Create a checklist consisting of the ideal features of a Teen Beat icon, and, chances are, the results would practically scream the name Kip Pardue. With an Ivy-league education, a successful career as a model and athlete, and an acting career that took off at hyper-speed, the fiercely independent young actor has adoring young female fans putting up web-shrines faster than you can say "newest teen icon superstar" three times fast.
Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, Pardue attended Dunwoody High School before putting himself through Yale and hitting the gridiron at the prestigious college. Playing football until his senior year, Pardue opted for a stint in modeling on the home stretch in order to better finance his education. Posing for such fashion icons as Armani and Ralph Lauren, Pardue soon caught the eye of filmmakers and received his first film role in the independent, sexual identity crisis satire But I'm a Cheerleader (1999). After a small role in the pilot of Popular and an appearance on 7th Heaven, Pardue returned to the gridiron with Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans (2001) before taking a starring turn and hitting the tracks with Sylvester Stallone in Driven (2001). Keeping up the momentum that same year alongside Leelee Sobieski in The Glass House, Pardue also turned up in Rat in a Can that same year before looking forward to 2002 with Vaccums.
