Hayden Christensen born April 19, [ 1 ] is a Canadian actor. Christensen began his career on Canadian television at the age of 13, then diversified into American television in the late s. Christensen was born in Vancouver , British Columbia to Alie, an American speechwriter, and David Christensen, a Canadian computer programmer and communications executive. He acquired wider notice while starring in Fox Family Channel's television series Higher Ground in , portraying a teen who was sexually molested by his stepmother , and then turned to drugs in his despair.
He went on to receive positive reviews for 's Shattered Glass , which tells the true story of journalist Stephen Glass , who was discovered to be fabricating stories as a writer for The New Republic and other publications.
In , he took part in the fifth annual "24 Hour Plays" benefit, which raises cash for nonprofit groups in the Big Apple. The casting director reviewed about 1, other candidates before director George Lucas selected Christensen.
This was essential to solidify the story that Lucas was trying to tell: Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace and transformation into Darth Vader. During the production of Revenge of the Sith , Christensen asked Lucas if a special Vader suit could be constructed to fit his own body, rather than have a different actor don one of the original sets of Vader armour worn by David Prowse.
His voice as the "robotic" Vader, however, was dubbed over by James Earl Jones , who first made the voice famous in the original trilogy. In one of the most controversial changes made to the Star Wars original trilogy , [ 20 ] Christensen was inserted into the DVD release of Return of the Jedi , where he replaced Sebastian Shaw as the force ghost of the redeemed Anakin Skywalker.
