JAMES MARSTERS

'James Wesley Marsters' (born August 20, 1962) is an American actor and musician, best known for playing the popular platinum-blond character Spike, an English yob of a vampire, in the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and its spinoff series, ''Angel''.

Contents

Early life

Career

Marsters as "Spike"

Other work

Musical career

References

External links

Early life

He was born in Greenville, California, and grew up with his brother and sister in Modesto, California. Dreaming about becoming an actor since he played Eeyore in ''Winnie the Pooh'' in fourth grade, James joined the theater group at Davis High School, acting in many plays including musicals. After graduation, Marsters studied at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, 1980–1982, and Juilliard Drama School, 1982–1984.
In an appearance on the ''Loveline'' radio show in early 2003 he spoke very negatively about the school and his experience at Juilliard, which he was "basically kicked out of", saying that they were not concerned about being entertaining and that it "wasn't an acting school, it was a speech school". However Marsters also made sure to emphasize that they were great when it comes to dance and music.

Career

Marsters moved to Chicago where his first professional acting role was Ferdinand in ''The Tempest'' at the Goodman Theatre in 1987. In this production, he was rolled onto the stage strapped naked to a wheel. He also appeared with well-known Chicago companies such as the Northlight and the Bailiwick and with his own group, the Genesis Theatre Company. Marsters was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for his performance of the lead role of Robespierre in the six-hour drama ''Incorruptible: The Life, Death and Dreams of Maximilian de Robespierre'' in 1989.
In 1990, Marsters moved to Seattle and, with Liane Davidson and Greg Musick, formed the New Mercury Theatre, named after Orson Welles' own theatre group. In this and other companies, Marsters was involved in a wide range of plays, including ''Teechers'' (a British play by John Godber), Anouilh's ''Antigone'', an original work based on the Dr. Seuss books, and Shaw's ''Misalliance.''
In 1992, Marsters got his first acting job on TV—on ''Northern Exposure'', a show that was shot near Seattle, in which he appeared for a single episode as a church minister. He has made guest appearances on television series such as ''Andromeda'', as well as the independent films ''Chance'' (2002), ''Winding Roads'' (1999), and the 2005 USA Network movie ''Cool Money''. During November 2005, Marsters filmed a thriller, ''Shadow Puppets'', with Jolene Blalock.

Marsters as "Spike"

It was his notable and acclaimed appearance as Spike on the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (first appearing in Season Two) that attracted the attention of the general public. The immediate fan response prevented his character from being killed off, instead allowing him to enjoy a pivotal presence throughout the series. Spike became a regular in Season Four, and remained so until the show's finale. After the conclusion of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Marsters carried the infamous Spike over to the Buffy spinoff show, ''Angel'', also in a regular role (second title billing after David Boreanaz, the titular "Angel").
As for where he got the inspiration for Spike's English accent, Marsters said it was from his co-star, Anthony Stewart Head. Head—who was born in Camden Town—affects a light, Received Pronunciation accent as Giles; he has a deeper, more notably London accent when not in character.

Other work

Marsters has also narrated the audiobooks for ''The Dresden Files'' produced by Buzzy Multimedia, a series of detective novels with a supernatural bent. The third audio in the series, ''Grave Peril''^[1], was released in March of 2005 and Marsters is contracted to narrate the fourth in the series, ''Summer Knight'', in 2006. Marsters has also been confirmed to voice Lex Luthor in the upcoming animated movie ''.
In late 2005, Marsters appeared on the television series ''Smallville'' playing Dr. Milton Fine (a.k.a. Brainiac) in episodes 1 ("Arrival"), 4 ("Aqua"), 5 ("Thirst"), 7 ("Splinter"), 8 ("Solitude"), 16 ("Hypnotic"), 21 ("Oracle"), and 22 ("Vessel").

On October 29, 2005, Marsters presented two performances of his own abridged adaptation of Shakespeare's ''Macbeth'' with American actress Cheryl Puente as Lady Macbeth, followed by question and answer sessions with the audience and acoustic concerts in London.
In September, 2006, Marsters' own interpretation of Godber's ''Teechers'' was performed on stage with two other actors in Los Angeles. This is a play he had received critical acclaim for as a stage actor prior to his television work.
On September 22, 2006 it was announced that Marsters is contracted to co-star in the 2008 cinematic release of ''P.S. I Love You'' alongside Kathy Bates, Hilary Swank, and Gerard Butler. ^[2]
On 19 June 2007, he confirmed on his website that he will be starring alongside John Barrowman in an episode of the second series of the ''Doctor Who'' spin-off ''Torchwood''^[3][4].
On 15 August 2007, Marsters revealed on his website that he is joining the cast of CBS drama ''Without A Trace'' as Detective Mars, a recurring role with the possibility of becoming contract.

Musical career

Marsters had played in bands and solo in bars and clubs for many years and enjoyed several successful sell-out solo gigs at Los Angeles clubs before forming a band. For these solo gigs he mainly performed covers of classic folk and rock musicians such as Tom Waits, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen. He sang several songs in "Once More, with Feeling", a musical episode of ''Buffy''. "Rest in Peace", "Walk Through the Fire", and "Something To Sing About" all featured Marsters singing in a solo capacity, and he participated in most of the full-cast songs.

In 2003–2004, Marsters was the lead singer for the rock band Ghost of the Robot. Their debut album ''Mad Brilliant'' was released on February 2, 2003. The band played its first gigs in Los Angeles and Paris. They went on to play successful dates in and around Los Angeles and two sold-out tours of Europe in 2003 and 2004. In addition to ''Mad Brilliant'', they released three singles ("Valerie", "David Letterman" and "New Man") and one mid-length EP, ''It's Nothing''. All these releases carried tracks written and co-written by Marsters.
Marsters' solo musical career was launched in October 2004, in London. His solo acoustic tour of the United Kingdom in April 2005 sold outJames Marsters Live. A new solo album ''Civilized Man'' was released on April 15, 2005. It includes several new songs as well as the popular "Katie" and "Smile". He has played songs from the album live in Detroit, Houston, Sacramento. Ten of the eleven songs are written by Marsters.
New solo songs not included on the album but sung at live solo concerts include "Birth of the Blues", "Finer than Gold", "Lou", and "London City". "Finer than Gold", "London City", and "Lou" were composed while on tour in the UK in April 2005. "Birth of the Blues" was composed by Marsters in Amsterdam in 2004 while touring with his now-defunct band.
During his October 2005 mini-tour of the UK, Marsters introduced other new songs to his sets: "Button Down Vandals", "Up On Me", and "All That She Wanted". These songs are available only as part of his recently released ''Words and Music'' DVD, which has his abridged version of ''Macbeth'' as well as a full-length solo music performance.
During his September 2006 convention, James Marsters & Friends , Marsters debuted several new songs including "The Truth Is Heavy", "Fall of Night", "Jealous Man", "Too Fast", and "Not A Millionaire". All these songs reflect his new blues and folk sound.
He also performed a cover version of Keb Mo's classic "Baby Blue".

References

1. Buzzy Multimedia
2. Marsters at IMDB
3. Daffodils, Dragons and Demons
4. James Marsters in Torchwood

External links

★

★ James Marsters Official Site

★ Fan site listings for Marsters at Open Directory Project