Kevin Zegers

Read more...

Transamerica

Bree is a perfectly adjusted conservative transsexual woman. Born Stanley, a genetic male, she's about to take the final step to becoming the woman Stanley always wanted to be -- until she finds out that she is the parent of a long-lost 17-year-old son. Afraid to tell the rebellious teenager the truth, Bree embarks on a journey with him that will challenge and change both their lives and bring them closer to the truth of their connection.


"Life is more than the sum of its parts."

The first film by Duncan Tucker, Transamerica stars Felicity Huffman as a pre-operative transsexual named Bree (whose given name was Stanley). One week before going under the knife, Bree learns that she fathered a boy who is now 17 and is in trouble with the law. Bree would like to ignore this information, but is forced to meet the young man, Toby (played by Kevin Zegers), by her analyst Margaret (Elizabeth Peña), who will not allow the surgery to happen unless Bree meets him and confronts this aspect of her past. Upon meeting, the son believes that Bree is simply a do-gooder. She buys a car and the two road-trip back to her home in Los Angeles, Bree all the while attempting to keep from Toby the truth of the situation.

A sensitive subject matter on which there are as many opinions and prejudices as that of "Brokeback Mountain". Huffman absolutely excels in the role of transsexual in the last throes of transformation - the role seems tailor made for her with every gesture and dignified word being dynamic in its delivery. Surely to be forever acclaimed as the performance that lost an Oscar to sentimentality. Kevin Zegers as the dysfunctional son with a huge but understandable chip on his shoulder gives a strong indication of becoming a big name in Hollywood. With Dolly Parton's voice taking one through the rolling of the credits I thought the usage of more country music through the trans-continental trip would have been apt and lent some great atmosphere to the journey of discovery.

Read more...

Kevin Zegers

Kevin Joseph Zegers (born September 19, 1984) is a Canadian actor and model.

Zegers began acting at the age of 6. He has appeared in over 30 commercials, and also did some modeling in London. Aside from his acting career, Zegers works off-and-on as a model. Zegers began his performing career at the age of 6, appearing in commercials. His first film appearance was at the age of 7, in a small role in Michael J. Fox comedy Life With Mikey (1993). Subsequently, he appeared in many supporting roles, including a guest appearance on the television series The X-Files, playing a stigmatic child. He had the starring role in Air Bud (1997), a film about a basketball-playing dog. In the years following, Zegers appeared in three sequels, as well as a similar genre film, MVP: Most Valuable Primate, which featured a hockey-playing chimp.

Between 1997 and 2004, Zegers had starring or co-starring roles in many low-budget Canadian and horror films, including Nico the Unicorn (1998), Komodo (1999), and Wrong Turn (2003). He also appeared in the short-lived American television series Titans (co-starring Yasmine Bleeth) in 2000, for which he was personally chosen by producer Aaron Spelling. Zegers had previously worked with Bleeth in the 1999 film It Came From the Sky.

After appearing in the remake of Dawn of the Dead, he had a major role in the Academy Award-nominated independent film Transamerica (2005), co-starring Felicity Huffman. Zegers' performance as the street hustling bisexual son of a male-to-female transsexual was praised by several critics, and he won the 2006 Cannes Film Festival Chopard Award, which is given to promising young actors. Zegers starred alongside Samaire Armstrong in the 2006 romantic comedy It's a Boy/Girl Thing.

Read more...