James Marsters

Marsters was born in Greenville, California, the son of a former minister and social worker. He grew up with his brother and sister in Modesto, California. Dreaming about becoming an actor since he played Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh in fourth grade, James joined the theater group at Davis High School, acting in many plays including musicals. After graduation, Marsters studied at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, 1980–1982, and Juilliard Drama School, 1982–1984.

Marsters moved to Chicago where his first professional acting role was Ferdinand in The Tempest at the Goodman Theatre in 1987. In this production, he was rolled onto the stage strapped naked to a wheel. He also appeared with well-known Chicago companies such as the Northlight and the Bailiwick and with his own group, the Genesis Theatre Company. Marsters was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for his performance of the lead role of Robespierre in the six-hour drama Incorruptible: The Life, Death and Dreams of Maximilian de Robespierre in 1989.

In 1990, Marsters moved to Seattle and, with Liane Davidson and Greg Musick, formed the New Mercury Theatre, named after Orson Welles' own theatre group. In this and other companies, Marsters was involved in a wide range of plays, including Teechers (a British play by John Godber), Anouilh's Antigone, an original work based on the Dr. Seuss books, and Shaw's Misalliance.

In 1992, Marsters got his first acting job on TV-on Northern Exposure, a show that was shot near Seattle, in which he appeared for two episodes as a bellboy and a church minister. He has made guest appearances on television series such as Andromeda, as well as the independent films Chance, Winding Roads, and the 2005 USA Network movie Cool Money. In 1999, Marsters had a small role in the remake of House on Haunted Hill as a TV cameraman. During November 2005, Marsters filmed a thriller, Shadow Puppets, with Jolene Blalock.

It was his appearance as Spike on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (first appearing in Season Two) that attracted the attention of the general public. The immediate fan response prevented his character from being killed off, allowing him a presence throughout the series. Spike became a regular in Season Four, and remained so until the show's finale. After the conclusion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marsters carried Spike over to the Buffy spin-off show, Angel, also in a regular role (second title billing after David Boreanaz, who played "Angel"). In April 2004, following the end of Angel, Marsters had Spike's trademark bleached hair shaved off for charity live on television in On Air with Ryan Seacrest.

Marsters' inspiration for Spike's English accent was from his co-star, Anthony Stewart Head. Head, who was born in Camden Town, affected a light, Received Pronunciation accent as Giles; he has a deeper, more notably London accent when not in character. Marsters' accent was so convincing, many crew members were not aware that he was an American. Aside from playing the character, Marsters also wrote a comic book one-shot for Dark Horse Comics, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike and Dru, which the story considers to be non-canonical to the show.

Marsters has also narrated the audiobooks for The Dresden Files produced by Buzzy Multimedia, a series of detective novels with a supernatural bent. In late 2005, Marsters appeared on the television series Smallville playing Dr. Milton Fine- the popular Superman villain "Brainiac" — in eight episodes throughout the show's fifth season. He reprised his role as Brainiac in a four-episode arc in the seventh season, and did a cameo voice-over in season eight. On October 29, 2005, Marsters presented two performances of his own abridged adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth with American actress Cheryl Puente as Lady Macbeth, followed by question and answer sessions with the audience and acoustic concerts in London. n September, 2006, Marsters' own interpretation of Godber's Teechers was performed on the Queen Mary with two other actors in Los Angeles. Released in September 2007, Marsters starred in the direct-to-DVD animated movie, Superman: Doomsday, providing the voice of iconic villain Lex Luthor. 2007 would also see James portray "Detective Mars" on the CBS drama Without a Trace. Marsters will also portray the character "Lord Piccolo" in the live-action film adaptation of the popular Dragon Ball manga and anime, directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow, which scheduled for worldwide release on April 8, 2009.

Marsters had played in bands and solo in bars and clubs for many years and enjoyed several successful sell-out solo gigs at Los Angeles clubs before forming a band. For these solo gigs he mainly performed covers of classic folk and rock musicians such as Tom Waits, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen. He also sang in "Once More, with Feeling", a musical episode of Buffy: solo parts in "Walk Through the Fire" and "Something To Sing About", and "Rest in Peace" completely on his own. In 2003–2004, Marsters was the lead singer for the rock band Ghost of the Robot. Their debut album Mad Brilliant was released on February 2, 2003. Marsters' solo musical career was launched in October 2004, in London. His solo acoustic tour of the United Kingdom in April 2005 sold out.