Biography
|
|
Dreaming about becoming an actor since he played
Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh in fourth grade, James joined
the theater group at his high school, acting in many
plays, including musicals.
After graduation, James Marsters studied at the Pacific
Conservatory of the Performing Arts, 1980-1982, and
Juilliard Drama School, 1982-1984.
James 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, James Marsters moved to Seattle and 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. 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, James 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.
James 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.
James 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 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.
James Marsters starred in a horror film, "Shadow
Puppets," which is in post-production.
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.
James Marsters has released one solo album, Civilized
Man on April 15th, 2005. He has played songs from the
album live in Detroit, Houston, Sacramento and on his
solo acoustic tour of the UK in 2005.
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.