Birth Name: James Wesley Marsters

Birthdate: August 20, 1962

Various sources have reported his year of birth as either 1962, 1969, or 1971 (making him either 40, 33, or 31). JM has given various Birthdays and until recently (see below) he has never confrimed it at 1962.

POSTED TUESDAY, JAN. 14, 11:05 A.M.
At Monday night's CBS/UPN party, James Marsters (aka Spike) was stuck on a couch for more than an hour, besieged by reporters trying to get any tidbits about the show's future. He admitted he would love to have a spinoff based on his character. As a sideline, he voiced concern that his actual age (40) has been finding its way into news articles, which could be a turnoff for the young-girl demographic the show draws.
"I don't look 40," he says. And he doesn't. So we say, 40 it is. (More than Spike)

'Raised in Modesto, Calif., the son of a Methodist minister and a social worker, Marsters, 40, sounds much sunnier than the vampire who lives inside him.' (Text)

"James has contradicted himself on his age so many times as to make anything he says on the subject utterly meaningless. However, according to the California birth database, one James Wesley Marsters was born August 20, 1962 in Greenville, California." Joss Whedon

Birthplace: Greenville, California (A northern logging town in California) but raised in Modesto, CA

Stage Debut: Eyeore in a fourth grade production of "Winnie the Pooh" and went on to study acting at Juilliard.

On-Sceen Debut: An ill-at-ease priest on the television series "Northern Exposure".

Claim to Fame: Plays Spike, a.k.a. William the Bloody, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Height: 5' 10" (5' 11")
Eyes: Blue
Natural Hair Color: Brown When playing Spike: Bottle Blond
Left Handed*

FAMILY

Father: Former minister Mother: Social worker
Sister: Susan Marsters Brother: Paul Marsters

Won: People Magazine's 2001 Most Beautiful People Poll with 497,328 votes.

If you woudl like to write a fan letter to JM:
James Marsters
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
c/o UPN
11800 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025

- Graduated from Davis High School in Modesto, CA
- Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts at Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria, CA
- The Julliard School, New York City, NY

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

JM: "It is true. In Astoria, Queens -- a filthy neighborhood down by the water. Half a block from my apartment. It was from brass knuckles. A guy jumped out and hit me with brass knuckles, and didn't say hello -- very impolite -- and said give me your money. And I told him to f*** off. And he continued to hit me and then his friend started to join in, at which point I beat tail."

"It's real and fake (the scar above his left eye). When I was in college in Queens, I went out with $140 in my boot and I got mugged. I've been mugged five times. I dropped my bag with old comic books in it and I was hit with brass knuckles. Todd McIntosh our make-up artist on Buffy got a wicked smile and accentuated what is already there." JM (The Realm)

-Also has a scar on his left leg by getting it cut up on a sprinkler head when he was a child. It kept him off his feet for almost a year, and since then the hair there grows sideways due to the skin graft he had done. Source

JM: "My leg slid down my bone like a sock."

- Co-wrote the Spike and Dru comic book.

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

- Co-founded the Genesis Theater Company in Chicago

- He ran the New Mercury theater for four years

- While in Julliard (NY) he starred in Shakespeare's "Trolius and Cressida" and "Twelfth Night", and in Tennesee Williams' "Camino Real"

- In Chicago, at the Goodman Theater, he starred in "Tempest" and "Red Noses". At the Next Theater he starred in "The Normal Heart".

- At the A Contemporary Theater in Seattle, James participated in "Handing Down the Names" and "Voices in the Dark".

- His favorite play is Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which he performed the lead role for a production in Seattle.

- Provided backup vocals on Anthony Stewart Head's album "Music for Elevators."

- James did have a cat named Zachary, who had been his pet since James lived in the New York area; regrettably, Zachary passed away in 2000.

No tattoos. James says: "I'm not adverse to them, but I haven't had one yet. I think they're cool and all. Thought about getting a piercing. On my left eyebrow." He's got quite a few scars. The most notable ones are on his left eyebrow and left leg. The eyebrow was scarred during a mugging in Astoria, Queens, while James was working in New York as a bartender. He says: "It was from brass knuckles. A guy jumped out and hit me with brass knuckles, and didn't say hello -- very impolite -- and said give me your money. And I told him to f*** off. And he continued to hit me and then his friend started to join in, at which point I beat tail." The other prominent scarring is on his left leg, which was badly injured while playing a game in fifth grade; the wound required surgery and skin grafts, and kept young James off his feet for almost a year.

(Thank you Nia for the info on his left-handedness).

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