Welcome To the Three-0 Show

Here's a little something to ease the transition for people going the 20s to 30s transitions doldrums. Going from a 20-something to a 30-something can be a psychologically daunting transition for some. While the milestone puts people nowhere near bucket-list territory the occasion is still steeped in mortal significance. When the historic threshold is crossed suddenly you're old enough to obsess over grey hairs, career advancement, RRSP options, diminishing partying stamina, and whether or not listening to Snoop Dogg is still hip. Don't cloud up your grey matter with all that adulthood triggered anxiety. We ring in #30 by banging out a list of cool dudes and dudettes who have breached the tré decade mark and are living larger than ever.

Matt Damon, 37
2007's Sexiest Man Alive does it all: action (Jason Bourne), Ratpacking (Oceans 11-13) and he can even play the bad guy (The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Departed). Since Bourne Ultimatum raked in $442.7 million worldwide, demand for Damon's services has never been higher. In 2009 the Oscar winner (Good Will Hunting) will play a whistleblower at an agri-business in Steven Soderbergh's The Informant, the skipper of South Africa's national Rugby squad in Clint Eastwood's post-apartheid epic The Human Factor, and a CIA agent in Baghdad-thriller Green Zone. Rumors are also swirling that a fourth edition of the Bourne franchise is in the works. Meanwhile on the home front Damon and wife Luciana, 32, are expecting their second child.

Christian Bale, 34
This Welsh master of the moody gaze launched his career with a doozie, at just 13 years old, landing the lead in Stephen Stephen Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). The epic WWII yarn based on JG Ballard's autobiographical novel is about an English boy separated from his parents and stranded in Japanese occupied China. As all child actors who manage to stay in the game do, he blew up again after suiting up for Batman Begins (2005). Watch for him in The Dark Knight this July opposite the late Heath Ledger who plays Joker. Bale will be back in summer blockbuster mode again next summer playing John Connor in the fourth edition of the Terminator saga.

Tiger Woods, 32
Since Tiger Woods made the turn (the swoosh-meister is now 32), he's only grown more dominant and on the torrid pace he's blazing, Woods should surpass Nicklaus' record 18 majors and achieve a dozen other major golf accolades within the next few years. For those still waiting for the next Tiger Woods to step up to the tee, you're still five or six years too early. Tiger's best tales have yet to be written. Golfers take longer to reach their prime than other athletes. Remember, Arnold Palmer won six of his seven major championships in his 30s.

Jack Black, 38
The pudgy comic with the devilish grin is at this best when he's hamming it up as an unhinged misfit: whether he's rocking harder than Satan (Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny), shaping young minds (School of Rock) or getting his booty pounded as a Mexican monk moonlighting as a luchadore (Nacho Libre). His next big gig is the Kung Fu Panda, where he voices Po, the roly-poly lead in the animated Dreamworks production. It hits theatres in June.

Eva Mendes, 35
The curvy Cuban-American starlet parlayed exposure as a video vixen in Will Smith's "Miami" and Aerosmith's "Hole in My Soul" into roles in A Night at the Roxbury, Training Day, and 2 Fast 2 Furious. In recent years Mendes has elevated her game playing opposite Nic Cage (Ghost Rider) and Joaquin Phoenix (We Own the Night), and leads an all-star all-female cast in a remake of George Cukor's 1939 film The Women out in October.

Kate Beckinsale, 34
The Oxford educated actress has a salty streak in her. Early in her career following a spat with a director over what she deemed to be a gratuitous nude scene, Beckinsale allegedly took a leak into his thermos of tea. Whether vamping it and kicking arse in Underworld and Van Helsing or playing more serious roles in Pearl Harbor and The Aviator Beckinsale is a venerable scene stealer. Next on the docket for Kate is Winged Creatures, based on the Roy Freirich novel.

Rachel McAdams, 31
The Canadian actress catapulted into teen consciousness after starring opposite Rob Schneider in the 2002 gender bender "The Hot Chick", McAdams resume soon ballooned with a bevy of popcorn munchers in Mean Girls, The Notebook , Wedding Crashers, and Red Eye. Lately she's expanding the demographics of her fanbase by sinking her teeth into more meaty roles. She co-stars with Tim Robbins as a soldier returning home after a tour of duty in Iraq in The Lucky Ones set for a late summer release.

Sacha Baron Cohen, 36
Can the ballsiest man in comedy top Borat? He'll give it a go with Brüno (coming out this Oct), another campy pseudo-documentary based on a character he developed for The Ali G Show. This one features a fearlessly flamboyant Austrian fashionista and is sure to elicit plenty of over the top yuks. Hopefully there is less naked wrestling in this time around. One of Hollywood's hottest commodities, Cohen's future projects include movies attached to Stephen Spielberg and Tina Fey. In one word: Niiice!

Martin Brodeur, 36
Good things happen in threes to New Jersey's badass puck-stopper. Over his 14-year tenure with the Devils he's captured a trio of Vezina Trophies (2003, 2004, 2007), led the team to Stanley Cup Glory thrice (1995, 2000, 2003), and in his last Cup final shutout Anaheim three times. The last man to post three blank jobs in the Cup Finals was the Maple Leaf's Frank McCool who strung them consecutively to kickstart the 1945 Stanley Cup Finals against the Red Wings. Marty shows no signs of slowing down and should easily surpass Patrick Roy all-time win mark and Terry Sawchuck's record 103-shutout mark.

Giada De Laurentiis, 37
While some prefer the soda pop sweetness of Rachel Ray, co-Food Network host Giada de Laurentiis offers the sophisticated bubble of Italian Prosecco. The sparkling-eyed host of Everyday Italian and Giada's Weekend Getaways is the granddaughter of movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis (Barbarella, Hannibal). She studied at the prestigious Parisian culinary school Le Cordon Bleu. After coming back to Los Angeles Laurentiis' first cooking job was as a personal chef for Ron Howard. Her career didn't really start sizzling until after she hit 30 when a spread in Food & Wine on lunch with the De Laurentiis family caught the eye of a Food Network exec.

Sergey Brin, 34 & Larry Page, 35
The kings of search met while studying computer science at Stanford. They dropped out of school, took Google live in 1998 and raised $25 million in venture capital. Six years later the mighty GOOG went public and quickly surged 400% ballooning each of the duo's net worth into the eleven-figure stratosphere. Deep pockets has allowed Google to stretch their online footprint by gobbling hot companies like YouTube for $1.65 billion to creating killer apps like the eye-popping aerial head trip that is Google Earth.

Ryan Reynolds, 31
Soon after moving to L.A., Reynolds landed the sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. The recognition from that show led to sophomoric romps like Van Wilder and Blade: Trinity. But it's only in the last couple years that this Vancouverite came into his own as an actor. More mature recent film choices like Definitely Maybe, a romantic comedy which weaves in a mystery twist, and Fireflies in the Garden, an adult drama about a dysfunctional family with a star-jammed cast including Julia Roberts, Willem Dafoe and Carrie-Anne Moss, hint at what is in store for Reynolds in his next decade as a actor.

This Story first ran in the May issue of Chill Magazine

Copyright © Mike Dojc 2008