The following interview is taken directly from the pages of Angel Magazine (#12 July 2004) and therefore is their sole property. No copyright infringment intended.

L.A. Liason

by Tara DiLullo

Move over, Eve - there's a new Wolfram & Hart employee in town! And he's just as myterious as Eve used to be - and a little more deadly too... Actor Adam Baldwin discusses his Angel role.

When you ask actor Adam Baldwin how he's been able to sustain such a successful acting career over the past 25 years, he smirks and answers in his unique concise manner, "I kept at it. I'm like a fungus; you can't get rid of me." It's a humble answer for a humble guy who has always been more blue-collar about his career than typical Hollywood glitz and glam. It's a strategy that has served Adam well as he's worked on more than 60 films and television projects over the years, making for an eclectic and varied resume. Yet arguably, his recent involvement in the Joss Whedon projects, Firefly and Angel, are now getting him some of the biggest notices and surge of new fans.

On the short-lived Firefly series, Adam played the cranky, gruff mercenary-for-hire, Jayne Cobb, who was always up for a fight or making a quick buck.. It was a role Adam completely embraced. "Jayne for me is the role of a lifetime," he says. "He could be good, funny, bad, selfishor a slob - that guy can do no wrong!" Meanwhile, Joss Whedon-fans get to see another side to Adam in the final arc on Angel. Starting with the episode "Underneath", he appears as Hamilton, the mysterious replacement for Eve as the new liason to the Senior Partners at Wolfram & Hart and a key player in the end-game of the series.

It's been a long road from acting in school productions as a kid in Chicago, Illinois to where he is now, but as Adam says, "I never complain about the work." Originally, acting was just something fun for Adam to do. "I was involved with drama departments since the 5th grade. I played at it. It was an escape. My brothers and I would watch The Three Stooges or shoot-'em-up Clint Eastwood movies and pretend we were in them, but it never reared its ugly head as a profession until I lucked into it."

That 'lucky' break came in 1980 when he was plucked from obscurity to play Ricky Linderman, the most feared kid in the schoolyard, in the film My Bodyguard. "I was one of three of four thousand kids to try out for My Bodyguard. I just happened to be that [affects creepy voice] 'disturbed' child. It was kind of who I was in my misspent youth. Teenage years will do that to a kid," he laughs. "1979 was the summer of Hollywood in Chicago. My Bodyguard, Ordinary People, The Hunter and The Blues Brothers were all shot there around the same time and I got parts in two of the four [including Ordinary People], so I guess it was a trend."

After appearing in those two critically acclaimed films, Adam was truly bitten by the acting bug. He decided to pursue it professionally and moved to New York in the early 80s with friends. "It was right about then that crack hit the streets and New York City got really nasty and dangerous, so we all got scared and headed to Los Angeles," he chuckles. He transitioned to the much more mellow West Coast and proceeded to work steadily as an actor in a wide variety of projects and films like Full Metal Jacket, Predator 2 and Independence Day, always remaining busy in his chosen profession. "The only people who have control over their careers are the ones you see on the covers of magazines. Everyone else is just plodding along making a living. The key is not to live over your means and overdo it with the 'bling, bling'," he smiles. "It was never the fame or fortune that drove me to act. It was something I love and enjoy doing it. A lot of people identify who they are by what they do and that's not me. It's what I do but not who I am. Who I am is a parent. I'm a family man," he confides.

Over the years, Adam has also made many guest appearances on genre television shows like The Visitor, Stargate SG-1, and The X-Files, even though he finds it challenging to jump in and out of existing shows. "I don't prefer the guest star, one-shots. The arcs are more interesting because they give you more time to work through the character and they tend to give you more close-ups, which is what television is all about. I've done a couple of guest shots on shows, and I like to go and experience other people's working atmospheres as much as I can. I like to see how they are behaving and what they are doing. The top-notch shows have pretty good crews and I'm a big fan of hard-working camera crews. They make our jobs so easy."

Of course, Adam's television experience changed radically when Joss Whedon hired him for Fireflyin 2002. "A lot of the television industry is so cookie-cutter. In general, there are so many shows that are easy and bland to watch. You can tune in at any time and know exactly where you are in the story arc because it's pretty much the same every week. But the shows that Joss writes, you have to pay attention or you get lost. That's good and bad because you will lose a large percentage of people who aren't willing to focus so that can be a drawback, but Idon't care about them," he laughs devilishly. "That's not why I'm here. I'm here because good writing is fun to do. He's a really good writer so that is my blessing at this time."

