James Marsters
James Marsters
James Wesley Marstersis an American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel, from 1997 to 2004. Since then, he has gone on to play other science fiction roles, such as the alien supervillain Brainiac on the Superman-inspired series Smallville, the omnisexual time traveller Captain John Hart in British science-fiction show Torchwood, and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth20 August 1962
CityGreenville, CA
CountryUnited States of America
The thing I really love about this role, is that I have a very clear objective. I know my objective from the very beginning and it's going to carry me through the whole season. That was the problem with Spike. In all honesty, that character had no objective 90 percent of the time. I would have to make it up ... To find your objective is like a gas pedal for acting. And if you can find that objective and play it honestly, it's like 'Wham!' And if you can't find it, you're mired. I'm really happy about an objective the audience suspects and the other characters don't know. It's the hidden agenda of a zealot -- and it's really interesting.
It's just the absolute bomb. Ghost in the Shell was really good, it's a little bit more recent.
One of the best things about humans is we recognize patterns, so we get things like science, music, philosophy. One of the worst things is that we see patterns that are not there so we get things like racism, homophobia and Jerry Falwell.
I like all music. Well, I don't like music that was created to make money. I don't really like bands that don't write their own music
I don't have a computer - I don't like to get into it that much 'cause it can screw with your head a little
I don't know much about the internet, I'm afraid
I patterned the accent after this guy I was in a play with, but that was three years ago. Now I'm listening to Tony Head (Giles in Buffy), who sounds kind of like Spike in real life. It's much more tough-guy talk in real life. His accent (as Giles) is just as fake as mine. His is nice and gritty, but it's not North London. I'm always afraid that I'm morphing over into Tony Head, wherever he's from.
I was uncomfortable with smoking too much because a lot of young kids watch and I didn't want to make that cool.
Joss Whedon said to me, 'If you think you are taking over the show, you have got another think coming.' He said, 'You are here only because I don't want to kill a villain off every week. I want my villains to be more interesting and multifaceted and then die.'
Being a hero doesn't mean you succeed in saving the day. It just means you tried.
Always communicate no matter how hard it is to tell someone something's wrong. It's worse not to talk about it. I learn this every few years. The truth hurts for 3 days. Lack of truth hurts your whole life.
Andy [Hallett] was a real man - you can tell an adult by how they deal with pain or adversity. Andy's eyeballs gave him searing pain all day every day because of the contacts they used. He was every moment a gentlemen; laughing and joking, wiping the tears from his eyes.
I tend to be emotional when... I breathe.
Clowns make me... Think.