Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [24]
Like many of his other cast members, Trammell was unfamiliar with Charlaine Harris and the Southern Vampire Mysteries, but after reading a few, he quickly came to appreciate the appeal and reach of the bestselling novels, a connection that only deepened upon getting to know Harris.
“[True Blood] gave me the opportunity to sort of represent where I really came from and the people I grew up with . . . [And Charlaine Harris is] very familiar to me because she’s from Arkansas, and lives in Arkansas. She’s had three kids, and she’s like a regular mom, but she writes these crazy books . . .”
Trammell is far from living the dog’s life. He’s on a hit show, and in a serious relationship with Missy Yager, a former Mad Men guest star with connections of her own to Alan Ball, as a guest star on Ball’s last character ensemble show, Six Feet Under.
Trammell reflects on his good fortune, “I love working with Alan Ball. He’s one of the best writers for television, and it’s fun. The show is set in an edgy, swampy gothic world. It’s scary and bloody, but there’s a lot of dark comedy . . . True Blood is definitely the biggest thing I’ve ever done.”
(B. Henderson, www.alexander-skarsgardfans.com)
Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse)
“There are a few models for Jason . . . If people want to read George Bush into him, I think that’s fine.”
— Ryan Kwanten on his character Jason Stackhouse
“Sometimes you need to destroy something to save it. That’s in the Bible . . . or the Constitution.”
— Jason Stackhouse
“[Ryan Kwanten] was great to work with, because every time he did a take, it was something different, and all brilliant . . .”
— Michael McMillian (Steve Newlin)
Ryan Christian Kwanten was born on November 28, 1976, in Sydney, Australia. Later in life, he qualified for the World Biathlon in Sweden (2005) and in Italy (2007). So, it should be no surprise that Kwanten was discovered en route to a swimming practice, that his first appearance on camera was as a young surfer, or that many of Kwanten’s roles have emphasized some element of physicality, whether it’s riding waves, riding horseback, or . . . enjoying the company of a beautiful woman.
Like Anna Paquin, Kwanten came to acting by accident. Kwanten was 15 and waiting in the family car for his brother to come out of an audition so they could continue on to Kwanten’s swim training. After some time, he went inside to see how much longer his brother would be. The agent took one look at Kwanten and signed him immediately. His first guest role was on the Australian soap opera Home and Away, which has been the training ground for a number of other actors who went on to thriving careers, including Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential, Memento), Oscar-winner Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight), Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck), and Mel-issa George (Alias).
From 1992 to 1998, Kwanten had a number of guest appearances on Australian television shows, and appeared in his first film, Signal One. In 1998, Kwanten rejoined Home and Away as regular Vinnie Patterson, a role that made him an instant heartthrob in Australia, and for which he won an Inside Soap Award for Best Australian Actor. He left Home and Away in 2002 to appear in his first lead role in a film, Liquid Bridge (2003), after which he moved to Los Angeles to try his hand in Hollywood. “There were [difficult] times . . . I bought a push bike because that’s all I could afford, and I was riding for two or three hours from auditions with all the changes of clothes in my backpack.”His hard work paid off, and Kwanten started to secure guest roles on such shows as The Handler and Tru Calling. In 2004, Kwanten was cast as an Australian surfer in the short-lived series Summerland, which also boasts a pre–High School Musical Zac Efron among its cast. After Summerland ended production, Kwanten appeared with Donnie Wahlberg in Dead