Buffy's Riley

Background:

“I’m pretty much competitive about anything. By nature, it’s a competitive business but I’ve also been that guy, I’ll walk out of an audition and see the six guys waiting and say, 'Hey, we didn’t do the second scene. It’s only the first and the third.' I don’t wish bad will on anyone. We’re all after the same thing and whatever happens, happens. If they like what I did in the room and my energy and my thing, then that’s great. But I’m not going to intentionally sabotage anyone, or at least I haven’t yet.” Marc Blucas

A former basketball player, Marc Blucas tried his hand at acting and gained fans for his turn as the handsome Riley Finn (1999-2002), a vampire hunter and Buffy's boyfriend, on the WB popular supernatural TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

He also found success on the silver screen. The 6' 2" blond actor from a small town in Pennsylvania made his film debut in the comedy “Eddie” (1996) and has subsequently starred in “Summer Catch” (2001), “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (2001), “We Were Soldiers” (2002), “Sunshine State” (2002), “They” (2002), “I Capture the Castle” (2003), “Prey for Rock & Roll” (2003), “View from the Top” (2003), “The Alamo” (2004), “First Daughter” (2004) and “Thr3e” (2006).

He recently appeared in the acclaimed medical drama series "House M.D." and will star in the upcoming film “The Jane Austen Book Club.”

Basketball Player

Childhood and Family:

In Butler, Pennsylvania, Marcus Paul Blucas was born on January 11, 1972. His mother, Mary Blucas, is divorced from Blucas' father.

“You go to college and the whole time you're there you wish you weren't and then when you're out you wish you were back in. At first I was mad that I had that experience but now I say thank goodness I had another life and I got an education.” Marc Blucas

Young Blucas was the star center on the Girard High School Basketball Team. Because of his athletic ability, he earned a full scholarship to Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He graduated in 1994 and is a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity Wake Forest University '94.

While studying business there, Blucas played shooting guard and small forward for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and spent one season playing on the same court with now NBA star Tim Duncan. After failing to enter the NBA, Blucas, who had a career total of 387 points, 187 rebounds, and 114 assists in 89 games played, moved to England where he played pro basketball for a year with British Basketball League powerhouse Manchester Giants.

Demon Hunter

Career:

After playing basketball, Marc Blucas decided to become an attorney but eventually changed his mind and went into acting. In 1995, he made his acting debut in the CBS crime/drama TV-movie “Inflammable,” starring Marg Helgenberger and Kris Kristofferson.

The next year, Blucas got his acting break as the baby-faced New York Knicks player in director Steve Rash's basketball movie “Eddie” (1996), starring Whoopi Goldberg and Dennis Farina. That same year, he launched the company Sports Prism International, a career management firm aiding professional athletes, and served as basketball coordinator of the CBS biopic about the sports reporter and basketball coach who died of cancer in 1993, “Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story.” Afterward, he appeared as a SWAT team member in Eric Larsen and Eric Louzil's independent action film “Dilemma” (1997) and as a basketball hero in writer-director Gary Ross' film starring Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon, “Pleasantville” (1998), which he also choreographed the basketball scenes.

1999 was Blucas' big break when he joined the cast of the WB (now UPN) Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated cult TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." During the show's fourth season and the first part of its fifth season (1999-2002), he played the regular role of Riley Finn, the demon hunter who was involved personally and professionally with Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy. His character was named #6 of the Top Ten Sexiest Men of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) and "Angel" (1999) universe in a fan poll by the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fanzine (2004).

On his experience working in the hit show, Blucas admitted, “It was so great to be part of a big hit show with such a loyal fan base that has a huge, cult, loyal following. I don’t think that will ever go away. You might talk to some of your friends and say, 'Yeah, I saw ‘Friends’ last night but I didn’t see it three weeks before that.' It was do or die with 'Buffy.’ You either didn’t watch it or it was every week and you didn’t answer the phone, you didn’t go to the bathroom, you don’t miss it. So, yeah, it was fun to be part of a show that has that kind of fan base.”

