Never Back Down

Background:

"I don't consider myself a movie star. I'm just an actor doing the best I can." Sean Faris

Hailing from Texas, Sean Faris started out as a model before eventually turning to acting. He landed his first job in the straight-to-video released horror movie "The Brotherhood 2: Young Warlocks" (2001), as a troubled new student at an exclusive private school who is seduced by a sinister warlock.

After making his Hollywood debut with Michael Bay's blockbuster war film, “Pearl Harbor” (2001), he retreated to television and played the lead in the ABC drama series "Life As We Know It" (2004-2005), playing ice hockey star Dino Whitman, and in FOX’s drama "Reunion" (2005), as Craig Brewster, the spoiled son of a real estate mogul (played by Gregory Harrison) and future politician. He also guest starred in such TV shows as "Undressed," "Even Stevens," "Maybe It's Me," "Smallville," "Eve," "One Tree Hill," and "Boston Public."

The hunky actor returned to the film scene in 2004 in the teen drama “Sleepover,” as Alexa Vega's crush, and followed it up with a role as one of the Beardsley children, William, in the 2005 remake of the 1968 film, "Yours, Mine and Ours."

More recently, moviegoers could catch him starring as Jake Tyler, a rebellious teen lured into an underground fight club, in Jeff Wadlow's mixed martial arts film, "Never Back Down" (2008). The rising star will next be seen in the upcoming films "Forever Strong," "Brooklyn to Manhattan," and "The Glass Eye," which he both stars in and co-produces.

The 6' handsome actor, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tom Cruise and loves to wear Armani collections on the red carpet, was ranked #38 of magazine “Elle Girl's” “50 Sexiest Guys.”

About his personal style, Sean said, “Comfort. If it's comfortable and it looks decent, I'll wear it. There's no in-between for me. Either I want to be rocking in an Armani suit or I want to be in jeans and a T-shirt. I wouldn't want to be in khakis and a button-down. That's just not me.”

Competitive Sean

Childhood and Family:

“I'm an Aries, 100%! I am very competitive and I like to win!” Sean Faris

Born in Houston, Texas, on March 25, 1982, Sean Haroy Faris moved to Cleveland, Ohio, at age 12 with his mother, Katherine Irene Ann Miller, following his parents' divorce. His father, Warren Stephen Faris, and most of his family members live in Houston.

“For two weeks, I had the entire neighborhood believing I was Tom Cruise's son, until my step-sister spilled the beans on me.” Sean Faris

"Yeah, I’ve actually been in sports since I was like four years old. First sport I ever played was soccer, then baseball and football. I played football for years in Texas and then I moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and I played basketball in Ohio. I played more football, more soccer, and then essentially in high school I started diving." Sean Faris

Young Sean attended Padua Franciscan High School in Parma, Ohio. He was a high school jock and played soccer, basketball and baseball. He was also a diver for the swim team and competed in 1 meter and 3 meter diving. He graduated with honors in 2000 and moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue an acting career.

“I was always like a summertime diver. I taught myself everything I knew up until a certain point and the football coach came to me one day and said, ‘I hear you’re really good on the diving board. We need a diver really bad, will you please come dive for us?’ And I said, ‘All right, cool.’ So basically all I had to do was learn how to clean it all up. I came in like my first meet sort of halfway through the season. I took third place my first meet and I said I would never lose another meet again. I took first place every meet I was in after that. And then I actually having dove halfway through the season, I qualified for city. I went to city and then I qualified for the regionals and went to regionals.” Sean Faris

Sean now resides in Los Angeles, California. His favorite midnight snack is a ham, turkey, and salami sandwich, with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mayo, and spicy or Dijon mustard on potato bread.

“I hate junk food. It depresses me.” Sean Faris

Life As We Know It

Career:

"I didn't even take the SATs. I knew what I wanted and I didn't want to give myself a backup plan. I moved to Hollywood right after high school and was broke as could be. I came out here wanting fame and fortune but I developed a true love for acting and lost all my desire for fame." Sean Faris

Originally planning to enlist into the United States Air Force, Sean Faris decided to become an actor at age 17 and moved to California with his best friend three weeks after graduating from high school. He began his acting and modeling career in Cleveland at Barbizon and later moved to the International Model and Talent Association with Stone Model & Talent, where he was named the Junior Male Model of the Year in 1999 even though he was four to six inches shorter than his competitors.

Sean eventually gave up modeling after he was discovered by filmmaker David DeCoteau for the straight-to-video released horror movie "The Brotherhood 2: Young Warlocks" (2001), in which he starred as John Van Owen, a troubled new student at an exclusive private school who is seduced by a sinister warlock (played by Forrest Cochran).

That same year, he played a lead role in an independent film by writers/directors Greg Petusky and Johnny Wu, "Twisted," and had a recurring role in MTV’s anthology series "Undressed." He was also cast in the role of Danny's gunner in Michael Bay's blockbuster war film, “Pearl Harbor,” alongside such big names as Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Jaime King, and Jennifer Garner.

