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James Wesley Marsters (born August 20, 1962 in Greenville, California) is an
American actor, best known for playing the popular character Spike, a
vampire, in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff
series Angel.
His father, William, was a Methodist minister and his mother, Margaret, a
social worker. He has an older sister, Susan, and a younger brother, Paul.
The family moved to Modesto, California when he was a child. Dreaming about
becoming an actor since he played Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh in fourth grade,
Marsters joined the theater group at his high school, acting in many plays
including musicals.
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After graduation, Marsters studied at the Pacific Conservatory of the
Performing Arts, 1980-1982, and Juilliard Drama School, 1982-1984.
Marsters moved to Chicago where his first professional acting role was
Ferdinand in The Tempest at the Goodman Theatre in 1987. 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 formed the New Mercury Theatre (named
after Orson Welles' own theatre group) with Liane Davidson and Greg Musick.
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. He has made guest appearances on several
popular television series such as Andromeda, as well as the independent
films Chance, Winding Roads and the 2005 USA Network movie Cool Money.
During November, 2005, Marsters filmed a thriller, "Shadow Puppets," with
Jolene Blalock which is scheduled for release in March, 2006.
In 2003-2004, Marsters was also 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 LA and Paris. They went on to play successful
dates in and around LA and two sold-out tours of Europe in 2003 and 2004.
They released one CD album, Mad Brilliant; 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 him.
Marsters' solo musical career was launched in October 2004, in London. His
solo acoustic tour of the UK in April 2005 sold out and was a huge success.
A new solo album Civilized Man was released on April 15th, 2005. It includes
several new songs as well as the popular Katie and Smile. Ten of the eleven
songs are written by Marsters.
Marsters has also narrated the audiobooks for The Dresden Files, a series of
detective novels with a supernatural bent. The third audio in the series,
Grave Peril was released in March of 2005.
In late 2005, Marsters appeared on the television series Smallville playing
Dr. Milton Fine (a.k.a. supervillain Brainiac) in episodes 1-Arrival,
4-Aqua, 5-Thirst, 7-Splinter, and 8-Solitude.
On October 29, 2005, Marsters presented two performances of an adaptation of
Shakespeare's famous tragedy, "Macbeth," with American actress Cheryl Puente
as Lady Macbeth, followed by question and answer sessions with the audience
and acoustic concerts in London.
An interesting side note is that when asked where he got the inspiration for
his English accent in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, 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.
Marsters is divorced and has a son. |
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