James Marsters

James Wesley Marsters was born on August 20th 1971 in Greenville, CA, and grew up in Modesto, where he graduated from Davis High School.
After having played a role in “Winnie the Pooh” in grade 4, he knew that he wanted to become an actor. So he started studying acting at New York’s prestigious Julliard. Before he went to Los Angeles and started his film and TV career, James spent 10 years doing stage work in Chicago, New York and Seattle. His onscreen debut was a guest spot on the TV series “Northern Exposure”.
In 1997 he first appeared on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” as the peroxide blonde vampire with the convincing British accent. "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, 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." Says Marsters about his accent.

James was originally only hired for a few episodes, but the fans’ reaction was so positive that Spike became a regular character on the show in season four and now has a long-term contract. “Spike was never really interesting to Joss except as an antagonist in the second season,” says James Marsters, “and he didn't really have a need for Spike beyond that. So when he wanted to have Dru and Spike back the next season as kind of a lark and Juliet wasn't available, he decided to do an episode with just Spike being broken-hearted and drunk. And that was the point where Joss tells me the wheels started turning, that he discovered there was something more interesting in the character he wanted to explore.” At this point Marsters had the possibility to complete his role and show that, although Spike is a fictional character, he has many things in common with him. Already in school, James Marsters explored his rebellious character: "Growing up I was totally uncool. But I didn't care. In fact, I wanted to be on the outside. I dressed like a freak and was into punk rock. With every gesture, I advertised that I did not belong." With this attitude, Marsters seemed to fit exactly Joss expectations in the character of Spike. “Joss was casting around for a punk rock vampire,” says Marsters.

Spike and James have also a common taste in hair colour. “If I was a civilian, I would wear it punk white anyway. It fits me as a person, frankly, not just in the role. It says that I'm not really normal, but in a wonderful way.”

Besides Spike, the role that made him famous, he also guest-starred on “Millenium” and had a small role in “House on the Haunted Hill”.

When he isn’t acting he likes singing and playing the guitar. “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." Said James on his acoustic performance at 14 Below, Santa Monica.

Winding Roads, 1999, character:Billy Johnson

House on the Haunted Hill, 1999, character:Cameraman

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, since 1997, character:Spike

Guest Appearances

Angel, Episode: "Darla", 2000

Angel, Episode: "In The Dark", 1999

Millenium, Episode:"Collateral Damage", 1999, character:Eric Swan

The Big Easy, Episode: unknown, 1997, character: unknown

Moloney, Episode: "Herniated Nick", 1997 character: Billy O'Hara

Medicine Ball, Episode: unknown, 1995, character: unknown

Northern Exposure, Episode: "Grosse Pointe 48230", 1993, character: Reverend Harding

Northern Exposure, Episode: "It Happened In Juneau", 1992, character: Bellhop