Sean recalled, “Less than a month after I came out here, I got cast in a teeny, teeny role in ‘Pearl Harbor.’ But my character stuck around, so I worked for two-and-a-half months. My head swelled so big, I couldn’t get through a door. ‘I’m going to be a star!’ I spent all my money in a month. Broke, I didn’t work again for six months. The reality check set in and I started over with acting classes.”

Following his Hollywood debut, Sean retreated to the small screen and could be seen guest starring in an episode of Disney Channel's "Even Stevens," the WB comedy "Maybe It's Me," the WB sci-fi series about the young Superman, "Smallville," UPN’s sitcom "Eve," the CW teen drama "One Tree Hill," and FOX’s teen drama "Boston Public." He also co-starred with Amy Yasbeck and Dan Cortese in the comedic made-for-television movie "House Blend" (2002). He only made one film, "Sleepover" (2004), a teen film by director Joe Nussbaum in which he played Steve, a popular high-schooler and the crush to Alexa Vega's lead character. Along with the film's cast members, Sean received a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast.

“Because I didn’t go to college and because I spent my college time out in LA, it gives me a huge advantage over anyone who went to college. By the time they get out of school, I’ve already had four years of real world experience. I just feel like I have a major edge over them.” Sean Faris

From 2004 to 2005, Sean starred in the ABC drama series based on the novel "Doing It" by British writer Melvin Burgess, "Life As We Know It," playing Dino Whitman, a star ice hockey player who had an uneasy relationship with his soccer-playing girlfriend (played by Missy Peregrym). Premiering on October 7, 2004, the show was pulled during the November sweeps, but re-ran on MTV to good ratings in November and December 2004. It ultimately was canceled by ABC in January 2005.

Sean subsequently landed another TV series regular role, this time on FOX’s drama series "Reunion," playing Craig Brewster, the spoiled son of a real estate mogul (played by Gregory Harrison) and future politician. Launched on September 8, 2005, the show was canceled after only nine episodes on December 15, 2005, due to poor ratings.

After starring in two TV series, Sean has decided to act in films. He played one of the Beardsley children, William, in Raja Gosnell's remake of the 1968 film, "Yours, Mine and Ours" (2005), starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo. After auditioning for a role in “The Jane Austen Book Club” (2007), he snagged the lead role of Jake Tyler, a rebellious teen lured into an underground fight club, in Jeff Wadlow's mixed martial arts film, "Never Back Down" (2008). For his role in the film, Sean gained 15 lbs. of muscle after training 7 hours a day, 6 days a week.

About his preparation to star in "Never Back Down" (2008), Sean revealed, “For the film, we had three months of training in L.A., and we trained for six hours a day, six days a week. It was pretty intense. My body went to shock after about the first week. We had to see a chiropractor, a massage therapist, to keep our bodies in tuned so that we could continue training. They would deliver like 5,000 calories in meals to my door every day and I had to eat it all so I could put on weight. We would start the day off with the Muay Thai and Tai Kwan Doe. Then we'd work on fight choreography for a bit and we'd have a little break. Nap time, or massage therapist time or chiropractor time, and then we would go off to Gold's Gym in Venice Beach to train with a trainer named Kito, who was our weight trainer that we had to lift with. Yeah, it was hard. It was probably the most physical thing I've ever done in my life."

Sean has completed filming "Forever Strong," a true story-based movie by Ryan Little in which he plays the lead role of a talented-but-troubled rugby player who was sentenced to a boy's home in Salt Lake City. For his role in the film, Sean ran 6 miles twice a day to get in rugby shape.

Sean will soon wrap up "Brooklyn to Manhattan," a thriller film directed by Jessy Terrero in which he co-stars with Rob Mayes playing two wealthy brothers running for their lives in the Brooklyn subway tunnels after a botched drug deal.

"I want to try and line them up in a row and do them all. Ultimately, I'd like to do three films a year: one big-budget, one art-house or comedy, and one that I produce. I want to do it all." Sean Faris

Sean, who plans to direct, produce, and write his own movies, is now working on an upcoming thriller film called "The Glass Eye," which he both stars in and co-produces. He said about the project, "I'm currently in pre-production on a film that my manager and I, my producing partner, are doing ourselves. We're going to produce a film called 'The Glass Eye.' We're hopefully going to have that going by the end of March, early April, but you never know in Hollywood. It all depends on which actors you can get and whose schedules we can work around and who's we can't. Other than that, there are a couple of other projects I'm looking at that I would love to do. We're just kind of playing it by ear and seeing what's happening right now."

When asked where that project came from, he replied, “Two years ago we found it. It was a perfect script for me so we said we’re going to hold on to it, revise it, revise it, revise it, until it’s ready for me when I’m old enough to play the part. Hopefully that’s going to happen this summer.”

Awards:
---