During his “Buffy” stint, Blucas had a supporting role in the NBC event miniseries "The 60s," alongside Josh Hamilton and Julia Stiles, and guest starred in an episode of UPN’s comedy "Clueless" (as a basketball player tutored by Rachel Blanchard's Cher). He was also seen in MTV’s anthology series "Undressed." He became Carmen Electra's ex-boyfriend in writer-director Jeff Abugov's “The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human” (1999) and had a deleted scene in William Malone's 1999 remake of the 1959 classic psychological thriller/horror film “House on Haunted Hill,” starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen and Taye Diggs. He also supported Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Biel and Matthew Lillard in Mike Tollin's baseball-themed directorial debut, “Summer Catch,” and was featured in writer-director-star Kevin Smith's comedy movie, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (both in 2001).

"We went through a training camp to learn all the normal, baseball stuff but that's just for an actor to become physically comfortable in a character. Frankly, we learn how to hit, throw, run, scratch, and spit. All the things you need to know how to do in baseball. The physical element of characters is something I like bringing in because of my athletic background. So I like bringing that and my character was one who was the natural choice to go to the next level. His hill to climb in the movie had more to do with his choice of women and how he had to deal with the guys about that choice. It was a fun part of the movie for me." Marc Blucas (on filming “Summer Catch” (2001)

After his contract with “Buffy” ended, Blucas worked primarily on the big screen. He was cast as 2nd Lt. Henry Herrick in Randall Wallace's Vietnam war drama film “We Were Soldiers” (2002; starring Mel Gibson) and as Scotty in writer-director John Sayles' ensemble comedy-drama film “Sunshine State” (2002; also starring Angela Bassett).

Following his co-starring performance as the boyfriend of an athletic psychology student (played by Laura Regan) in Robert Harmon's horror/thriller film “They” (2002), Blucas landed a major role in Tim Fywell's acclaimed indie film “I Capture the Castle” (2002). In the latter film, adapted from Dodie Smith's first novel, Blucas portrayed Neil Cotton, a California-raised, carefree young man who wants to become a rancher in America, and one of a pair of brothers (with Henry Thomas) who falls for the same woman (played by Rose Byrne).

Blucas subsequently was involved in another high-profile indie movie, Alex Steyermark's musical drama “Prey for Rock and Roll” (2003), in which he played a virginal ex criminal who becomes Mr. Right for the lead singer (played by Gina Gershon) of an all-girl rock and roll band. On working with Gershon, Blucas recalled, "She’s a very creative and talented individual - as is the rest of the cast. The days that I didn’t have any responsibility in terms of scenes and dialog were kind of fun. I could go and be the roadie and the groupie and just watch these guys perform. It was fun, I was a well-paid extra. Gina handled everything extremely well. There was never a power trip. There was never anything that I saw that made me think anything other than 'There's a pro.'”

Also in 2003, Blucas supported Gwyneth Paltrow in Bruno Barreto's long-delayed airline comedy flop “A View From the Top” and co-starred with Aisha Tyler in Saladin K. Patterson's 12-minute comedy film, “One Flight Stand.” He then appeared with Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton in the ill-received historical drama directed by native Texan John Lee Hancock, “The Alamo,” a remake about the legendary Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution.

2004 saw Blucas as James Lansome, the handsome Secret Service agent who goes undercover at a college to protect a spirited Katie Holmes' titular character and later became her love interest, in Forest Whitaker's romantic comedy “First Daughter.”

In 2006, Blucas starred as a ruthless book publisher in Gideon Raff's thriller movie, “The Killing Floor,” alongside Shiri Appleby and Reiko Aylesworth, and starred in Robby Henson's poor adaptation of Ted Dekker's best-selling, award-winning suspense novel, “Thr3e.” More recently, he co-starred with Jane Seymour, Zoe Saldana, Taryn Manning and Mila Kunis in writer-director Eric Amadio's edgy relationship comedy, “After Sex” (2007). He also returned to the small screen and was spotted as a guest in a March 2007 episode of FOX’s critically acclaimed medical drama series ""House M.D."

Blucas has completed his upcoming film project with director Robin Swicord, “The Jane Austen Book Club,” a romantic drama based on the book by Karen Joy Fowler. The film will also star Maria Bello, Jimmy Smits, Emily Blunt, Ellen Burstyn and Kathy Baker.

Awards:
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