e try to supply as much behind the scenes information as possible. Through interviews with writers, producers, stunt men, etc. we have exposed a side of Angel that would normally remain foreign to many people. Along with the crew, we like to provide readers with a chance to learn from many supporting actors. Recently we were able to procure an interview with Jackson Bolt, a veteran Angel actor. A rather large man with trademark red hair, Bolt has spanned the Angel-verse from 18th Century Europe to the fields of Pylea. A few talented performers have had the opportunity to transverse several aspects of the show and its production, none better and to its extreme than Bolt as the stories he shared with us, once again, secures the foundation that this series is truly a family willing to let its players grow, expand their aptitude and fulfill their knowledge.

As with many soon-to-be actors, Jackson found that acting was not his first passion. After growing up in Missouri, he out ired a job for the Federal Government in Civil Services, which demanded a heavy amount of traveling, "I'm originally from Kansas City. I left there when I was 19 years old. I spent about 7 or 8 years in Arizona, almost five years in Germany, Korea for a year, and then California." However, the constant movement did not bother him, "I just went where the jobs took me," he explained. It was not until he met his wife that acting became a possibility, "She has been interested in acting ever since she was a teenager. She came out here in the 70's and tried it, didn't like it and left, ended up joining the military, which is where I met her." A convenient stationing in California pushed her to explore acting again, and ultimately she convinced Jackson to try it. "When we got stationed back here in '90 she got back involved. She had been trying to get me involved in it for a long time, and I decided I'd give it a try, and I found out that I like it. It's a lot of fun; I really enjoy it."

Jackson places working on Angel as the major turning point in his career. Interestingly, it was his naturally fiery hair that initially drew attention to him, "I registered with Cenex Casting. They saw my picture and they were looking for redheads to do the Pylea demons. So they sent me out on a one-day call." However, his one-day call would grow into one of his most versatile experiences on a set. His extremely serious and professional work ethics brought him some much-deserved attention. "David Greenwalt took a liking to me because when I go to a set, I work. I didn't do this seriously for a long time, and now that I take it seriously, when I go, I work. Whether the camera is on me or not, I act. If an actor is staring at me I give him something to look at, I look back or I give him an emotion," he explained proudly. His hard work paid off. "They liked that so they turned the one-day call into a ten-day call."

"David Greenwalt seems to have the attitude that everybody on his set is special and he takes care of them."

Yet acting as a Pylean was not his only role on the set. Jackson became a Jack-of-all-trades for Angel, which ultimately allowed him to explore some minor stunt work. "They gave me a little experience in a lot of things. I made friends with a gentlemen on the set who got me into doing some light stunt work, of which they were appreciative and gave me bumps for. They had a stand-in twist their ankle so I ended up doing stand-in work for two days." This recognition, along with his large stature, allowed him to participate even further in the production. "Then on the last three days of production they brought me in to body double for some of the other demons, the larger demons, because I'm a pretty good-sized guy." Jackson soon found himself doubling for various characters on Pylea, "The guy that Angel killed in the cave, that wasn't him that was stabbing Angel in the chest, it was me. And at the end, the escape from the ropes, cutting him with the knives, that was me." Ultimately, all of his hard work and dedication not only earned him extra work, but the praise of Greenwalt, who helped him get his Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card, "The last day I was there David Greenwalt came up to me and said, 'Thanks for all your hard work, we have a little something for you', and they Taft Hartley'd me," he said. (this is the name of the application to be filled out when applying for your SAG card – part of the National Labor Relations Act sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred Hartley in 1947)

Jackson (left) in his Pylea make-up

Actors and crew members constantly assert how working on Greenwalt's set is one of the most pleasurable experiences of their careers. For Jackson, it was no different, "I have to give Joss [Whedon], David and everybody else there a lot of credit for making the set probably one of the most sought after to work on because they treat you well." He could not praise everybody enough, "They're more considerate than anyone else I've been around. David Greenwalt seems to have the attitude that everybody on his set, working for him, is special and he takes care of them." If that wasn't enough, as an added bonus, "They feed you better than anyone else I've been around," he said laughing. Greenwalt was also known for generously providing for his people at all costs. Jackson noted that during a twelve-hour shoot, "It got late, we were moving up on the meal penalty. Well he didn't care about that, there just wasn't any food there. So he got on his cell phone and called In-N-Out Burgers mobile truck and had it come out and feed us at like 4 o'clock in the morning out of his own pocket. I have never seen a producer, director, or anyone else do that." The same thing happened while they were filming on the ranch used for the Pylea battle scenes, "Same thing: four o'clock in the morning, he calls and has about a hundred pizzas delivered, again, out of his pocket."

"[David's] a nice guy considering I damn near beheaded him!"

Jackson is not alone with his assessment of the Angel set. As he explained, "People want to get on that show to work. People will turn down other things for a chance to work on that show because they treat you good." With no Pylea pun intended, he continued, "You don't feel like a cow! There are sets I have worked on where I felt cattle probably had more rights than I did. It was kind of an upset to work for him so much and then go out into the business world and find out not everybody treats their people that way; but it's part of the business, you get some good ones and you get some bad ones."

Not only did Jackson have great experiences with the crew, but he found all of the actors to be amazing as well. "They are all very well known actors and stars, but none of them act like it. We were sitting over on the corner, just waiting to do the scene where we rush in and Cordelia cuts off the head of the head demon; we're just sitting over there BS’ing about things like anybody, and even though I wasn't even a principal actor on the show that day, I was included in the conversation and treated like anybody else," he commented. He had particularly nice interactions with Andy Hallett and J. August Richards. "I invited Andy and J. out to go fishing on my boat and neither one could make it because they had other plans, but they both called and let me know they couldn't make it for the trip, which is something that most people wouldn't even bother with. So they're nice people." Looking back, Jackson felt that it is a genuinely friendly and enjoyable atmosphere. "Andy, he's a lot of fun on the set. He's shyer than people would think he is, but he is also kind of a joker, he likes to do practical jokes. There isn't anybody on that show that acts like a superstar."