Cam Gigandet

Cam Gigandet spent most of the 2000s being hired to be the problem. Born in Washington state, he played the fighter Ryan McCarthy in Never Back Down and then the tracker vampire James in Twilight, both in 2008, and the two roles brought him a shared MTV Movie Award in each of those years [12] [13]. In 2026 he is 44 and still working steadily, mostly in action and thriller films [2].

Early life in Washington

Cam Joslin Gigandet was born on 16 August 1982 in Tacoma, Washington [2] [8]. TV Overmind says he is the first of two children and that his father is a business owner who co-owns a chain of pizza restaurants [7]. Martin Cid Magazine describes it slightly differently: his father helped build a pizza franchise, and the family was oriented almost entirely around sports [8]. As a boy he was expected to become an athlete, and he went to Auburn Senior High School [7].

In 2001 he moved to California for college [7]. Martin Cid Magazine adds that after high school he went to Los Angeles and took an acting class on impulse, which changed his direction [8]. TV Overmind says his parents supported him emotionally and financially after the move [7]. We found no interview in which Gigandet himself tells this part of the story, so the details come from profiles.

How he got his break

His first professional credit was a guest role as Mark Young in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2003 [2] [8]. The next step was television drama. He played Kevin Volchok, a recurring antagonist in the later seasons of The O.C. [8]. TMDB's biography says he won the part in 2006, while its credit list dates the role to 2005, so the exact year is not settled [2].

Film came in 2008. In Never Back Down he played Ryan McCarthy, the antagonist, and trained down to a very low body-fat percentage for the part [8]. The film's lead fight, Sean Faris against Gigandet, won Best Fight at the MTV Movie Awards held in Los Angeles on 1 June 2008 [12] [11]. TMDB also lists a "One to Watch" award from the 2008 Young Hollywood Awards [2].

Twilight and James

In a December 2008 interview with Movies.ie, then aged 26, Gigandet said he had read Twilight while still filming Never Back Down: "My girlfriend gave me her copy and kept saying, 'You just have to read it'" [1]. The film came from the same producers, and he heard from the studio about six months later [1]. The interviewer notes he had first been cast as Edward's brother Emmett Cullen but ended up as James. Gigandet's answer was direct: "from the first time I read the book, I knew I wanted to be James" [1].

The shoot was short for him. The film was shot over about ten weeks, but he worked only the first three, so his scenes were packed into a tight window [1]. He called Catherine Hardwicke, the director, tough but energetic [1]. The role was physical: he had never done wire work, and one of his first days was the ballet-studio fight, which he described as being thrown in the deep end. Never Back Down, he said, was good preparation, but Twilight had to be taken to the next level [1].

The part earned him a second Best Fight award, shared with Robert Pattinson, at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards [13]. He returned only as archive footage in The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009 [2]. In the same Movies.ie interview he also mentioned shooting The Unborn with Odette Yustman and Gary Oldman, and Pandorum in Berlin, his first trip to Europe, with scenes alongside Dennis Quaid [1].

Career timeline

• 2003: first credit, a guest role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation [2].
• 2006: cast as Kevin Volchok on The O.C. per TMDB's biography [2].
• 2008: Never Back Down and Twilight [2].
• 2010 and 2011: Easy A, Burlesque, The Roommate, Priest and Trespass [2].
• 2012: the lead role of Stunner in Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden [9].
• 2014: a busy year with Reckless (television), Bad Johnson, Red Sky, In the Blood, 4 Minute Mile and Nanny Cam [9].
• 2016: The Magnificent Seven and the recurring role of Jake Green on Ice, which ran through 2018 across 20 episodes [9].
• 2021 and 2022: Tom Clancy's Without Remorse and Violent Night [2].
• 2025: Desert Dawn and Love Hurts [2].

Early on he mostly played villains, which TV Overmind says may have led to typecasting, and it argues he has since shown more range across genres [7].

