"Tony [Head] and James [Marsters] are true theater geeks. And I use the word geek advisedly."-- "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon

"There was a hunger about James, a determination to really tackle ambitious projects, to not do the same old thing. And what was great about him was that he was equally comfortable in the basement of Cafe Voltaire as he was on the Goodman mainstage. As long as he was excited about the project, the space didn't matter."-- David Zak, Bailiwick artistic director

Billie: What did you think about working with James Marsters, who plays Spike?
April Weeden-Washington: He handled it like he was another stunt person. We spent hours fighting. He is the most fantastic person in the world to work with, absolutely the best. He is so professional; he puts his whole heart into it. And his personality is so upbeat and generous; he loves his work and loves what he's doing.
AWW played the "Subway Slayer" in Fool For Love (TEXT)

"I would love to play Anakin after he goes over to the dark side." JM (read article)

Question: Do you have a favorite historical period?
JM: Oh, so many. I think the Renaissance would have been fabulous when they were unearthing all the Greek culture, and it was reinvigorating all of Europe, but I think I was born in the most exciting time imaginable. I wouldn't change places with anyone in history. The world is spinning fast right now. (Source)

''For Halloween, I'm going to the Playboy mansion, and I'm going to go punked up, show a little skin. And I'm hoping to get my date made up as a vampire. I'm going to keep her on a chain. I wear the best Halloween costume year round, so why fight it?'' JM on his appropriately ghoulish Halloween plans @ EW.Com

"I'm love's bitch in real life. Totally. I believe in romance." JM (The Realm)

Question: Who are your heroes in cinema, literature and music?
JM: "Shakespeare. Shakespeare's the dirtiest playwright ever - people think he's polite, that he's classy. No way! Nobody kills more people, or has more sex on stage! As far as cinema goes - Apocalypse Now. I love that movie. Plus Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Kurosawa."

Question: How does it feel getting spanked by Buffy nearly every episode?
JM: Surprisingly exciting. Then I went over to Millennium and I got my ass kicked by a girl there. Right at the end she cracks my head open! (The Realm)

"Well, I think vampires and vampirism are a very clear metaphor for sex. Male vampires almost never bite males and female vampires almost never bite females. Very clearly, it's a sexual thing. And vampires get to take whatever they want whenever they want it. Vampires don't need wallets or credit cards. They like something, they take it." JM (The Realm)

"Well, you never get away from the Buffy side of it. They advertise it and let Buffy fans know it's happening... otherwise no-one would show up! I play at the 14-Below club and the Opium Den about once a month. It's fun and I'm getting better at it. I'm writing more songs and getting introduced to more musicians. People from Four Star Mary want to record with me. It's taking off slowly which is good. As for social life.... and taking advantage of my popularity? I'm doing juuuuuust fine! (laughs) I find lots of time for that! But, yeah, for movies, it does get in the way of the long term schedule. I have to say that the scripts I've read for stuff/movies other than Buffy, have not been as good, so really I'm not worried. I'm getting paid and I have a great job. I'm doing a small film with Amber Benson who plays Tara. It's completely different to Buffy. She plays a sex freak and I play a shy young man." JM (The Realm)

Not long ago, Spike was immortalised with his own action figure. James observes the pros and cons of having a doll in his likeness: "Given that he's given so many weapons, you wish that he could hold them," he muses. "The two things about action figures that I always appreciate - and I like action figures - are the ability to stand up easily and the ability to hold onto things - two things which my character lacks woefully. I cannot make my action figure stand. I have tried. It's impossible. But it's amazing to have action figure. It's a great likeness, it's a computer replica of my face, so it's exactly right - it's just cooler than heck. I love having an action figure. but I want a good grip next time!" JM (Text)

"Worst job? Washing dishes for a hospital. All of them would come down at one time, and there'd be like 19 carts of dirty, warm dishes. Or just pushing the juice cart for the hospital and laying in the new milk that would not be drunk and take the warm one away [from a patient] on a resuscitator and, oh, man, that was a hard job. I've had a lot of bad jobs." He also had some rough adventures. "I didn't have to be in the places that I chose for myself, but I put myself there anyway. But I always pulled out of that, because I always knew that I had to save myself, because I wanted to be an actor." JM (Text)

"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."

"I was a total outcast (in high school) and had NO interest in being popular. I ran with the group of punk rock punks. We did NOT want to be liked. We did not want to fit in. We had a rock and roll band and the irony was that we became enormously popular because we just didn't care -- and we threw the most enormous parties in the town. And sought subtle revenge on all the big kids who abused us in junior high. We made sure they didn't get any when they came to our parties. Yes, we would crush their self-esteem. I don't like mean kids."

"I live in Santa Monica, California, in a 1930s Mediterranean-style apartment with hardwood floors, coved ceilings, lots of sunlight, which I have blacked out with black plastic for now in the bedroom, as I am a very late sleeper. I am a night owl. I'm two blocks from the beach. And there are about 20 cats, 12 of who belong to my landlord next door, and whom my cat Zachary enjoys beating up. He gave one cat a bloody mouth. This was the other week, and I'm very proud of him This cat came from the Bronx. He was the one cat who refused to go back into the cage at the ASPCA. He drew my blood on the first meeting, and I love him."

