Taylor Kitsch (born April 8, 1981) is a Canadian actor and model. Kitsch was born in Kelowna, British Columbia. He has two older brothers and two younger half sisters. Originally set to become a professional hockey player, he played for the Langley Hornets in the Canadian BCHL before a bad knee injury ended his career. He moved to New York in 2002 after receiving an opportunity to pursue modeling with IMG and studied acting there as well. After two years, he signed with production company, Untitled Entertainment. While staying in New York, Kitsch also became certified as a nutritionist and personal trainer. Kitsch has modeled for Diesel and Abercrombie & Fitch. Kitsch currently stars in the NBC series Friday Night Lights as football player Tim Riggins. He played Pogue Parry in The Covenant alongside Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Laura Ramsey, Toby Hemingway, Jessica Lucas and Chace Crawford. In February 2008, he signed on to play Gambit in the X-Men franchise spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine," released May 2009. It received a May 2009 release. Of the fan-favorite character of Gambit, Kitsch states, "I knew of him, but I didn't know the following he had. I'm sure I'm still going to be exposed to that. I love the character, I love the powers, and I love what they did with him. I didn't know that much, but in my experience, it was a blessing to go in and create my take on him. I'm excited for it, to say the least." In 2009, Kitsch signed up for Steven Silver's The Bang Bang Club alongside Ryan Phillipe and Malin Akerman, set in South Africa and documenting the final bloody days of the apartheid. As of June 2009, Kitsch is to play the title role in the film John Carter of Mars, alongside his X-Men Origins: Wolverine co-star Lynn Collins. The film is slated for a 2012 release.