Best-known work

Year	Title	Role
2003	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV)	Mark Young [2]
2006	The O.C. (TV)	Kevin Volchok [2]
2008	Never Back Down	Ryan McCarthy [2]
2008	Twilight	James [2]
2009	The Unborn	Mark Hardigan [2]
2009	Pandorum	Gallo [2]
2010	Easy A	Micah [2]
2010	Burlesque	Jack Miller [2]
2011	The Roommate	Stephen [2]
2011	Priest	Hicks [2]
2011	Trespass	Jonah Collins [2]
2012	Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden	Stunner [2]
2014	Reckless (TV)	Roy Rayder [2]
2016	The Magnificent Seven	McCann [2]
2016	Ice (TV)	Jake Green [2]
2021	Tom Clancy's Without Remorse	Keith Webb [2]
2022	Violent Night	Morgan Steel [2]
2025	Desert Dawn	John Sites [2]
2025	Love Hurts	Renny Merlo [2]

TMDB gives the year of The O.C. as 2005 in this list; we show 2006 following its biography text. Martin Cid Magazine names the Magnificent Seven role differently from TMDB, so we follow TMDB [8].

Awards

• MTV Movie Award for Best Fight, 2008, shared with Sean Faris, for Never Back Down [12] [11].
• MTV Movie Award for Best Fight, 2009, shared with Robert Pattinson, for Twilight [13].
• Young Hollywood Awards, "One to Watch", 2008, according to TMDB [2].

Relationships

Gigandet married the actress Dominique Geisendorff, described by Entertainment Tonight as his wife of 13 years when she filed for divorce [3]. Entertainment Tonight and In Touch both give the wedding as November 2008 [3] [4]. A February 2013 CBS News report still called her his fiancée, so the sources do not line up neatly on the wedding date [6]. Martin Cid Magazine says the marriage lasted sixteen years, which does not match the 13 years the other two report [8].

She filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in August 2022, citing irreconcilable differences and giving 1 May as the date of separation, and asked for joint legal and physical custody [3]. According to court documents reported by In Touch in July 2024, the court approved a settlement and declared them single on 11 July 2024, with joint legal and physical custody of the children [4].

The couple have three children: Everleigh, Rekker and Armie [3] [4]. They were 13, 9 and 6 in August 2022 [3]. CBS News reported Rekker's birth, as the couple's second child, in February 2013, and said the actor's older daughter was then three [6].

Gigandet's current relationship is with the actress Hannah James. Us Weekly reports that he revealed it in January 2023 and announced in September 2024 that they were expecting a child [5]. Their son, Dare Wylder James Gigandet, was shown in a photo James posted on 2 January [5]. Martin Cid Magazine places the birth in October 2024 and counts him as Gigandet's fourth child [8].

In September 2025 Us Weekly, citing court filings, reported that his ex-wife said they had shared custody 50/50 until he moved to Texas on 2 May. A Los Angeles judge ordered him on 27 August 2025 to pay $4,626 a month in temporary child support, and Gigandet joined that hearing by video. The report did not include a response from him [5]. Martin Cid Magazine also says he has moved to Texas [8].

What he is doing now

Desert Dawn reunited him with Kellan Lutz, who also appeared in Twilight. Deadline reported in September 2023 that Lutz plays a newly appointed small-town sheriff and Gigandet his reluctant deputy, with Marty Murray directing and filming starting in Nevada [10]. TMDB lists it as a 2025 title, along with Love Hurts in the same year [2].

TMDB also lists three 2026 titles, The Tower, Boris Is Dead and On the Hunt, and an earlier Deadly Games [2]. Martin Cid Magazine lists Violent Night 2, scheduled for December 2026, among his upcoming projects and says Complex Texas has been completed [8]. It does not say what his role in the sequel is, and we have not found a second source, so treat the release date as unconfirmed.

Net worth

Several tracking sites publish figures for his net worth, but we found no estimate from a named outlet with a date, so we do not give one. The one financial detail on record is that his 2024 divorce settlement was reported from court papers, and those figures describe income and debts, not wealth [4].