David Boreanaz, a Force of Nature
David Boreanaz is a force of nature. That much is clear when the husky 6-footer walks into a room for an interview.
He's also something of a supernatural force, playing a vampire who can be by turns angelic or evil in the WB network Tuesday hit "Angel.'' The role began as a character on "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer'' but became so popular it was spun off into its own series.
That small-screen fame and his burly good looks put him on People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful list in 1999.
Now, with the horror film "Valentine,'' Boreanaz, 29, is making his first bid to become a big-screen force.
"'Valentine' came out of nowhere, and that's where I think life should be lived,'' Boreanaz said. "I hear, 'You've got to meet this director' or 'You've got to do this role.' '' Here, he gave a quick, pained look. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.''
For all this, he can thank his dog.
Boreanaz says he was "discovered'' by a Hollywood agent when he was out walking his dog. "I should have had the dog on a leash,'' he recalled, "and I was running.'' But the agent got his attention, and signed him up. His first break: a Foster's beer commercial.
That led to a run of offbeat jobs that ranged from "cleaning out the honeywagons'' (Hollywood set speak for portable bathrooms) to more colorful fare. "I sold gourmet food door-to-door,'' Boreanaz said. "I was a towel boy for two weeks at an upscale sports club where they all had big egos. I got fired because I threw a towel at somebody.''
His is a very L.A. story. As for the city he now calls home, "L.A. is a beautiful blonde with dirty underwear. That's how I look at it.'' Another gig en route to his TV success had Boreanaz dressed up in a bear outfit for a bar mitzvah. "Only I didn't have the bear shoes,'' he said. "But work is work, whether it's television, movies, whether it's stage or outdoor enjoyment. Or a circus. As an entertainer, as somebody who loves what they do, it's work.
"Brian Dennehy gave me the best advice,'' said Boreanaz, who met the Tony and Golden Globe winning actor on the Warner Bros. lot one day. Dennehy's advice: "Save your money.''
Boreanaz, born in Buffalo, N.Y., son of a Philadephia TV weatherman and still relatively new to Los Angeles, welcomed the advice. There are other areas he'd welcome wise advice. Marriage, for one.
Boreanaz's first ended in divorce last year. "Not always a fun thing to go through,'' he said simply. "It's like a death, and I'm going through the defrost period in my life. I look back and it's an experience that made me a better person.''
"He is not shy,'' actress Denise Richards said of her "Valentine'' co star, one of the few men in a film primarily about attractive young women in peril. Boreanaz plays an understanding boyfriend. "There were so many girls (on the Vancouver set), it was cool to have some male energy there when we were filming,'' Richards added.
The TV series "Angel'' this season has Boreanaz's character delving back into the dark side - and performing the occasional Barry Manilow song in a karaoke bar. "We're cooking along,'' Boreanaz said. "Angel is definitely on a path of destruction and kind of between evil and good and doesn't care really. That will come to a realization and with that will come an epiphany. Where they're heading four episodes from now will be good.''
