Channing Tatum

Channing Tatum was born in Cullman, Alabama, the son of Kay, an airline worker, and Glenn Tatum, who worked in construction. His ancestry includes Irish, French, and Native American. Tatum’s family moved to Mississippi when he was six, and he grew up in the bayous near the Mississippi River, where he enjoyed a rural existence.

Tatum was athletic while growing up, playing football, soccer, track, baseball, and performing martial arts; he has said that “girls were always [his] biggest distraction in school.” As a child, he practiced Kung-fu. Tatum spent most of his teenage years in the Tampa, Florida area and initially attended Gaither High School before going to Tampa Catholic High School. He graduated in 1998 and was voted most athletic. Afterward, Tatum was awarded a football scholarship to Glenville State College in Glenville, West Virginia, but he turned it down. He returned home and started working odd jobs. US Weekly reported that around this time Tatum began working as an exotic dancer at a local nightclub, under the name “Chan Crawford.” In 2010, he told an Australian newspaper that he would like to make a movie about his experiences as a stripper, saying, “I’ve already got the director picked out. I’d like Nicolas Refn, who did the movie Bronson, to do it because he’s insane for it.”

He later moved to Miami, where he was discovered on the street by a model talent scout.

Channing Tatum Details

Birth Name: Channing Matthew Tatum

Birth Place: Cullman, Alabama, United States

Date of Birth: April 26, 1980

Ethnicity: French, Irish, and Native American