Christian Slater
His mother is Hollywood casting director Mary Jo Slater, who gave her Star Trek-obsessed son a cameo role in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). His father is the English actor Michael Hawkins.
Educated at the Dalton School, New York; the Professional Children’s School, New York; and the School of Performing Arts, New York.
After a start in 1976 in his TV debut on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, he undertook stage work including a 1980 stage debut opposite Dick Van Dyke in touring revival of "The Music Man". He made his big screen debut in 1985 in the film "The Legend of Billie Jean". He has since gone on to acclaim in both film and stage roles.
He has a well tabloid publicised record of alcohol and drug abuse, and a series of high profile female relationships. In 2000, he persuaded long term girlfriend Ryan Haddon (daughter of Dayle Haddon) that his past was behind him, and they married - the couple have two children, but are presently separated and in negotiations over their divorce - partly due to Haddon’s assult on Slater, partly due to Haddon’s dislike of London, mostly due to Slater’s return to his previous partying lifestyle and lap dance clubs.
In recent years Slater has gone from being a box-office leading man, to starring in direct-to-video films and other low-budget projects. In 2004 he decided to return to the stage, and played in Randle P McMurphy in the play One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Edinburgh Fringe. He twice contracted chicken pox, delaying the show’s opening. While continuing to appear in this play in London’s West End, Slater was asked to play the role of John Watson aka Wonko the Sane for the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish, produced by Above the Title Productions.
