Kevin Zegers

by cpps90
Dec 4, 2005 (revised Nov 24, 2006)

Kevin Joseph Zegers was born Sep 19, 1984 in St. Marys, Ontario, and grew up in Woodstock, Ontario. He has two sisters, Katie (younger) and Krista (older). In 2002, he graduated from a Catholic boys school. His younger sister is married and has three children: twins Chloe and Mallory, and Brady James Pepper.

He is 5' 09" tall and weighs 145 lbs. He currently resides in Los Angeles, and is dating actress Marisa Coughlan.

He pronounces his last name "ziggers" or "zeegers."

Early Career
Kevin Zegers began his performing career at an early age, appearing in numerous commercials. He got his first film role at 7, playing the younger version of Michael J. Fox's character in Life With Mikey. He went on to appear in several films, including In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story (1994), The Silence of Adultery (1995), Specimen (1996), The Cold Heart of a Killer (1996, aka Murder on the Iditarod Trail), and Rose Hill (1997). He also appeared in the Canadian TV series Traders (1996).

Especially notable in his early work was his guest appearance in the acclaimed science fiction TV series The X-Files. Zegers played the young stigmatic Kevin Kryder in the episode "Revelations" (episode # 3.11, broadcast Dec 15, 1995).

Air Bud
Zegers' career sagged for about a year, then received a major boost when he won the role of Josh Framm in Air Bud (1997). The gentle story about a lonely boy who befriends a basketball-playing dog launched a film franchise that spawned four sequels. Zegers appeared in four of the films, and also starred in a similar genre film MVP: Most Valuable Primate which featured a hockey-playing chimp.

He appeared in other family-friendly fare, including A Call To Remember (1997) with Joe Mantegna, Treasure Island (1998) with Jack Palance, Nico the Unicorn (1998) with a young Elisha Cuthbert, and Time Share (2000) with Nastassja Kinski.

Despite doing numerous family/animal films, Zegers was not typecast, and got the chance to expand to other types of roles. He made his first horror films, Shadowbuilder (1998) and Komodo (1999). In It Came From The Sky (1999), the 13-year-old Zegers played a mentally disabled child visited by an angel-like couple. In Four Days (1999), Zegers, 14, played a nameless boy devoted to his bank-robber father. He also played a boy who discovers he is a clone in the TV series So Weird (1999).

Titans
At 15, Zegers' career received another boost when he was personally hand-picked by TV producer Aaron Spelling to co-star in a new series Titans. It was his first regular TV series role, and co-starred Yasmine Bleeth, Casper Van Dien, and Victoria Principal. The prime-time soap opera was short-lived, but the role increased Zegers' popularity.

Horror Films, Mrs Ritchie
Following Titans, Zegers appeared in a series of horror films: Fear of the Dark (2002), Wrong Turn (2003), The Hollow (2004), and the remake of Dawn of the Dead (2004).

He co-starred with Harry Hamlin in Sex, Lies & Obsession (2001), a Lifetime Network film about sex addiction.

In the summer of 2003, he filmed Some Things That Stay at the same time as Dawn of the Dead, shuttling across Canada between sets.

Dawn of the Dead and Wrong Turn were Zegers' first widespread theatrical releases since Air Bud 2.

At 18, Zegers co-starred with Gena Rowlands and James Caan in The Incredible Mrs Ritchie (2003). The film won three Daytime Emmy awards: Outstanding Children/Youth/Family Special, Outstanding Performer (Rowlands), and Outstanding Writing.

Transamerica
At 19, Zegers created one of his most memorable roles: the teen prostitute Toby Osbourne in Transamerica (2005).

About Zegers' performance, Variety Magazine (Feb 21, 2005) said, "Zegers, from recent Dawn of the Dead remake, finds multiple dimensions in pic's potentially most clichéd character..." RogerEbert.com (Jim Emerson, Sep 16, 2005) praised Zegers' "fine support" for Huffman's character. From the Hollywood Reporter (Sep. 16, 2005): "As a boy who considers sex his chief talent, Zegers (of the Air Bud films and last year's Dawn of the Dead remake) conveys Toby's essential sweetness and hunger for real affection, making him much more than just a vain or damaged kid."

Co-star Felicity Huffman (TV's Desperate Houswives) was playing her first lead role in a feature as the boy's transgender parent Bree. Director Duncan Tucker said he had to overcome his initial wariness over Zegers' good looks before casting him for the role. [1]

Transamerica won the SIEGESSÄULE (Magazine) Reader's Jury Award at the 19th TEDDY Awards (Berlin Film Festival, Feb 2005). This award did much to stimulate interest in mainstream Hollywood circles. It also won the "Frameline Audience Award for Best Feature" at the 2005 San Francisco LGBT International Film Festival (June 2005). The film has appeared in the Netherlands Transgender Film Festival (May 2005), the Michigan GLBT Film Festival (Oct 2005), the Ft Lauderdale Film Festival (Oct 2005), and the AFI Festival (Nov 2005). The film was picked up for distribution by the Weinstein Company (founded by former Miramax owners Bob and Harvey Weinstein). For her role as Bree, Huffmann won Best Actress awards at film festivals at Tribeca, San Diego, and Mill Valley. She also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

The Cannes Film Festival selected Kevin Zegers as its Chopard Award (for best emerging actors) winner for 2006. The award was presented to him on May 20, 2006 by Elton John at Cannes.

Other Projects
Kevin Zegers continued his TV work with guest appearances in Smallville ("Magnetic," Nov 2003) and House ("Occam's Razor," Nov 2004).

In 2005, Zegers completed Felicity: An American Girl Adventure, a TV film that premiered Nov 2005. He also did two comedy features: The Return of Zoom, (with Tim Allen) and It's A Boy Girl Thing, both scheduled for 2006 release. It's A Boy Girl Thing is the first film ever produced by singer Elton John.

In October 2005, Zegers did a special interview with Duncan Tucker for Out Magazine, the first magazine to do a cover story on him.

In late 2006, Zegers was assigned a number of film projects, however details on many of them remained sketchy.

Interests
Often cast as athletes, Kevin Zegers is in real life very active in sports, especially basketball, ice hockey, and golf. In school, he played on football, basketball, and lacrosse teams. In 2002 and 2003, he played on the Hollywood Knights celebrity basketball team, raising money for local Los Angeles schools. He currently plays on a pickup ice hockey team in Los Angeles.

Zegers lifted weights through much of his teen years. He worked out with Caspar van Dien during Titans and lifted regularly while filming Time Share. For Mrs Ritchie, he bulked up temporarily from his normal body weight of 145 lbs to 160 lbs. He has said he can probably bench press betwen 285 lbs and 315 lbs. (June 26, 2005 interview at San Francisco Film Festival)

Zegers also enjoys running, and runs up to 10 miles at a time.

People Magazine included Kevin in its 100 Most Beautiful issue (May 8, 2006).