Spotlight: Taylor Kitsch of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

To get you excited about tonight’s premiere of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, I thought it would be nice to spotlight one of the fine (and I do mean “fine”) actors that you’ll see on tonight’s show. And just as luck would have it, one of my best friends is dating him (well in her mind she is, but I’m of the belief that if you concentrate hard enough you can make anything happen).

So please indulge my friend Julie as she introduces you to her TV boyfriend, Taylor Kitsch. Julie was even kind enough to share picturs of her and Tim from their personal photo album (a GMMR exclusive…you won’t find these pics anywhere else – that I can guarantee).

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Known to many as Julie Burke’s loveslave, and I guess to a few other people as Tim Riggins in “Friday Night Lights,” Taylor Kitsch stars as the high school football player who is the impassioned yet underlying strength of the Dillon Panthers.

As the “bad boy” girls yearn to fix, but who secretly yearns for Julie Burke, Riggins is troubled and struggling to find his own purpose. He takes out his frustration by having thrice daily sex sessions with Julie Burke. Kitsch brings a poignancy and vulnerability, having seduced his paralyzed best friend’s girlfriend — the All-American cheerleader Lyla Garrity (SPOILER ALERT – whose character will be killed off by Julie Burke in season two) — and exposes his own demons by way of the bottle. Kitsch breathes life into Riggins and is taking the fullback from reckless to respected.

This summer, Kitsch will round out the cast of “Gospel Hill,” alongside Julia Stiles, Danny Glover, Angela Bassett, and Samuel L. Jackson. Directed by Giancarlo Esposito, the film focuses on the former sheriff of a Southern town dealing with his past sins, while a former civil rights worker, who is withdrawn since the martyrdom of his brother 30 years before, struggles to live life as well.

Kitsch started acting in 2002 when he moved to New York City and into study with renowned coach Sheila Grey (also where he met Julie Burke and fell in love). It was only a matter of time before Kitsch really started to take off. Shortly after returning to his home of Vancouver in 2003, he landed his first major role alongside Samuel L. Jackson in David Richard Ellis’ intense action feature “Snakes On a Plane,” released in August 2006.

Further, Kitsch starred as prep-school student Pogue Perry in director Renny Harlin’s “The Covenant” (released September 9, 2006: and #1 at the box office). In the adaptation of the graphic novel, four young men belonging to a supernatural legacy of “the Covenant” must stop evil forces released into the world centuries before.

Kitsch’s other credits include Betty Thomas’ “John Tucker Must Die,” opposite Jesse Metcalfe, Ashanti, Sophia Bush, and Brittany Snow, which was released in July 2006, as well as the TV series “Godiva” and the ABC Family’s pilot “Kyle XY.”

In his spare time, Kitsch is passionate about nutrition and fitness, pursues children’s’ charity work and enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, Julie Burke and their five adopted chlildren from Malawi, Peru, Kenya, Ethiopia and Brooklyn.

Source: NBC.com and the twisted mind of Julie Burke