Tatum was born on April 26, 1980, in Cullman, Alabama, to Kay Tatum (née Faust), an airline worker, and Glenn Tatum, a construction worker.[3][6][7] He has a sister named Paige. He is of Irish, French, and German ancestry.[8] His family moved to Gautier, Mississippi, in the Pascagoula area, when he was six. Until he was ten years old, he lived in a rural setting near the bayous along the Pascagoula River.[9][10]
Tatum has discussed having dealt with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and dyslexia while growing up, which affected his ability to do well in school.[11] Growing up, Tatum played football, soccer, track, and baseball; he has said that "girls were always [his] biggest distraction in school." As a child, he practiced wuzuquankung fu.[12]
Tatum spent most of his teenage years in the Tampa area, where he initially attended Gaither High School. His parents wanted more effort and gave him the option of selecting a private high school or attending a military school; he chose Tampa Catholic High School, where he graduated in 1998 and was voted most athletic.[13] He later attended Glenville State College in Glenville, West Virginia on a football scholarship, but dropped out.[14] He returned home and started working odd jobs.
Us Weekly reported that around this time Tatum left his job as a roofer and began working as a stripper at a local nightclub under the name "Chan Crawford".[15][16] In 2010, he told an Australian newspaper that he wanted to make a film about his experiences as a stripper.[17] That idea led to the film Magic Mike.[16] Tatum moved to Miami, where he was discovered by a model talent scout.
Career
2000s
In 2000, Tatum was first cast as a dancer in Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" music video,[3] after an audition in Orlando, Florida; he was paid $400 for the job. His experience in the fashion industry began as a model working for noted clients such as Armani and Abercrombie & Fitch. He soon moved into television commercials, landing national spots for Mountain Dew and Pepsi in 2002. He subsequently signed with Page 305 (Page Parkes Modeling Agency), a modeling agency in Miami. He was cast by Al David for Vogue magazine and soon after appeared in campaigns for Abercrombie & Fitch, Nautica, Dolce & Gabbana, American Eagle Outfitters, and Emporio Armani. He was picked as one of Tear Sheet magazine's "50 Most Beautiful Faces" of October 2001. Tatum signed with Ford Models in New York City.[18]
In 2006, Tatum starred in She's The Man opposite Amanda Bynes, which was named "the greatest Shakespeare adaptation since '10 Things I Hate About You'" by Business Insider.[19] Later that year, Tatum starred opposite his future wife Jenna Dewan in Step Up, which was his breakout role. Although it was widely panned, it has earned $115 million worldwide.[20]
Tatum also starred in Magic Mike, a film based on his eight-month experience as a stripper in Florida. The film was directed by Soderbergh,[27] was co-produced by Tatum and Soderbergh, and starred Tatum as Mike. He is a featured performer at a Tampa, Florida, male strip club who takes a younger dancer (Alex Pettyfer) under his wing to show him how to hustle "on and off stage".[27] The film's cast also included Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey.[27]
Tatum reprised his role from 21 Jump Street in its sequel, 22 Jump Street, which was released on June 13, 2014.[32] Also in 2014, he co-starred with Steve Carell in Foxcatcher, the story of John du Pont, who had schizophrenia and killed Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz, the brother of the character played by Tatum, who also had won Olympic gold.[33] In 2015, Tatum starred in Magic Mike XXL, reprising his 2012 role.
In 2023, Tatum returned as Mike Lane in Magic Mike's Last Dance with Steven Soderbergh as director. The film was set for an exclusive premiere on HBO Max,[41] but it was instead released in theaters on February 10, 2023.[42]
In October 2012, Tatum and a friend opened the Saints and Sinners burlesque-themed restaurant and bar in New Orleans, which remained in business ten years later.[45]
Production companies
In an interview with Details magazine, published in early 2012, Tatum said he wants to produce all the films he stars in, "I really don't want to be in any more movies that I don't produce. Unless it's with one of the 10 directors that I really want to work with, I don't have any interest in not being on the ground floor of creating it."[46] He, his then-wife Jenna Dewan, and their production partner Reid Carolin signed a two-year production deal in 2010 with Relativity Media for any films they may develop during that time.[47]
Tatum started two production companies, 33andOut Productions[48] and Iron Horse Entertainment.[49] Their first production was the 2010 documentary Earth Made of Glass. In 2021, another one of his production companies, Free Association, signed a first look deal with MGM.[50]
Writing
Tatum has written two picture books inspired by his daughter.[51] The first, The One and Only Sparkella (2021), was a #1 New York Times bestseller for children's picture books the week it published.[52]The One and Only Sparkella Makes a Plan was published in 2022.[53]
In 2006, Tatum met actress Jenna Dewan on the set of their film Step Up, and they married on July 11, 2009, in Malibu, California.[55] They have one daughter, born in 2013.[56] On April 2, 2018, the couple announced they were separating.[57] Six months later, Dewan filed for divorce from Tatum.[58] The divorce was finalized in November 2019.[59] In a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair, Tatum questioned whether he would ever remarry, though said his divorce prompted self-improvement, including a strong relationship with his daughter.[51]
Tatum dated English singer Jessie J from 2018 to 2020.[60][61][62] In 2021, Tatum started dating Zoë Kravitz and, by 2023, the couple were engaged.[63][64] The engagement was called off when they parted in October 2024.[65]
^ abcde"Channing Tatum (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 9, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.