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A Man of Many Faces and Demon Races
The face of professionalism
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Jackson has played a variety of roles spanning across both human and demons races. Still, his preference tends to fall on the side of the demons, "The demons are the best; I've played more than one kind. I worked last season, and again they picked me up on the very first episode this season. I played one of Holtz's hoard, one of his 18th Century vampire slayers. But it's not as fun being you as it is being a demon. I like working in prosthetics; that is a lot of fun." Many actors dislike the excruciatingly long transformation process involved in becoming a demon. Jackson, however, enjoys the experience, "I actually kind of enjoy it. It is fun to get transformed. It keeps you from being blocked from coming back." His multiple appearances on Pylea spawned a running joke, "There was a joke on the set for a while, the last three episodes that I worked, they kept telling me that people were going to recognize me because I went from demon on that set, to the last rebel to survive along with the rebel leader, the guy with the curly black hair. They said people were going to notice it, and all the serious Angel fans were going to be writing and they were going to get at least two letters. They were messing with me the whole last four days; 'We're seeing too much of you,'" he explained laughing.
Having worked on a variety of the show's aspects, Jackson has quite a few memorable moments. One humorous tale that immediately came to his mind involved Charisma Carpenter. "We were working when they had Charisma in that I Dream of Genie outfit running around out there. What people don't know is the night that they did the scene where the Groosalugg and Angel are fighting and she runs in to break it up, it was snowing, and she was freezing her butt off. She started yelling across the compound at David Greenwalt, 'David you know it's f***ing snowing out here!'" He continued between laughs, "It was just a shock to hear that come out of her mouth because she has this character image on the show of this angel, and then to hear that come over my shoulder, it was just kind of a shock!"
Jackson also commented on David Boreanaz's ability to be extremely forgiving, "David is a wonderful guy, in fact, he's incredible. Very forgiving too." He proceeded to tell an extravagant story that nearly ended with the beheading of David. "Remember in Pylea when they got captured, me and two other demons took them and put them on the ground in front of the altar where the head demon came out, and then we had to take them away?
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"I would give up everything else to be able to work that show full time." ~ Jackson
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Well Gunn was my guy. I had to take J. August, put him down, then grab him, pick him back up and take him out. Also I had to restrain David when Gunn was getting slapped around," he explained. "Well the first time that we tried to do it they had bound their feet and their hands, which didn't work out too good, it made it real difficult for them to get up. So when I went over to pick up J., the guy that was picking up David wasn't quite as large as David so he was having some trouble. When David got to his feet, his feet got tangled in the ropes and he fell back down. As I swung around, my sword hit him in the head. Damn near knocked him out!" Reliving the moment, he continued, "He was very nice about it, I think if I had been on another set I would have probably went home that day. But he just laughed and told them to please have me put my sword on the other side and asked if maybe they didn't have an aluminum sword that I could carry instead of the steel one I was carrying. Since he got cracked right in the head."
Not only was David kind enough to let the mishap slide, he was also very impressed with Jackson's acting abilities. "Later when I was working with Holtz's horde in the season opener he paid me a great compliment. Twice he asked for me to be put behind the camera when they were filming him face-on so he would have somebody to react off of. He liked my intensity. He liked the fact that I looked at him like I wanted to kill him, rip his head off, which in turn would let him get mad and look at me like he wanted to rip my head off. So, a couple of times through both shoots, he put me on the other side of the camera for somebody to react off of," he explained. As a final cap to the story Jackson quipped, "He's a nice guy considering I damn near beheaded him!"
Despite Angel really jumpstarting his career, Jackson had worked on a few projects prior to it. "I didn't start getting real serious with this until Angel back in April of last year, but before that I did a few things. I worked on Into the Sun; a Disney film called The End of Time where I was one of the King's personal guards, I'm pretty easy to pick out in that one since I'm with the King almost the entire film. Then I didn't do a whole lot until I started with Angel, but since then I've been very busy." Thanks to Greenwalt's help, Jackson has had an astounding amount of work this past year. "After getting my union card and picking up an agent, I've been pretty busy. In a year I've probably picked up 70 jobs." He's crossed over steadily between both movies and television, "I was just in Showtime; I've got a pretty prominent part in that. I did a thing called Arrest and Trial where I was a co-star. In Almost Perfect Murder I played Richard Anderson, the murderer. It was quite an experience to be a star for the day, get your own trailer, people waiting on you, kind of fun."
Jackson donning a suit of armor
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His experiences on Angel also led him to explore a career in stunt work under the supervision of Mike Vendrell, the show’s Stunt Coordinator before Mike Massa, Jackson was able to try his hand at some minor stunts. Compared to acting, he feels that, "It's a lot more strenuous and a lot more fun." Due to his versatility on Angel, Jackson got approached for further stunt jobs, "A gentlemen named Craig Appell saw me working on Angel, he was there working also as a stuntman, and he saw me working when I stepped in and did some of the lighter stunts. He asked me if I was interested in joining his organization. I did, and I've been working with him now for the past year." His growing experience has led him to participate as both an actor and stuntman in his current projects, "I'm working tomorrow on a film called Confidence (with Dustin Hoffman) where I actually have a principal role. In August there is a film that is going to start shooting called Pirates of the Carribean, with Buena Vista Pictures. Craig Appell has some of the stunt work on that so I'm going with him to work as a pirate stuntman." Being quite a professional, Jackson is constantly looking to improve his skills. "I'm in classes right now to sharpen my sword work with a Cutlass. I'm taking classes at Academy of Theatrical Combat. The gentlemen that runs it is Dan Speaker. He did all the sword choreography for Hook and he was the stunt double and sword choreographer for Disney's Three Musketeers; he was Charlie Sheen's stunt double," he recalled.
Despite his current success, Jackson is always looking to work on Angel, "If I can possibly get back on the show, when I talked to David the last night that I worked there he said I had an invitation back, so hopefully I will be back next season, as either some blue headed demon, or maybe we'll go back and visit Pylea again. I would give up everything else to be able to work that show full time." He may also have a chance to participate in Joss Whedon's upcoming series Firefly. "There's a chance I may be working on Firefly as sort of a Goth/Biker." Jackson Bolt is the quintessential example of a professional. As displayed on Angel, he is a hardworking, dedicated, and extremely versatile individual. His openness to different types of work has been an incredibly positive factor in his career and continues to provide him with unique opportunities. Yet despite his current progression, he is always willing to return to a world of vampires, demons, and evil lawyers: the world of Angel.
Written by CoA Staff Writer, Jeff Ritchie
CityofAngel.com would like to extend its utmost appreciation to Jackson Bolt for sharing both his time and exclusive pictures with us.
If you have any comments for CityofAngel.com regarding this 'Spotlight' feature, we would love to hear from you. Just email us at: comments@CityofAngel.com
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