Actor/Character

Cast No Shadow

You are my world.
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
1,282
Age
35
Location
West Yorkshire, UK
Need to stop making so many topics, or spikecakes will be on my back soon 😛

OK, my question is, is it the actor, or the character you adore?

For a long time, I had a huuuuuge crush on James Marsters. Now I see pictures of him and, hmm, not so much. However my adoration for Spike, well, that's ongoing.

Do you love the actor as much as the character? Or do you prefer the actor?

😀
 
I generally don't care about actors or actresses as I think of them as theatrical devices rather than people I'm actually interested in. I think it's due to my distaste in the whole celebrity thing. I think Glee is the only show in which I've been interested in the actresses/actors.

I love characters and how the actors portray them. I invest a lot of time into thinking about the character as often they are what makes me want to watch the show. I adore characters like Spike and Anya, but James and Emma's other projects have never really interested me much.
 
Character, character and character. Case in point: I adore Angel but rather dislike DB. And I'm pretty much like that with all actors.
 
I'm on your back as of now.

Kidding! You know I love your topics. 😛

Well, I think love for actors always stems from loving their characters. I began to love Spike very much, then started to look into James' other work. Then I fell in love with James. It's difficult for me to decide who I love more, 'cause I can relate to both of them. It's an odd thing, really.

Damn you and your hard-to-answer questions. 😛
 
C
Cast No Shadow
love you SC :D
Z
zobothehobo
Spikey and James karma
P
patriot1123
[No message]
K
kittenpoker
totally agree that it starts with the character and then sometimes, but not always, transcends to the actor
I cannot choose between Spike and James. To me, they're essentially the same person. I loved Spike first, then fell in love with James when I discovered they're so alike. I used to watch interviews and see or hear James do/say something that I would say was just "so Spike." Now, I watch Buffy and I see Spike do/say things that are just "so James." I've heard James say Spike is essentially him when he was a bit younger. And I agree. I love that.
 
S
spikecakes
[No message]
As most people here will already know, my favorite characters directly result from hearing the actor or actress speak about their character, most importantly, Lindsey and Connor.

I've always been a Lindsey fan, ever since the first season, but it wasn't until I heard Christian speak about how much he loved playing Lindsey and how out of his way he went to avoid Lindsey being killed off did I truly fall in love with that character. The character of Lindsey was created for Chris because Joss loved him when he auditioned for the part of Riley and wanted to keep him around. To know that the creator of the show went out of his way to have someone on his show spoke volumes to me. That, and the fact that Joss allowed Chris to get away with avoiding having Lindsey be killed. When Chris refused to do the episodes where the plan was for Lindsey to die, instead of just killing him off screen and having Angel and the crew find out, Joss allowed him to live. I love that.

It's the same with Connor. Hearing Vincent talk about how much he loved playing Connor, even though he got such a hard time from the fans, was very interesting to me. Vinnie loved playing Connor, he never thought Connor was a bad guy, just confused about who and what he should believe in, and hearing Vinnie talk like that made me realize how misunderstood Connor is.

To a lesser extent, the same thing happened with Clare Kramer and Juliet Landau, and this past weekend with Jared Padalecki.

For me, it ALWAYS depends on what the actor thinks about their character.
 
C
Cast No Shadow
Really good points, well done.
The characters. It might happen that the actor or actress who's playing the role will be one that I'll also like in other shows/movies, but I don't usually become a fan of the real person behind the character(except in a few rare cases).
 
brinkster130
brinkster130
[No message]
I agree with spikecakes and it's always been this way for me.

I fall in love with a character first. At first I'm not even sure I want to go behind the character, watch the actor's other work, find out anything about the actor; and I almost never watch or read interviews.

But it usually happens that eventually I do get to loving the actor, as an actor, not as a person (since I don't / can't know anything about the actor as a person).

I fell in love with Giles; eventually got my hands on everything Anthony Head has ever been in (I'm literally only missing a few pieces), and now love the actor (as an actor).

I try not to get into that whole celebrity-worship thing of imagining that I really know anything about the actor as a person. You really can't. I think ASH seems like a nice guy with a lovely laugh who is devoted to his family and likes animals, all good things; but I can't say beyond that what he's like.
 
K
kittenpoker
very good point!
Character. I don't really pay much attention to the actor/actresses. I do like James..he seems funny and that's really it. But if we are talking Supernatural I gotta say I adore Misha Collins..he is so funny!! And of course Jared and Jensen 😉
 
Well I love Spike way more than I love James but David is equal with Angel to me and his other characters. He is the only one besides for Sarah I have seen it a lot of stuff so I mostly follow them.

I can say I love Summer just as much as I love all her characters I think she may be my favorite person that was produced out of the Whedonverse. She is just so lovely to put it simply.

Eliza is pretty cool as well and I adore Alyson! I think she may be even more adorable in real life than as Willow she just has so much personality. I always look forward to seeing her on the Ellen show.

@ OhWOW I love Jensen and Jared as well. I haven't even watched supernatural all the way through yet. I think most of my favorite people are outside of the Buffyverse though.

Overall I guess you could say I love the character most. They are what made me love the actor in the first place.
 
Character first. But if the actor is charismatic and passionate about their character, I start to like them too. I try not to get too interested in the actor solely from my impression of the character though...that can often lead to disappointment and that's no fun.
 
I never really cared about actors and actresses. I care about the characters. I find a lot of actors and actress hot and sweet, but never really give a damn. Except when I was a teenager, I was obsessed with all the members of the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. And before them Spice Girls.
 
Angel/David -> character
Buffy/Sarah -> actress
Willow/Aly -> both equally
Giles/ASH -> character
Spike/James -> character (s2-4)
Anya/Emma -> character
Darla/Julie -> actress
Wesley/Alexis -> actor
 
It varies for me.

For instance, I really like DB on Bones, but Angel's character was too "broody" for me; though I don't like DB as a person.

Spike caught me, but it was what James put into the character that kept me. This is why I have the Spike obsession. The character is the ultimate "bad Boy," but James really seems like the ultimate "good guy." Best of both worlds. The character was written with karisma (not Carpenter), but James is who provided it, to bring Spike to life.
 
Fred is my favourite character of all time! And Amy is one of my favourite actresses of all time! 😀 Love her in everything she is in 😛
 
Like the character first and foremost and sometimes that will carry over to the actor/actress after some time. (depending on what you see of them in interviews etc etc)
 
Back
Top Bottom