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In Transamerica (released 24 March) Kevin Zegers plays a queer drug-addled street hustler called Toby who dreams of meeting the father he never knew. Banged up in jail on drugs charges he’s surprised when an uptight stranger called Bree, played by Desperate Housewives’ star Felicity Huffman, pays his bail.

Bree is actually a male-to-female transsexual a week away from her re-assignment surgery – and Toby’s biological father. They embark on a comical buddy road trip and discover they have more in common than just DNA.

Totty Watch wonders how the pretty boy child star with record-breaking biceps tapped into the life led by a gay male prostitute.

Name
Kevin Joseph Zegers (nickname Ziggy).

Vitals
Born 19 September 1984 in Ontario, Canada.

From Hustler to Heartthrob
Kevin was desperate to make the transition from playing second fiddle to a basketball-playing golden retriever in films like Air Bud to serious thesp in more meaningful roles. Transamerica director Duncan Tucker told Out magazine, “I took one look at Kevin in jeans and tight T-shirt and messed-up hair, and I thought, No way in hell. This guy is ridiculously good-looking.”

We couldn’t agree more and the initially reluctant Tucker was soon won over by Kevin’s dedication and deep blue eyes. He made an audition tape and says, “I tried to make myself a bit dirtier. I got stoned in my basement and drew dark circles under my eyes and greased my hair up.”

It wasn’t as difficult as we might think for Kevin to get into the mindset of a heroin dabbling hustler either.

He says, “I would go out at 18 or 19 and pretend to be a different person all the time. I just didn’t know what it was that people – if they did like me – liked about me. I hadn’t really lived much life other than working on sets. So in a lot of ways, as stupid and irrational as it sounded, I think I understood the way that Toby felt.”

When Kevin got the part he stopped pumping iron down the gym, lost some weight and hung out in bars talking to hustlers and johns for his research. “It was all much more civilized than I imagined it to be. These were guys in business suits that were on their way home to see their wives and families. That shocked me.”

“Transamerica is the one I’m proudest of,” Kevin told the London (Ontario) Free Press. “Unlike a lot of other movies, Transamerica has something to say,” adds Kevin. “It’s a road picture about a transsexual and a street hustler, these two troubled people who find each and both really need someone to love them.”

Bench Press Buff
When Kevin isn’t playing an emaciated heroin user he’s devoted to pumping up his muscles. At 14 he only weighed around 125 pounds, but by the age of 17 Kevin was lifting a massive 285lbs in bench press and an unbelievable 400 pounds in leg squats! During his training for The Incredible Mrs Ritchie he bench-pressed 315lbs and each of his arms measured a body crunching 16 inches!
 
Baby’s Got Blue Eyes
None other than the Rocket Man himself – Elton John – has also spotted the gorgeous ones potential. Seems Kevin has acquired a taste for gender swapping roles and will next appear in a body-switching romantic comedy called It’s a Boy Girl Thing produced by Elton and David Furnish and written by Geoff Kinky Boots Deane. When Kevin wakes up in the body of his next-door neighbour, the sworn enemies set about trying to ruin each other’s high school reputation.

Availability
Up until a few weeks ago Kevin was living with actress Marisa Couglin from US courtroom drama Boston Legal. They’ve recently split and according to Yahoo News Kevin’s new best friend Sir Elton has promised to set him up on a blind date with actress Sienna Miller.

Kevin confirms that the flamboyant one is playing cupid and says, “Elton John is setting us up. I’ve never been set up before. I’m psyched. If she likes me, I know I’ll definitely like her back!” Bless his little cotton socks. We doubt he has much to worry about!

Give me more
Yes he was a child star but he's all grown up in these lovely pics!