Spotlight on Chris Evans

In the current Hollywood goldfish bowl there are few young talents grabbing attention like Chris Evans. Literally burning it up at the moment, playing both a member of a team investigating the sun and reprising his role as a human flame, Evans is making huge leaps and, rather promisingly, is being touted as 'the new Tom Cruise'. Regardless of such high praise, this new talent still seems to have a level head as he continues to pursue his dream, as he muses: "I love movies, I think movies can strike a chord in a way that I don't think many things can."

His new Cruise-ster comparisons, which thankfully are not due to a loss of height or a new interest in Scientology, can be attributed to Evans' rugged charm, hands-on approach and rising action star status which have taken the silver screen by storm. Speaking of storm (and, while we're at it, silver) the man of the moment will soon return to the role that set his popularity alight, one Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch, in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Despite the enormity of the franchise, he refuses to get carried away: "At this point in my career I'm still trying to pay the rent. The fact is doing these type of big budget movies has enabled me to go to India for two weeks, or own a home I can come back to and go explore myself - so it's a means to an end."

Along with The Shield's Michael Chiklis, Evans was the first movie's standout as his young, cocksure-yet-likeable hothead stole many a scene and alerted the world to his presence. Before the second instalment is released though, Evans will take to the stars with Cillian Murphy to investigate the failure of the sun in Danny Boyle's new feature, Sunshine, which is clearly a part he loved. "It was a pleasure. It was a real treat not only to get that type of education in a short amount of time but doing a project that was so filled with passion."

Touted as "more NASA than Star Wars" the movie has shown Evans the meaning of preparation with the crew staying together in student digs for bonding purposes, watching classic sci-fi movies like Alien and 2001: Space Odyssey as research and even experiencing simulated zero gravity to achieve authenticity. While all this is true, Sunshine, according to Evans, is not another typical CGI-packed, blue-screen laden effects bonanza. "There wasn't a whole lot of special effects for us in Sunshine," he detailed. "Most of the special effects in this movie were done in post production. The majority of our scenes were on a set and it was very tangible, we had the entire set right there in front of us."

As well as all this, Evans can currently be heard voicing our favourite hockey-stick wielding vigilante Casey Jones in the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and is presently busier than Gordon Gecko at a stock-market convention. From strength to strength (a comparison to Ethan Hunt himself is no small achievement), Evans is a man of form and has a nice career in prospect. In fact, you could say, he's on fire.