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Shawn Roberts Takes Control

Shawn Roberts savoured his chance to tear a strip off Darth Vader, a.k.a. Hayden Christensen, in this month’s sci-fi action pic Jumper.

“I’m in a bar, hitting on a girl when Hayden Christensen comes in and we have a little bit of a conflict, a vocal fight, as it were,” says Roberts on the line from his sister’s home in Hamilton, Ontario, where the handsome 23-year-old actor is crashing at the moment. “I’m all over the place — L.A. Toronto, Vancouver — so this is the easiest place for me to call my home base,” he explains.

Roberts, originally from Stratford, Ontario, has been acting professionally since he landed his first audition as a 12-year-old, playing Emily’s love interest in the TV series Emily of New Moon.

His small-screen résumé includes appearances on Degrassi: The Next Generation and La Femme Nikita, while his movie credits include roles in X-Men, Skinwalkers and the horror pic Diary of the Dead, which also opens, albeit in limited release, this month.

Jumper, about a man (Christensen) who discovers he can teleport, is helmed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith), a filmmaker known for his chaotic sets and demanding nature (he likes to shoot and shoot and shoot, which drives movie studios crazy). How did Roberts find working with him?

“I can definitely see why some people might say he’s ‘different,’ but he’s a visionary genius is what he is. He’s coming off of making Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which I thought was awesome.... I mean, he’s a very intense guy, but welcoming and all that, so it was great.”

A big-budget action flick like Jumper could jump-start Roberts’ career, but the actor isn’t waiting around for his cellphone to ring. Although he’s only 23, Roberts has decided he needs to start producing movies himself in order to take control of his career.

“You can only go out for other people’s projects for so long until you say, ‘You know what, I really want to do something that’s mine.’

“And this past year has been kinda slow, and with the writers’ strike it’s really made the industry a bit unsteady, unstable. So whatya do when things are unstable? You think, ‘Okay, what can I do to better my situation?’ This is the next logical step.”

With that in mind, Roberts is off to this month’s Sundance Film Festival to support Diary of the Dead, which is screening at the fest, and to make a few movie connections of his own.

“It’s time to shake hands and kiss babies,” he says with a laugh.

—Ingrid Randoja