"My cat died last year, and I haven't had the heart to replace him. He'd been with me since day one."

"In the fourth grade, I had a brownish-red jacket with a hood. It made me look like Curious George, which earned me the nickname "Monkey."

"The first Halloween costume I remember is being a hobo in third grade. I remember opening a door and a guy thought I was Jimmy Durante. He said, "Hi, Jimmy" and I thought he knew me. I was spooked all to hell. He invited me into his Halloween party and introduced me to all his guests as Jimmy. I wanted to jump out the window. I later found out he thought I was Jimmy Durante. This year the head of the makeup department, Todd MacIntosh, is throwing a party and you're supposed to go as your favorite cross-dressing star. The only one I can think of is Tim Curry in "Rocky Horror Picture Show". I will be a sweet cross-dresser."

"In the past, I've looked back on things I've done and thought, 'A smart man would have been afraid to try that.' I have an unhealthy lack of fear."

As for getting into the role, Marsters said that "most of us have severe limits on our dreams. ... For vampires, it's just immediate gratification at all times. That's a very easy fantasy to give yourself over to."

Mr. Marsters describes his teenage self as "a pretty good kid until I hit about 15 and discovered punk rock." After high school, he attended a theater apprenticeship program at the Pacific College of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, Calif. And then, he said, "I went to Juilliard, and they kicked me out and all hell broke loose."
The Juilliard defeat — his rebelliousness "inspired great hatred among some of the more prominent members of the faculty" — left marks both psychological (he gave up on acting) and physical (he acquired the scar that cuts through his, and Spike's, left eyebrow from a mugging while bartending in Queens) JM (Text1 and Text2)

"I have had my rough years," he says. "I'm better now, but there were years when I spent a lot more time in emergency rooms and police stations than I do now."

Do tell. "Ummm . . . "

Tell one, then. "Um, well, I was up in Harlem trying to, um, complete a business transaction, and a guy pulled a knife on me . . . "

Was said transaction for merchandise or, er, personal services? "No, no, no, not personal services. That's the part of it I really . . . well, anyway, like I said, I'm better now. Guy pulled a knife on me, and I wasn't carrying anything, so he chased me out of the stairwell. As I came out of the stairwell, I saw a 2-by-4 on the ground, and I hit him full on the head when he came out the door.

"Actually, it's kind of a serious story, because I left him there, and I still, to this day, don't know how he did. It was in a very rough section of Upper Harlem, and I'm not sure if anybody would have helped him.

"See, these stories I have are not really fun fight stories. They're really stuff I'm not actually that proud of, but, anyway, yes, much better now. I'm much happier now."

Was acting the thing that turned Marsters around? "I think just ... I needed to go through that. I had that, then I moved on. A lot of people just need a chapter in their lives when they need to break their skin. And having been there, you quickly discover that the ramifications of living that way are very far-reaching.

"That's the nice thing about 'Buffy.' When you get into a street fight for real, you can deal with the aftermath for years. But here, you can throw someone through a wall, and then you just go home. You don't have to go to the police station, you don't have to go to the doctor, and you shake hands with the guy afterwards and smile."

His youthful escapades weren't Marsters' only brush with death. As a fifth-grader, he sliced one leg open on a sprinkler head while playing. He wound up off his feet for a year, enduring staph infections and skin grafts. "I got to read a lot of comic books and build a lot of models," he says.

James Marsters: A Vamp Called Spike In 'Buffy' by Kate O'Hare
Tribute Media Services (Text)

Question: If you were not an actor, what would your profession be?
JM: License-plate maker. They only thing that kept me out of trouble over the years is that, ultimately, I love acting more than any kind of self-destructive or mischievous behavior. I think acting has saved me from going too far. (Source)

His Favorite Book: "Twentieth Century Insanity and the Madness of Crowds." It's about the credulity of people through history, and it states that there are three things that we will never be able to beat in our lives -- death, ignorance of the future, and toil. People have been selling snake oil all these years telling people they have a way out of those three things. It was written about 100 years ago."

"We were a country looking at a whole new world, Russia's falling apart. Japan is about to go down the tubes and we're talking about the president's crotch?"-- James Marsters

"There's a big difference between what you want to be true and what is true -- do you know? I mean, we will see what we want to see. If everybody desperately wants there to be an afterlife -- so we explore that and we look for reasons to believe that that's true. But it doesn't make it true."-- James Marsters

"I was a total outcast and had NO interest in being popular. I ran with the group of punk rock punks. We did NOT want to be liked. We did not want to fit in. We had a rock and roll band and the irony was that we became enormously popular because we just didn't care -- and we threw the most enormous parties in the town. And sought subtle revenge on all the big kids who abused us in junior high. We made sure they didn't get any when they came to our parties. Yes, we would crush their self-esteem. I don't like mean kids." - JM

