Channing Tatum became one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Biography

“If you let go of the idea of doing something right, you can learn so much by doing something wrong.”

Channing Tatum, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, has gained recognition and admiration across the globe for his contributions to cinema. Whilst his name may be synonymous with blockbuster hits and red-carpet appearances, Channing doesn’t define success by anything of the sort. To him success is measured very differently…

At school Channing struggled with reading. Really struggled. An ADHD and dyslexia diagnosis may have helped explain why he was finding things so challenging, but not wanting to look “stupid” made him tune out altogether. Despite this, Channing loved to learn. He just didn’t know it until he left the classroom.

Channing found himself thrust into the world of acting after landing a role as a DJ in a Pepsi commercial; having impressed at the audition with his dance moves. No acting experience, but eager to learn. From there he took his first acting workshop, and his lifelong learning journey began.

Channing’s rise in Hollywood was not without its challenges. Like any aspiring actor, he faced his fair share of rejection and setbacks. But importantly he was ok with that. He embraced the philosophy that it’s ok to fail and approached each setback as an opportunity for growth and self-development.

So be reminded that success is not defined by lack of failure, but by our ability to learn from it. Learn from mistakes. Keep pushing forward. You’ve got this.

Topics in this film

Environmental influence: The role of family, friends and hometown influences on developing character growing up.
The education system: How the structure of the education system can leave some students feeling anxious, not good enough, and unmotivated to even try. For Channing, his struggles with ADHD and dyslexia meant conventional learning in a classroom was challenging.
Lifelong learning: The importance of finding what it is you like to learn and how you learn best.
Taking a chance: How it can be good to try something completely new and out of your comfort zone.
Education outside the classroom: Education can come in many forms. For Channing he learnt a lot from travelling, from meeting new people and from acting workshops.
Coping with rejection: Why it’s important accept the ‘no’s’ and focus on the experience rather than needing to secure the job each time.
Being truthful to yourself: Not trying to imitate how someone else would do something but instead remaining truthful to how you would do something.
Embracing the experience: Taking what you can from each and every opportunity you are offered.
Learning from failure: Understanding that you can potentially learn much more from a failure than you can a win and if you embrace this you will continue to develop and get better.
Confidence and self-belief: The importance of these attributes in putting yourself forward and going for your goal.

Transcript

Channing Tatum – video transcript

I was born in Alabama, raised in Mississippi and in Florida. All my extended family was like really kind of country folk, Alabama. As soon as the sun come up, I'd be out in the woods or running around the neighbourhood, playing football or doing something and, you know, trying to not go to school as much as I possibly could.

The way that schools are, you know, sort of structured are very geared towards kids that can read really well. And I couldn't read very well. They, man, they did all kinds of tests.

They kind of settled, at that time, on ADHD and dyslexia, and put me on medication, which definitely helped, but it was a struggle like, you know, it would, it would really work for a little while. I would get really, really good in school but it kind of would suck the life out of me in some regard. I was always the kid that, you know, when you do a test, and everybody's sitting and taking the test, you would just start to have anxiety, as people would start to stand up and go turn in their test, and you realise that you're not even through half of it yet.

Because you don't want to look or feel stupid, you even become more stupid in a way, like you just become petulant and you're just like, well, I'm not good at this anyway, so I'm just really not even going to try. And I think that was a bit of my, like, mindset on it.

And then after school, I really realised how much I actually liked to learn. I just liked to learn what I liked to learn and not what people were teaching me. I didn't really have any dreams for college as far as like what I was going to study. I just figured I'd get there, start taking classes until I kind of got lit up by something, and within the first like week of just like my classes, I knew that I wasn't going to keep going. I was almost just having like a panic attack. I was just like, I can't do this.

So for the next like year, I had all different types of jobs. I was a stripper, danced at a nightclub, worked at a mortgage company, but I just couldn't quite find something there. I was like partying too much, and so I decided, I was like, all right, I'm going to leave, and I'm going to go to like more of a metropolis.

So I went down to Miami, and someone saw me on the street and they were like, "Do you have representation?" And I was like, "For what?" You know, I didn't, I didn't feel like it was for a job the guy was asking about. He was a NEWfaces Agent. He was kind of a shady guy, but it got my interest up. And then after that for the next two and a half years, I just was a model. There was an opportunity, and I just like walked through the door to see what it was, and it took me all around the world.

I think that travelling and getting to meet people was my real education in this world. I was in New York, and I got a call from my modelling agent saying, "Hey, you can scratch right?" I was like, "DJing?" And I was like, "No." And he's like, "Oh, I don't know what they're wanting, just go over to this audition." And it was a Pepsi commercial, it was like a big, a big job.

So I went over and like, as soon as I walk in, I'm like recognising certain DJs. They're like legit, like DJs, and I'm like, I do not need to be here. And I was about to leave and the lady's like, "What's your name? Are you going to audition?" And I ended up going up and just putting the record on and not doing anything other than dancing behind the tables and acting like I'm scratching. And then I was like, all right, sufficiently embarrassed myself here, I'm out. I gave the record back, and in like three weeks I had gotten the job somehow. I guess the dancing of it all worked out for me. And that was my first introduction to acting.

I was on the phone with my agent as soon as I got back and I was just like, what do I do? How do I do this? He found an acting, just like, workshop for me to go to, Deena Levy's acting workshop. And I went there, and she was such a motherly, kind of just loving person. It was like a perfect introduction to what acting was. In the first like 10 minutes, I think I was like crying and doing this exercise, and I was like, this is the first thing that I get to learn that I, it's not learning. It's like, this is pure, indulgent and fun, and I just couldn't get enough of it. And then I think, you know, I ended up coming out to LA very shortly after that, probably about six months after I took my first acting workshop.

Early, especially in my career, you just get 'no’s'. I mean, you kind of know this about acting now, like if you want to be an actor, you're going to get 99 billion 'no’s', and you want that one 'yes'. But still that puts in the idea, I think in a young actor's mind that you need to get the job, everything was hanging on that. I would go in and I would try to just do it right. I would try to just be as right as I possibly could on the material, and there is no such thing as right, in my opinion, in acting, it's all subjective. It's just how truthful are you? There's no right way to do it. You would do a scene differently than I would do it, but that's truthful for you, and that's correct as well.

There was this one audition that even my coach now, Nancy Banks, we always bring it back to this one moment. And there was an audition for 'No Country for Old Men', the Coen brothers, two of my favourite directors of all time. And I was like, just get me an audition. I know I'm not right for the part, but I knew if I got to sit in front of them, that I would be a better actor when I left the room. It was just such a different experience than going in and being like, I have to get this, and it just, something clicked. I looked at every single part, whether I thought I could get it or not, I don't need a result here, I don't need success here. The only success is going in and having that moment, the same moment that I had with the Coens of just listening.

You know, you do a movie, and you have a big opening weekend, people will be like, "Oh, you're successful." To me, that doesn't make sense. Success means that you've learned something, and you can learn something from failure almost more than, than like a, like a win. And it's tough, it's easy to say. It's easy to say to like, let go of result. You have to have a certain amount of confidence, but if you let go of the idea of doing something right, you can learn so much by doing something wrong, and you'll get closer to like what you're being asked to do.

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Channing Tatum became one of Hollywood's most recognised actors following his breakout role in Step Up (2006).

His subsequent films, including his leading performance in Magic Mike (2012), have made him one of the world's biggest box office stars.

He continues to engage audiences worldwide, as an actor, dancer and producer.