James Marsden extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

James Marsden
Marsden on the set of Enchanted
Born	James Paul Marsden September 18, 1973 (1973-09-18) (age 36) Stillwater, Oklahoma, U.S.
Other name(s)	Jimmy Marsden
Occupation	Actor/Singer
Years active	1993–present
Spouse(s)	Lisa Lind (2000–present)

James Paul Marsden (born September 18, 1973) is an American actor, singer and former Versace model. He is best known for playing the superhero Cyclops in the three X-Men films, and for his roles in other commercially successful films such as Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, and 27 Dresses.

Contents 1 Early life and family 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 Discography 6 References 7 External links

Early life and family

Marsden was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma. His father, a professor of animal studies and industry at Kansas State University,¹ and his mother, a nutritionist, divorced when he was nine years old.² Marsden has four siblings: two younger sisters, Jennifer and Elizabeth, and two brothers, Jeff and Robert. He attended Putnam City North High School, in Oklahoma City and later went on to attend Oklahoma State University where he studied broadcast journalism. He was also a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. However, Marsden left after one and a half years, opting instead to move out to Los Angeles in order to pursue his acting career.

Career

Marsden got his first job on a series of episodes of The Nanny as Eddie, Margaret Sheffield's boyfriend. He then went on to star in the Canadian television series Boogies Diner, which aired for one season. With the end of that series, he guest starred on other television shows such as Saved by the Bell and Party of Five. He later starred in the ABC show Second Noah. He lost out to Edward Norton for a role in Primal Fear and turned down the lead role in 54, which later went to Ryan Phillippe. He then went on to star in Disturbing Behavior opposite Katie Holmes and Gossip opposite Kate Hudson. He also appeared in the television series Ally McBeal, as one of the main cast members during the first half of season 5, where he also showcased his singing abilities.

Marsden was then cast as Cyclops in the X-Men films, alongside Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, and Halle Berry. His character is a prominent figure in the comics; his screen time in the films, however, is increasingly reduced, particularly in the sequels. While this upset many fans of the comics, James Marsden's performance in the films was well received, and garnered him a Blockbuster Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. ³ Marsden also appeared in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, where he played Lois Lane's fiancé, Richard White. The film was a box-office success and received mostly positive reviews.⁴ Marsden later played Lon Hammond Jr. in the romantic movie The Notebook, which was based on a Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name. The Alibi was released in 2006, but only in Europe as of late. An American release date is still to be determined.

In 2007, Marsden played Corny Collins in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the 1988 John Waters movie Hairspray alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Nikki Blonsky, Amanda Bynes, Queen Latifah and John Travolta. There he also made his musical debut by singing two of the film's songs The Nicest Kids In Town and (It's) Hairspray. Both Hairspray and the film's soundtrack were critically-acclaimed. The soundtrack has sold 1,291,075+ copies to date in the United States, and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.⁵ His next role was in the Disney hybrid animated/live action film Enchanted, playing Prince Edward with co-stars Amy Adams, Susan Sarandon, Idina Menzel and Patrick Dempsey. He sang one song as a duet with Amy Adams at the beginning of the film and a duet with Idina Menzel that was cut from the film. Enchanted was well received critically and proved to be a commercial success, earning more than $340 million worldwide at the box office.⁶ Marsden was also received a nomination for the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Actor in a Comedy but lost to Ashton Kutcher.⁷

Following his successes in 2007's Hairspray and Enchanted, Marsden played the male lead in the 2008 romantic comedy 27 Dresses opposite star Katherine Heigl, which grossed $160 million worldwide.⁸ He also starred in the teen comedy, Sex Drive along side Josh Zuckerman. In 2009, Marsden also played the male lead in the horror film The Box, based on the 1970 short story "Button, Button" by author Richard Matheson, which was earlier made into an episode of The Twilight Zone.⁹ He starred opposite Cameron Diaz and re-united with Superman Returns co-star Frank Langella.¹⁰ Marsden is set as lead for the remake of Straw Dogs, which is planned with an release in 2011.¹¹

Personal life

Marsden has been married to Lisa Linde (Days of our Lives) since July 22, 2000. They have a son, Jack Holden (born February 1, 2001) and a daughter, Mary James (born August 10, 2005). Lisa is the daughter of the legendary country music songwriter Dennis Linde.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1993	Ambush in Waco: In the Line of Duty	Steven Willis	TV film
	Princess and Two Peas	Pea Number One	TV Film
1994	No Dessert, Dad, till You Mow the Lawn	Tyler Cochran
1996	Public Enemies	Doc Barker
	Gone in a Hearbeat	Michael Galler	TV film
1997	On the Edge of Innocence	Jake Walker	TV film
	Campfire Tales	Eddie	"The Hook"
	Bella Mafia	Luka	TV film
1998	Disturbing Behavior	Steve Clark
2000	Gossip	Derrick Webb
	X-Men	Scott Summers / Cyclops	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Science Fiction Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team (shared with Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin)
2001	Sugar & Spice	Jack Bartlett
	Zoolander	John Wilkes Booth
2002	Interstate 60: Episodes of the Road	Neal Oliver
2003	X2	Scott Summers / Cyclops
2004	The 24th Day	Dan
	The Notebook	Lon Hammond Jr.
	Heights	Jonathan Kestler
2006	The Alibi	Wendell Hatch
	10th & Wolf	Tommy
	X-Men: The Last Stand	Scott Summers / Cyclops
	Superman Returns	Richard White	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2007	Hairspray	Corny Collins	Hollywood Film Festival & Hollywood Award for Hollywood Ensemble Acting of the Year Award - Musical/Comedy (shared with the Hairspray cast) 13th Critics' Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble (shared with the Hairspray cast) Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (shared with the Hairspray cast) Nominated — Palm Spring International Film Festival Ensemble Permance Award(shared with the Hairspray cast)
	Enchanted	Prince Edward	Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Comedy
2008	27 Dresses	Kevin Doyle	Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Comedy
	Sex Drive	Rex
2009	The Box	Arthur Lewis
	Nailed	Scott	post-production
	Conan: Red Nails	Techtol	Voice role, in production
2010	Death at a Funeral	Oscar	post-production
	Straw Dogs	David Sumner	filming
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Saved by the Bell: The New Class	Chad Westerfield	"Homecoming King"
	The Nanny	Eddie	Two episodes
1994	Boogies Diner	Jason	Main character
1995	Blossom	Josh	"The Date"
	Party of Five	Griffin Holbrook	"Ides of March"
	Touched by an Angel	Jake	"Angels on the Air"
1996-1997	Second Noah	Ricky Beckett	Twenty-two episodes, main character
1997	Extreme Ghostbusters	Garret Miller	Main character
1998	The Outer Limits	Brav	"Rite of Passage"
2002	Bram & Alice	Arnold Cooper	"Scribbling Rivalry"
2001-2002	Ally McBeal	Glenn Foy	Thirteen episodes, recurring characters

Discography

Year	Title	Album	Notes
2007	"True Love's Kiss"	Enchanted
	"That's Amore"
	"The Nicest Kids in Town"	Hairspray	Nominated — American Music Award for Favorite Soundtrack of 2007 (shared with the Hairspray cast)
	"(It's) Hairspray"

Although James Marsden sang on Ally McBeal, he was not featured on any soundtrack released by the show.

References

External links

• James Marsden at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview on The Notebook and X-Men 3