"There's a line that goes down the side of a woman's neck that I just love. And I love the hair on the nape of the neck, where the tender part meets the very hard part of the skull." - JM

"It was a very well written character. I enjoy playing roles that could just be written off as jerks. I try to let people see that human being sometimes make mistakes." - JM on his Millennium character, Eric Swan

"I've gone on the Net a couple of times--once when I was filming a movie in Missouri, and the assistant director called me over and said, 'James, you gotta take a look at this.' I gotta check that out. It's incredible!" - JM

Q: What did you think of the Variety ad?
JM: Wow! That was one of the sweetest experiences. I understand that some of the people responsible for that are in the audience today and I want to really thank you guys. Thank you. That had an effect in L.A. that I don’t know that you are aware of. To have fans come together and do something, that frankly, costs that much money and takes that much planning apparently doesn’t happen very often – if at all. We just were swamped with calls after that asking, “What do you do to your fans?” I didn’t tell them everything. [Giggles] To some degree, it’s hard for me to take compliments and so in a way I don’t know how to react but at the same time, I am very deeply touched. I feel like I have worked hard and I do put in extra effort and, no matter how tired I am, there is a certain kind of passion that comes through. And I am glad that is in some way resonated with you guys. (Text)
[www.SaveSpike.com was a fan organized site to raise funds to place an ad to thank James for his work. The ad ran in Variety th eday after the Oscars and in one other paper. All the extra money that was raised, about $4000.00 went to one of JM's vavourite charities.]

Q: What’s it like being adored by everyone here?
JM: Oh, it’s just torture. [Laughs] It is wonderful to be connected to people I’ve never met before, to have something in common with so many people. I made a decision a long time ago, and my apologies to those people who have posted on the web, I don’t really go on the web because it plays with my head. You guys are sooo nice. In my first year, I went on and I meant to go on for fifteen minutes and I stayed on for like three hours and I got off and I was like ‘I’m the shit!’ [Audience laughs] When they say actors lose perspective and get diva-ish, they say we are going south and I just thought, ‘I’m two steps to Mexico, man.’ And for a long time I put my head in the sand because I thought this is going to steal my soul. I’m going to become a big egotist and I’m going to lose myself.
(Audience member shouts, ‘Joss will give it back!” )
[James and audience laughs]
JM: There was like a really beautiful extra that was working one day and she was eyeing me and I went over to Joss and I was like ‘That really hot girl is eyeing me.’ And he was like, “Well, you could go over and meet her. You are an international celebrity.” And I was just like, ‘Man, I don’t really get that most of the time.” Then he said, “Never get that because if you ever get that you will start to suck.” It’s true. A big ego never translates well on film. (Text)

Q: What was is like hanging out with Liza Minnelli at the "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn?”
JM: She was in the make-up room forever. I saw her very briefly as she was coming offstage and she was really upset that her segment ran long and they had to axe the comedian that was supposed to follow her. As she left, she spotted me and said, “Oh, I love you!” and I was like ‘Why do you know me?’ It still surprises me that you guys watch the show. I’m so excited about making it that it doesn’t dawn on me that there are people all over watching it. Like The Rolling Stones invited Ghost of the Robot to be their guests in Berlin! What’s up with that? I’m just flabbergasted. (Text)

Marsters has noticed that his popularity "has climbed to a new level in the last six or nine months, where sometimes I get chased and stuff." JM (Text)

"We were in London on the dance floor, and Joss Whedon [the series's tuneful creator] actually stopped dancing, going, 'I'm in the middle of your song — I'm on fire, I can't get it out!'" "Just today he was like, 'The last stanza needs more balls.' He wants it to be really rock and roll."
-comments about episode 6X07

"Buffy fans tend to be pretty cool. They're pretty smart and they appreciate good writing. They're quite polite when they approach me." - JM

"When I was in England, a 75-year-old lady asked if she could grab my butt. I was mortified!"

"When I went to London, 15 minutes into the gig, a personal appearance, a 65 year old British lady asked me to turn around. I did. She asked me to bend over. I turned around and asked why. She told me her friend wanted to feel my ass. I was in Rome and in a generous mood, and the 80 year old women told me in her sweetest voice you can imagine..."Now clench." Other than that it's been pretty cool."

"The English are randy!" he says. `"Oh my god. I had a 65-year-old woman say, 'Could you please turn around and bend over?' And I said, 'Why?' She said, 'I want to feel your butt.' So I let her. She was 65 years old. I felt like a Puritan, really." JM (TEXT)

"Yeah.... I have not had a bad experience with a fan at all. They seem to know the boundary very well." (...) "They want me to bite 'em or lick 'em or taste 'em or something like that."
Has he ever granted such a wish? "No. I got a girl, man. Have you seen my girlfriend?" asks Marsters, referring to the lovely actress Liz Stauber (Three Kings), whom he met doing The Tempest at the Shakespeare Festival in Los Angeles three years ago. "I don't need to go biting anybody.... I ain't no fool." JM (TEXT)

"has climbed to a new level in the last six or nine months, where sometimes I get chased and stuff." JM (Text1 and Text2)