Born in New York back in 1969, Christian Slater had a great head start as an actor thanks to his showbiz family; his mother Mary Jo was a casting agent and his father Michael Hawkins was an established actor. It was not long before he made his debut in a tv soap aged just seven years old and he was soon sent to a performing arts school where he honed his talents as a stage actor.
Deciding to drop out of school as a teen to pursue his acting career, Slater definitely made the right move and it wasn't long before his Hollywood dreams began to come true as he worked his way through a number of films and eventually landed the part of a crazed psycopath in Heathers, which gained him a lot of female attention and cemented his position as an actor to watch out for. Following on from this Christian Slater became a hugely popular actor in the early 90's with his fantastic performances in critical and commercial successes such as Interview with a Vampire and True Romance gaining him even more fans and propelling him towards stardom. It appeared that the sky was the limit for the bright young actor as he reached his mid-twenties, what could possibly go wrong from here?
What went wrong?
It was the success of Slater's career that led to his downward spiral, the excesses of his growing fame caused a number of run-ins with the law and whilst his acting career continued to thrive up until the mid nineties the film offers eventually began to dry up. His first serious encounter with the police took place in 1989 when he drunkenly tried to outrun them in his car, hit a lamp-post and ended up kicking an officer. Nice work Slater.
Future events in the mid nineties led him to spending time in jail with his offences including boarding a plane with a gun in his luggage, attacking his girlfriend whilst under the influence of cocaine and biting a police officer on his stomach! This crazy behaviour coupled with his poor career decisions led to him taking on a number of unforgettable roles, with few of his post 1994 films being worth your time. Whilst he has eventually managed to move away from the bad-boy image that took over in his twenties, Slater has struggled to emulate his earlier successes.
Where is he now?
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