the cult film Heathers. He voices Ushari in The Lion Guard.
In the 1990s, Slater starred in many big budget films, including Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Broken Arrow, and Hard Rain. He was also featured in the cult film True Romance. Since 2000, Slater has combined work in the film business with television, including appearances in The West Wing and Alias and starring in Breaking In and Mind Games. He currently stars as the title character on the USA Network series Mr. Robot, for which he won his first Golden Globe at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.
Slater was married to Ryan Haddon between 2000 and 2005, and they had two children together. Slater has had widely publicized brushes with the law, including being sentenced to three months in jail for assault in 1997.
Early life[]
Slater was born in New York City, to Michael Hawkins (né Thomas Knight Slater), an actor who is also known as Michael Gainsborough, and Mary Jo Slater (née Lawton), an acting agent turned casting executive and producer.[1][2] Slater has a maternal half-brother, Ryan Slater, who is also an actor.[3] His great-uncle was radio personality Bill Slater.[4] Though he played her character's younger brother in the movie The Legend of Billie Jean, he is not related to Helen Slater. He attended the Dalton School, the Professional Children's School and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.[3]
Career[]
Early career[]
Following a run on the ABC soap opera Ryan's Hope, Slater made his Broadway debut as the lisping Winthrop Paroo opposite Dick Van Dyke in the 1980 revival of The Music Man.[1] Additional Broadway credits include Copperfield, Merlin, Macbeth, Side Man, and The Glass Menagerie. In addition he has performed in London's West End in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Swimming With Sharks.
Slater made his big screen debut in 1985's The Legend of Billie Jean playing Billie Jean’s brother Binx. Though expected to be a big hit, the film fell short at the box office, despite gaining a cult following. His career improved with his role in The Name of the Rose (1986) alongside Sean Connery.[5] Slater played Connery's apprentice monk while they investigated a series of murders at a Benedictine abbey. Slater followed this by playing Junior Tucker in Francis Ford Coppola's Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), Gleaming the Cube (1989) and Beyond the Stars (1989).
Slater's career rose to new heights when he played the dark character J.D. in the 1989 film Heathers alongside Winona Ryder. Heathers was billed as the teen film of the late 1980s. Slater beat out many other actors such as Brad Pitt for the part and his performance drew comparison with a young Jack Nicholson.[5] After Heathers and a small role in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), Slater had offers to play more troubled youths, including as a rebellious teen in Pump Up the Volume (1990) and a wild gunman in Young Guns II (1990), in which Slater acted alongside Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland.
Box office success[]
In 1991, Slater was cast as Will Scarlett in the Hollywood big budget production of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves alongside Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman and Alan Rickman. The film was a commercial success, taking US$390 million worldwide, and Slater became one of the major A-list stars of the 1990s.[6] With Slater being a big Star Trek fan, he accepted a minor role in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, shortly after playing Charlie Luciano in the crime drama Mobsters.[5] The following year he starred in Kuffs.
In 1993, Slater tried to expand his film genre, playing opposite Marisa Tomei in Untamed Heart and playing Clarence Worley in the Quentin Tarantino-penned cult classic True Romance, which received many rave reviews.[5] In his review of True Romance Roger Ebert awarded the movie 3 stars out of 4 and commented, 'the energy and style of the movie are exhilarating. Christian Slater has the kind of cocky recklessness the movie needs.'[7]
The part as the interviewer in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) came about after his friend River Phoenix, who originally had the role, died.[5] Slater subsequently donated his earnings from the film to Phoenix's favorite charities.[5] Slater also played the character of Lewis in the romance film Bed of Roses in 1996 along with Mary Stuart Masterson. Slater played Riley Hale in the big budget John Woo film Broken Arrow (1996), which also starred John Travolta, before appearing in 1998 in Hard Rain alongside Morgan Freeman. The same year he also starred in the popular comedy opus Very Bad Things opposite Cameron Diaz.
Since 2000[]
After his highly publicized brushes with the law, Slater's standing as a major movie star began to fade.[citation needed] Since 2000 Slater has mixed TV work with leading roles in mainly lower budget films along with supporting roles in a few mainstream productions, appearing in the successful The West Wing and Alias TV productions, but also being part of Hollywood films, including Bobby and 3000 Miles to Graceland.[5] He has also worked as a voice-over artist in productions, including the character of 'Pip' in the successful Australian animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and TV documentaries, including Prehistoric Planet and Dinosaur Planet. Slater also voiced the character John Watson a.k.a. "Wonko the Sane" in BBC Radio 4's production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.[8] Slater starred in the television series My Own Worst Enemy in 2008 and The Forgotten in 2009.
In 2011 he co-starred in the action film The River Murders, with Ray Liotta and Ving Rhames. Also in 2011, he starred in the television series, Breaking In, which lasted for two seasons. Slater co-starred in another film with Ving Rhames, Soldiers of Fortune (2012), and in the Sylvester Stallone action thriller Bullet to the Head (2013), directed by Walter Hill. He co-starred in the 2014 television series, Mind Games, which was cancelled after only five episodes were aired,[9] and was part of the ensemble in Lars von Trier's controversial Nymphomaniac.[10]
Slater is reportedly developing and making a film based on Will Viharo's 1993 neo-noir novel Love Stories Are Too Violent for Me,[11] the first of three works to feature PI Vic Valentine.
He co-stars in a television series on USA Network called Mr. Robot. Slater plays a computer hacker, "Mr. Robot," who recruits Rami Malek's character, 'Elliot," into Slater's band of hackers called fsociety. The series premiered on June 24, 2015. It was picked up for a second season.[12]
Slater voices the character "Slater" on the FX original series Archer.
He also voiced the ill-fated superhero "Vance Maximus" in the Season 3 Rick and Morty episode, "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender"
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Template:Cite episode
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Template:Cite web
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Tony DuShane (October 23, 2013). "Christian Slater rescues Will Viharo's pulpy novel", sfgate.com; accessed August 18, 2014.
- ↑ Template:Cite news