Crossroads Guy

Background:

Starting acting since high school, Anson Mount garnered wider attention in 2002 when he co-starred opposite Britney Spears in her debut acting vehicle, "Crossroads." He also has appeared in the films "Boiler Room" (2000), "Urban Legends: Final Cut" (2000), "City by the Sea" (2002), "In Her Shoes" (2005), "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" (2006), "Walk the Talk" (2007), and "Privacy Policy" (2007). He will next be seen in the upcoming films "Cook County" and "Hatter."

On the small screen, this 6' 1" hunky, all-American-looking actor with considerable acting charisma has appeared in the TV series "Third Watch," "Line of Fire," "The Mountain," and "Conviction."

Anson Adams

Childhood and Family:

The only child of former professional golfer Nancy Smith (born in 1946) and late Playboy Magazine sports editor Anson Mount III (died at age 60 in 1986), Anson Adams Mount IV was born on February 25, 1973 in White Bluff, Tennessee.

Young Mount attended Dickson County High School, Nashville, Tennessee (1991), where he was active in school productions. He then went to University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee (1995) and became involved with performance art and theater. And after receiving a master's degree in fine arts and acting from Columbia University, New York, New York, in 1998, he joined the New York City theater scene. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

About living in New York City and his apartment, Mount said, “I love that you can walk down the block and hear six different languages. There's always something to be discovered here. The nicest thing about my apartment is a window in my bathtub that looks out on St. John the Divine Cathedral.”

Line of Fire

Career:

Beginning acting at his high school productions, Anson Mount went on to hone in on his craft at Tennessee's University of the South. After earning a master's degree in fine arts and acting from Columbia University, New York, New York, he signed up with the New York City theater scene and made his first major stage role came in 1998 when he played Joshua, the gay Jesus-allegory lead character, in Terrence McNally's controversial passion Off-Broadway play "Corpus Christi" at the Manhattan Theater Club.

After making his primetime debut in an April 1999 episode of Fox's drama/comedy series starring Calista Flockhart, "Ally McBeal," Mount landed a recurring role as a doctor named Montville (2000-2001) on the NBC drama series "Third Watch."

Meanwhile, he made his feature film debut with "Boiler Room" (2000), a crime/drama/thriller written and directed by Ben Younger starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, and Nia Long, and was featured alongside Jennifer Morrison, Matthew Davis, Hart Bochner, Loretta Devine, Joseph Lawrence, and Eva Mendes in the slasher film "Urban Legends: Final Cut" (2000).

He also starred as the title role of a local heartthrob and a playboy who is incapable of getting close to anyone in the Hilary Birmingham's well-received independent drama film "Tully" (2000; aka. "The Truth About Tully") and made his directorial debut with a short film called "Nose."

In 2002, Mount appeared alongside Robert De Niro in Michael Caton-Jones' crime/drama/thriller based on a story of Vincent LaMarca, "City by the Sea" (2002; aka. "Mark of a Murderer"). De Niro later encouraged Mount to take the part of Ben Kimble, a cute guitarist and Britney Spears' love interest and eventual boyfriend, in Tamra Davis-directed movie starring pop superstar Britney Spears in her first major movie role, "Crossroads" (2002). The film was a commercially successful but received poor reviews. It earned Mount a Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (he was mentioned "Whatever-His-Name-Was") and a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Chemistry that he both shares with Spears.

When asked what it was like playing opposite Britney in the film, Mount commented: “It was fantastic working with all three of those actresses, this one especially (smiling at Zoe Saldana who was being interviewed next to Anson). Working with Britney was great. She was very, very, very easy to work with because she's a natural.”

And when asked if Robert De Niro ran Britney's lines with him for practice, Mount admitted, “That has been the single most popular question in the last week. It's been blown way out of proportion. I was on set for 'City by the Sea' and he saw me with the script. He said, 'What is that?' and I showed him. I told him, 'It's this Britney Spears movie. I don't know if I'm going to do it.' He said, 'Why not? She's great.' And I said, 'Alright, help me out here.' So he ran the lines for a couple of minutes. He played Lucy (Britney) to my Ben.”

That same year, Mount had a featured role in Peter Greenway's "The Tulse Luper Suitcase," a massive project that includes a trilogy of films, a television series (sixteen 30-minute episodes), and an Internet component and follows some 92 characters tracing the history of the 20th Century from 1928 to 1989. He then co-starred as an undercover agent named Roy Ravelle in the ABC crime/drama series created by Rod Lurie, "Line of Fire" (2003-1004), which was canceled after just 11 episodes from the 13 episodes produced.

He also appeared in a 2003 car commercial and starred as ski resort owner Will Carver on the WB drama series "The Mountain" (2004-2005), which was canceled after only thirteen episodes. He then returned to film and joined Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine in Curtis Hanson's film adaptation of Jennifer Weiner's novel, "In Her Shoes" (2005).

In 2006, Mount co-starred as Deputy District Attorney Jim Steele, with Stephanie March, Eric Balfour, and Jordan Bridges, on the NBC legal drama series "Conviction." He has since appeared in the films "Hood of Horror" (2006; starring Snoop Dogg), "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" (2006; starring Amber Heard), the independent "Walk the Talk" (2007; with Evan Ellingson, Cary Elwes, and Illeana Douglas), and the 19-minute short thriller film "Privacy Policy" (2007).

He has completed his new film, "Cook County," a drama about the Horrors of meth addiction written and directed by David Pomes, and will soon wrap his upcoming film, "Hatter," a drama/thriller by writer/director James Killough in which he co-stars with Rebecca Romijn and Alan Cumming.

Awards:
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