Adam ended up appearing in seven of the 13 produced Firefly episodes and was just as upset as the rabidly forming fanbase when the show ended so quickly. "When it was cancelled, we were all heartbroken. It was a heartbreaker because we all understood how many stories there were to be told. Unfortunatly, we didn't get launched as well as we would have hoped. Business is business and we didn't get the numbers so off you go and I understand that, but as the artists, we all said, 'Nooo, there is so much more to tell!'" Obviously, Joss agreed as he worked tirelessly to keep the show's concept alive, getting Universal pictures to green-light the Firefly film, Serenity, which will reunite the cast and crew this summer. "I know the main cast is in, so it will be a family affair."

"It is a redemption that we are able to keep it going and all to Joss' credit and Mary Parent [supervising producer] at Universal, who saw the show, liked it and thought it was a no-brainer to make it into a feature film. I believed very strongly it would come back because Joss said he was going to get it done. He said he wasn't done telling the story and the man is nothing if not tenacious. He went and wrote a great script and they bought it. Woo hoo! I actually just came back from the lot today and I looked at some of the artwork and the sets they are beginning to build and it's just great. I took my son with me and as we were walking out of the studio, my seven-year-old son goes to me, 'Dad, I'm so happy for you.' He was there and saw me cry when they cancelled it, so he knows."

In the meantime, as Joss has been known to do with his Firefly cast in the past year, Adam has been brought onto another Joss Whedon show, appearing on Angel for the rest of the season. "I think [Joss] liked working with me and didn't want me to run off and do something else. I'm lucky that I've been able to convince and trick Joss into thinking I'm good at what I do," Adam chuckles. His new turn, as imposing Hamilton, is the kind of liason to the Senior Partners that Eve never quite lived up to during her tenure. Asked to describe the part, Adam smiles and offers, "Joss wanted a big guy to come in and kick David Boreanaz' ass, and seeing how I'm so reliable and so scary, he went with me. Joss also said, 'Now Adam, this is the anti-Jayne,' and I said, 'Great!'"

Despite being part of the Joss family now, Adam had some brushing-up to do when it came to getting to know Angel. "Well, my kids watched it here and there. We don't watch too much TV, but they knew it. I'd seen several episodes over the years. Not having committed to the arcs, it was hard to jump in, but I certainly get the pacing and the rhythm of the dialogue and the timing of the jokes." He then describes how he immersed himself into the actual day-to-day culture of the show. "You're professional and quiet and occasionally drop little humour bombs and let them get to know you. You get a sense of how the show works and then let your personality take over." His overall assessment of the show now is typically brief. "Pretty girls, handsome men and a really good crew."

Pressed more on the role that Hamilton takes in the show, Adam is cagey with the details but does offer, "He's representative of pure capitalism - he's all about business. Those that aren't willing to play the game get left behind and there are all kinds of ways to get left behind of this show. Let's just say I'm involved with the violently climactic stuff at the end of the season," he laughs sinisterly.

"I like the timbre of the guy," he continues. "He is very calm and has a nice suit. I think that some of the dry humour that comes out and playing the writing that Joss gives us; just playing it straight comes out so funny. I'm also liking the fact that the character is as powerful a force as Angel is and he's fearless. I'm fearless when I try to go in and play this stuff. Plus, the key to playing a heavy for me since I'm so big is to just be nice. Play nice. Do evil things."

Adam is pleased he was able to share time with another of Joss' casts, who he says are all in good spirits despite the show ending. "At this point, they are all ready to move on and they are looking forward to their next things. Five years running is a great accomplishment. They are blessed and hopefully, they invested their money wisely," he chuckles. For his part, he says, "I'm honoured to be a part of a series that will carry on. I just consider myself a piece of the puzzle and I'm lucky enough to be asked or invited to the party, if you will. I hope I can bring some laughs and grimaces to the fans."

His five or six-episode stint on Angel ended in mid-april and Adam reveals he has been auditioning for some new television series again. "I tested for a couple of pilots, but they said I was too tall," he smiles. Regardless, his next gig on Serenity began on 1 June, and it is his total focus for the time being. "I'm looking forward to it big time. I'm going to wrap up this episode of Angel and then I'm going to the gym every day. I've got a little work to do, but it's going to be great." So Angel fans can watch the resolution of their series with the added bonus of Adam's special brand of sinister taking them to the end while Jayne fans can look forward to the return of the mercenary on the big screen in early 2005.