James Marsters

He’s 42 year old today !

Date of birth (location)

20 August 1962

Greenville, California, USA

Biography for James Marsters

Birth name : James Wesley Marsters

Height : 5’ 11" (1.80 m)

Mini biography : James graduated from Davis High School and attended Julliard, the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and the American Conservatory Theatre. After spending ten years doing stage work he finally moved to L.A. to pursue a career in film and television. After appearing in several guest roles he finally got his big break as Spike in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997). Originally the character was suppose to be killed after a few episodes but Spike became so popular that he became a regular on the show. After BTVS ended he appeared as Spike in the spin-off Angel, andin several movies. James is also a talented musican; his band Ghost Of The Robot released their first album, Mad Brilliant. James has recently left his band (June 2004).

Trivia :

Gained the scar on his left eyebrow when he was mugged whilst living in Queens

Is left-handed.

Won the Sexiest Male Vampire Award at the Nocturnal 2K Convention in London, England. [July 2000]

Graduated from Davis High School in Modesto, California.

Studied at Juilliard, the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and the American Conservatory Theatre.

While doing regional theatre in Chicago, he co-founded the New Mercury Theatre company (named after Orson Welles’ "Mercury Theatre"). In 1990, New Mercury’s founders packed the operation up and relocated to Seattle in the hopes of finding more opportunity; they played there for a number of years, using any available space, including the basements of restaurants and churches, but eventually found themselves a more permanent space near Pioneer Square.

Is instantly recognisable chiefly for his platinum blonde bleached hair. He has to bleach his hair regularly to play ’Spike’ on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He recommends adding four to seven packets of Sweet ’n’ Low to the bleaching solution, to take the sting out.

Has a HUGE cult following in the Sci-Fi/fantasy community. There are (literally) hundreds of websites dedicated to him and his immensely popular vampire character ’Spike’ on the internet.

He lived at one point (possibly still living there) in a house right on the beach. He once said during an interview that the worst part of living there was that because of his role on ’Buffy: The Vampire Slayer’, he couldn’t go out on the beach for any length of time because he’d pick up a tan.

Fronts a band called Ghost of the Robot. The band’s first album, ’Mad Brilliant, was released in February 2003.

His appearance at the 2002 Shore Leave sci-fi convention was so popular that a great number of fans had to watch his Q&A sessions from specially set up monitors outside the conference hall. Despite the almost Beatlemania-like overcrowding at the event, he stayed on for over 2 hours after he was scheduled to leave to ensure every single fan who’d waited in line got an autograph.

Spent the first ten years of his professional acting career in the theater, (at various times in New York, Chicago and Seattle.)

One of his first major theater roles was a Chicago production of ’The Tempest’ in which he was strapped near-naked to a large wooden wheel for his entrance. (He claims that he has never been self-conscious about appearing nude since.)

Has long harboured a desire to direct a film adaptation of ’Macbeth’. He frequently cites the Shakespearean tragedy as his favorite play.

Has produced over 70 plays.

His favorite Buffy episode is "Once More with Feeling".

Originally his Spike Character from Buffy The Vampire Slayer was suppose to be killed during his first Season on Buffy, But due to his very high popularity fan base for the show, they kept on the show instead.

Has one son, Sullivan (born in 1996), with ex-wife Liane Davidson.

Has two siblings. One older sister (Susan, born 1960) and one younger brother (Paul, born 1964).

The Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford, England, held a 2004 poll asking movie viewers to vote for the actor and actress they would most like to see in the roles of Romeo and Juliet. The winners were Marsters and Keira Knightley. More than 2,000 people voted for more than 150 different actors for both roles. Marsters, a Shakespearean actor, triumphed over Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp. Speaking from his Californian home, Marsters said, "I’m flattered and excited that people would think of me for the role of Romeo. I think the themes of violence and social disintegration are as important today as they were in Shakespeare’s day." (April 23, 2004)

Just as his character’s human counterpart from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, James Marsters is also a writer in real-life. He and comic book writer/novelist Christopher Golden teamed up in 1999 for Dark Horse Comics’ "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike & Dru" comic book tie-in mini-series. It is now reprinted as a graphic novel.

Personal quotes :

"All I wanted when I came on the show was a good body count and a good death. That’s all."

"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." - on his British accent in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"It’s just me and a guitar, so I’m not going to be doing a lot of Smashing Pumpkins. I do Tom Waits, Neil Young, Bob Dylan. That’s all the good stuff, man. That’s when they had good songs written for just voice and guitar. I wish I could do Johnny Lee Hooker, but I’m not that good." - on his acoustic performance at 14 Below, Santa Monica on 29th August 2000.

"Chekov man, it’s all the same thing. Chekov and Buffy the vampire slayer - it’s all about beautiful losers."

(on getting the part of Spike) "I walked in there thinking I was the s***, swaggering around, among other Spikes...and I got up in the middle of the room with all these Spikes, and started doing Shakespeare. They all pulled back, and I told them, ’Can’t do that? Good luck in there.’ It was MY role. I took it by the throat."

"Sex is part of the human experience and if you are going to be an actor and a storyteller to tell human stories, that’s going to be part of it because, frankly, it’s the central thing in all our lives."

"I am a lucky regional theater actor who happened to get a good role."

"Within the walls of these conventions, I am Leonardo DiCaprio...when I step out of that situation, I am just another actor."

[on his role as Spike on "Buffy" and "Angel"] "This job is so far beyond any expectations I had. I mean, I’m on a postage stamp in Russia [issued in Karakalpakia, a region within the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Uzbekistan]. There’s no way you can plan for that. You just have to sit back and giggle and go, ’Oh, wow.’" (May 2, 2004)

[on his role as Spike in "Buffy"] " 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.’" (May 2, 2004)

[on the ending of his role as Spike on "Buffy" and "Angel"] "David [ David Boreanaz] and I are from theater. We’re used to shows being really wonderful and then they’re over. You have to be able to reconcile that or everything’s sad. Yeah, it was a fabulous job, wow. I’ve had great jobs before and I’ll have other great jobs in my future." (May 2, 2004)

[on whether he would be interested in returning his character Spike to the "Angel" universe:] "I have no idea what’s in the future - but what I do know is that I play a vampire, and the clock is ticking on how long this face can be believably exactly the same as when we met him [seven years previously on "Buffy"]. If they want to do something, let’s not wait too long." (May 10, 2004)