Born on May 13, 1977 in St. John's to parents Douglas and Sandra Ralph, Christopher Douglas Ralph had the typical childhood of many. He got along with younger brother Gregory, and did well in school. His best subject? English and reading. His worst? Math. Which, according to Chris, could be because of a childhood incident in which he spontaneously threw up on a math text book. While at I.J. Sampson Middle School, he got into sports playing on the volleyball and basketball teams, although he confesses that he never thought about going pro because he was "always a few inches smaller than the other kids who played."

It was during senior year at Prince of Wales Collegiate High School that he enrolled in a theater arts class. There his teacher, Tolson Barrington -- whom Chris is most grateful for his influence, put in him a student showcase where Chris read a monologue he wrote based on Bono from U2.

He dove into the college drama scene at Memorial University in Newfoundland. During the summers he could be found on stage at the Shakespeare by the Sea festival in plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, and The Breakfast Club.

At 19 he moved to Toronto (after a brief stop in Oakville) where he took odd jobs such as washing windows and paving driveways to pay the rent. At 20 he signed up with an agent and started auditioning for commercials, television and movies.

One of the auditions was for a new children's series, Animorphs, which he nailed. Chris admits that his stage experience hadn't quite prepared him for television. He describes his first few weeks on the set as "on the job training."

Not only did his stint on Animorphs hone his acting skills in front of a camera, it also changed his outlook on animals. Before the show, Chris admits that he wasn't much of an animal person, but all that has changed. He has even adopted a cat. " It's just a black cat with silver streaks over her eyes. Her name is Pepper. She's fantastic. I never used to like cats before -- in fact, I was even against them. I thought they were whiny animals, but I've totally turned around."

Although the series was cancelled in 1999 just after two seasons, Chris was just beginning. He appeared in the Scholastic series The Royal Diaries and made his big screen debut in the 2000 thriller Gossip. His talents with accents can be hear in the Showtime movie, Hendrix, based on the life of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix.

Shortly afterwards he returned to weekly television on the Disney Channel original series, In a Heartbeat, which reunited him with fellow Animorphs co-star Shawn Ashmore. Coincidentally, Chris also co-starred with Shawn's twin brother Aaron on the movie The Skulls II.

Chris has also done voice work on the Canadian series Monster by Mistake and currently be heard on the english version the basketball themed anime, Slam Dunk. He has also had recurring roles on the critically acclaimed CBC program, Our Hero, and Lifetime's 1-800-Missing and appeared in the drama Plain Truth.


Information on this page courtesy of Rich Caplan, Nicole Fortier and "Meet the Stars of Animorphs" by Marie Morreale and Randi Reisfeld.