A.J. Buckley was born in Dublin in 1978. When he was six, his parents emigrated to Canada. He was featured in the 1998 film “Disturbing Behaviour” and he stars as Adam Ross in the television series “CSI:NY”.
Interview in “Calgary Herald”:
f you didn’t realize that A.J. Buckley is on this season of Justified, don’t feel bad: the actor’s own mother didn’t recognize him when she walked past him at the airport.
Best known for playing lab nerd Adam Ross on CSI: NY, Buckley physically transformed himself so he wouldn’t be typecast by his eight years on the popular TV series after it was cancelled last year.
“I trained my ass off. I put on 45 pounds. I am really big. I’m up to 197 pounds,” Buckley says of the seven months he spent in the gym preparing for his role in North of Hell, a feature film with Katherine Heigl and Patrick Wilson. (Buckley is also a producer on the project.) “I was training twice a day with no cardio, all power lifting.”
And viewers can see the results on this week’s episode of Justified.
“I am pretty much buck naked. You’ll get to see my whole world on Tuesday,” Buckley says, laughing. “It was cold that day. That’s all I have to say.”
The Irish-born, Vancouver-raised actor plays Danny Crowe, a “romantic sociopath,” on Justified. His murder of Crowes imposes on kin back in Harlan County, Kentucky, when their criminal enterprises in Florida dry up. The Crowe clan figures in the works of author Elmore Leonard, whom was an executive producer of the series before his death in 2013. The author excelled at creating engaging characters who lived in a universe of shades of grey.
“None of these guys think they are doing anything wrong and that is the fun part of playing it,” Buckley says. “They don’t think they are bad buys. They have conviction that what they are doing is right and that they are claiming what is theirs.”
But Justified isn’t the only tasty treat on Buckley’s professional plate. The 35-year-old is on the phone from Vancouver, where he’s filming an episode of Supernatural. Yes, the Ghostfacers are back, ready to take names and kick butt. (Not really, but they think they are, as is the wont of the bumbling team of so-so supernatural investigators led by Buckley and Travis Wester.) So, A.J., give us the scoop!
“Uhhh, we’re back?” he says, laughing again. While the details on the plot are under wraps, Buckley will say “Definitely, this episode is a lot different than any other Ghostfacers episode that we’ve done. And I will leave it at that. It’s a lot different in the way that we have shot it, and been portrayed.”
As if ping-ponging from the set in Los Angeles to Vancouver wasn’t enough, Buckley is a freshly minted father. His fiancée, Abigail Ochse, gave birth to the couple’s first child, Willow, on Jan. 19. The day they brought Willow home from the hospital, Buckley had to hop a plane to Vancouver.
He’s been keeping in touch via pictures and Skype, and as Ochse tells him, not much happens the first few weeks except sleeping and feeding.
“This is where it gets crazy: we shoot from 7 a.m. Monday to 6 in Vancouver, then I take the eight o’clock flight and get in at midnight in Los Angeles. I go home and see my fiancée and baby, then leave at 7 a.m. for an all day and night shoot for Justified,” he says. “I’m not complaining at all about how busy I am, but this is definitely going to test my sleeping ability and being able to memorize lines.”
Something else that’s been challenging that last one is his colleagues on the Justified set. From lead Timothy Olyphant to show runner Graham Yost (another Canuck) to the cast and crew, everyone is playing at the top of their game, he says.
“The words are unbelievable. The episode I’m about to do, I’m looking at the words and how it’s written and comes together is so awesome,” Buckley marvels. “Walton Goggins is the best bad guy on TV, hands down. He’s so eloquent. I am doing takes and I am looking at what he is bringing. And then it’s ‘Oh s..t. Sorry, I was looking at what you were doing there.’ Everybody just brings so much.”
Justified airs Tuesdays on Super Channel.
The above article can also be accessed online here.
TCM Overview:
At age six, actor A. J. Buckley’s family moved across the Atlantic to White Rock, British Columbia, where Buckley would grow up. Diagnosed with dyslexia, he struggled with his studies, but found success when he landed his first acting job in the mid ’90s on the Canadian adventure series “The Odyssey.” Shortly thereafter he appeared on the American science-fiction dramas “The X-Files” and “Millennium.” In 1998, he made his film debut in the teen horror thriller “Disturbing Behavior,” which boasted a lineup of teen stars including James Marsden, Katie Holmes, and Ethan Embry. He went on to appear in a number of films, most notably the teen horror flick “The In Crowd” and the acclaimed indie drama “Blue Car.” He worked regularly in television as an actor and voice actor. In 2005, he landed the recurring role on “CSI: NY” as Adam Ross, a gifted scientist with a dark sense of humor. The next year, he made his first appearance on TV’s “Supernatural” as Ed Zeddmore, an aspiring ghost hunter. The character caught on and would appear in several episodes of the show’s run. In 2008, Buckley co-founded the film production company FourFront Productions. Two years later he created a web-series spin-off for his character called “Ghostfacers.” Buckley writes, directs, and stars in the critically acclaimed web-series.
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
