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THE BATTALION
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
n Aggie on the road to becoming a
SUPERSTAR!
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By Matt Patin
THE BATTALION
hid... action!
n the early days of childhood, when many were out playing
:ball in the park or exploring the uncharted boundaries of their
hborhoods, James Leary was inside watching Star Wars and
jining himself as Luke Skywalker.
oday, Leary has turned imagination into reality and has
:ral acting jobs to his name, including spots on “Buffy
Vampire Slayer” and the short-lived Telemundo sitcom
Beltran.” But Leary’s ongoing road to stardom did not
easily.
eary graduated from A&M in 1995 as an industrial distribu-
major, but knew since he was five that his passion was acting
:f living out the lives of those he watched on television and in
*!ylnovies. When dressing-up as his favorite character no longer
■lied him. the budding actor tried out for his first school play
grade. Leary made it a hobby and a goal to star in as
VI W| IIIW|y sc hool productions as possible in high school.
Tie sporadic, unsure nature of a career in acting, however, did
10over well with Leary’s parents. After putting his dreams on
for several years in college, Leary had some outside influ-
in resurrecting his knack for acting.
ly girlfriend at the time, now my wife, knew that I wasn’t
)y,” Leary said. “(She) convinced me to try out for the first
of the year, “Mindgames.” It was the first audition I had
to in over two years, and I was very nervous, but I ended
etting the lead.”
Iedid not stop there. The same year that he was quenching
hirst for acting with ‘Mindgames,’ Leary became a founding
iberof the A&M improvisation crew, Freudian Slip.
|etween a job at a plumbing supply warehouse in Chicago
spending time with his wife, Stacie, Leary perfected his
at Second City and Improv Olympic, homes of sketch
ledy and improvisation, and birthplaces of Saturday Night
he kids whentlii|alumni Mike Myers, Bill Murray and Martin Short.
learned quite a bit from Improv Olympic, mostly about
irm ance,” Leary said. “I ended up on a team pretty quickly
Istarted doing weekly shows, plus doing a show with some
reudian Slip members.”
in Chicago, Leary also performed in the play “Actors
pple Who Lie to You.” But after two years in Chicago and
jof experience with acting crews under his belt, Leary
J it was time to travel to the summit of the entertainment
n — Los Angeles.
‘ in California, Leary trekked through several menial jobs
Pport himself and began his search for an agent.
Finding a good agent is horribly difficult.” Leary admitted,
nerve-racking and gives you ulcers. And at the [early] level
at in Hollywood, you are never happy with your agent for
fnason or another.”
lith his agent’s help and his own ambition, Leary landed
«rous commercial auditions including some for Office Depot,
trandCoors. Because of the nature of commercial auditions,
T's experience with improvisation greatly helped.
e l * Improv is an invaluable skill for any actor,” Leary said,
| 0 | 'Pecially] here, where commercials are an actor’s bread and
Er In most commercial auditions they want to do some sort
fWov. You’d be amazed at how many people freak out and
'do it. Also, it helps free you up on stage. If you can handle
“mg on stage in front of 300 people and just making stuff up
'Sloes, standing in a room of producers is a cakewalk.”
^ing auditions, however, is not always such an easy
imily as theiw
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endeavor, Leary said.
“You’ll have those days where you feel
like you’ll never get a job. Once I was
almost sure that I got a part for “Dharma
and Greg,” but I didn’t. But trial-and-error
is part of the game,” Leary said. “No matter
what, when you don’t get a part, you can’t
take it personally.”
Leary’s optimism paid off. In 1999, he
got a part in Telemundo’s sitcom “Los
Beltran,” where he played Kevin Lynch, an
American with atrocious Spanish-speaking
skills. He was the only actor in the studio
who could not speak Spanish, but cast and
crew were intimately small, and Leary
made several good acquaintances and hear
the advice of experienced
writers and directors.
After the show was
canceled, Leary contin
ued to pursue his career,
armed with more experi
ence and invaluable
advice. By chance, he met
the casting director for the
UPN teen horror drama
“Buffy the Vampire
Slayer” and has recently
appeared in several
episodes as Clem, a light
hearted demon.
“Clem is a demon,
but with the personality
of just a goofy guy,”
Leary said.
Since Clem requires
prosthetics and make-up.
many probably would
not recognize Leary.
“The first time that l
had to wear that head
cast, , it was really
freaky,” Leary said. “The
first time I spent over
four hours in make-up,
and it took over half an
hour to take everything
off. Luckily, the next
time it only took about
two hours.”
A lot of buzz is being
made on fan Websites
about Clem. Many fans
enjoy Clem’s light-heart
ed humor, which is ironic
considering he is a
demon. “Buffy” writers are often considerate of their demo
graphic and its opinion, Leary said. If fans continue to enjoy
Clem, he might have more frequent appearances on “Buffy.”
Now, with a young child, a supportive wife and a blos
soming acting career, Leary seems to have everything. But he
has not forgotten the days when he would run around the
house impersonating his idols and dream of studios, sets and
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WWW.GOOGLE.COM
TOP: As demon Clem in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" BOTTOM: James C. Leary without make-up.
stardom. Knowing that others share his dreams, Leary offered
some advice.
“Of course you'll doubt yourself,” Leary said. “But when
you can’t imagine doing anything else is when you know you
were born to do it. Go out and act. Do anything you can find.
The hardest part is the first step. Take it.”
And that’s a wrap.
Where in the world
would you like to study?
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HEAR the truth about study abroad costs
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