The hot young star heads to the dark side in Dawn of the Dead.

By: Jeanne Wolf, Ocean Drive Magazine

April 2004

He has gone from Air Bud to buddying up with zombies. It's Kevin Zegers' dream - and the audience's nightmare, he hopes - that they totally scream and cover their eyes from fear during Dawn of the Dead. The handsome young actor joins a great cast in the thriller, including Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and Mekhi Phifer. It looks as if this remake of the cult classic, in which the dead won't die and hungry zombies roam the earth, will freak us out once again.

Kevin has been successful in acting since he was nine years old. He played Mikey, the younger version of Michael J. Fox's character, in Life With Mikey,and made a big impression as a strange child in The X-Files. No more kid parts for Kevin now, though: He's a hottie who's after a new range of roles, while the fans who've seen him on screen are after HIM.

Before we get into zombies, let's talk about women. Is one close in your life?
Not at the moment. I just parted company with Kaley Cuoco, who co-stars with me in The Hollow, which is kind of a modern take on "Sleepy Hollow" that hasn't been released yet.

Conventional Hollywood wisdom is that actors and actresses shouldn't get involved on a production.
I always heeded that advice because if something goes sour in the middle of a movie you still have to go to work with them every day. But Kaley and I didn't have that problem. She's a great girl, and even though we're not together anymore it all worked out until long after the movie was completed. We were both very mature about it. I wish her nothing but the best, and I love her to death. I would imagine she would say the same thing about me, but I'm not terribly sure.

What do you look for in a woman?
I'm more of an intelligence person. That gets me interested.

Oh, all you guys say that. You think i believe that for a minute?
Okay, I didn't actually used to look for that, but I've kind of turned over a new leaf in my life. I'm looking for that now. Come up with your A game in an intelligent conversation, that's all I desire in a woman at the moment.

What about funny?
Oh, yeah, 'cause I love to laugh.

Speaking of laughing, how did you keep a straight face surrounded by zombies in Dawn Of The Dead?
I've done a few films that called for prosthetics and creature makeup and stuff, but nothing like this one. We had, like, 150 zombies in some of the scenes, so eight or ten makeup trailers were full of actors getting made to look like the living dead. It was just so cute to see them wandering around. You're eating lunch with these folks and they're, like, talking to their kids on the phone and they're made up to look like they have their faces completely torn off, not to mention missing eyeballs. It's a funny thing to see.

Fortunately you don't play a zombie.
No. I'm a regular person. I'm like this scared-****less kid who doesn't know what's going on. I'm kind of the guy whom everyone pushes aside and ignores. Then I end up redeeming myself and becoming this supercool character at the end of the movie.

Would it be fair to say this movie has a pretty high gore factor?
I'm not gonna lie and say there's isn't a lot of bloody stuff, because that's why a lot of people are gonna go see it. By the end of it, like a lot of other people I'm covered in blood and have a big gash on my forehead. But we have an awesome cast with Ving Rhames, Sarah Polley, and Mekhi Phifer, so there are some great moments before all the action sort of takes over the film.

You started working at a young age and have been going pretty much nonstop ever since then. Do you feel you lost out on some of the fun growing up?
I haven't missed out on a childhood but maybe I've grown up a little faster than I would have if I had been at home. For a while I was thinking , Oh, I'm not for that high-school prom party or whatever. But I'm doing something that I love an getting paid for it. So what is missing? If I hadn't pursued my career I'd probably at college right now having homework every night or struggling fo rmoney. So, you know, I can't complain about anyting, and so when I hear some actors saying, 'I feel like I'm so missing out,' I think, that's bull****!

Ironically, you're getting more of a vacation than you had for along time, aren't you?
That's right. At the moment I'm not working on anything. I'm just going to auditions. The funny thing is I'm more uncomfortable with that than working. Over the last 11 years I've been doing three or four films a year. So having free time and going out and dating and just being a normal guy is a little uncomfortable for me. It feels weird. It has been a bit of an adjustment.

What do you do for fun?
I'm a golfer and a hockey player. And that's pretty much all I do. I play hockey about three or four times a week in this pickup league. I'm from Canada, and playing hockey is a prerequisite to living there. I also golf a lot.

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they play a game. What kind of golfer are you?
I am the most competitive person. Usually I'm super-nice, but when I play golf I rarely talk to people. I'm kind of focused on what I'm doing and have a bit of a hot temper.

You don't dare take women on golfing dates.
Actually, I've had a few, but we went to a driving range, which is a little more relaxed. I'm afraid if I took a girl out actually golfing that I would not want to talk to her, which is bad.