Riley Finn of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

December 20, 1999

Marc Blucas, who plays Riley Finn on the WB's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," chats about his role, trying to fill Angel's shoes, and what it's like to work with Sarah Michelle Gellar.

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CheckOut: Welcome to a chat with actor Marc Blucas to discuss what it's like being the newcomer on the WB's Emmy Award-winning show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Currently in its fourth season, the show airs Tuesday nights from 8-9 p.m. Marc joins the cast as college Junior 'Riley Finn,' as they embark into a new world at the University of California at Sunnydale. Welcome to CheckOut.com and Talk City. CheckOut.com is the online connection to the worlds of music, movies and games. Shop here for all of your favorites! Welcome Marc!

Marc Blucas: Oh, it's great to be here. Happy Holidays to everyone that's decided to be here, to show up and chat with me!

Tamara38: Did you always want to be an actor?

Marc Blucas: I think so. It took a second place to another passion I had in life, which was basketball, so in a way I guess I've always been a performer, but the first love was basketball.

Alexis Here: Ok, how long have you been into acting, and how long did it take you to "make it" so to speak?

Marc Blucas: Well, making it is still a pretty strong way to put it, but I've been acting for only about three and a half years now. I was a business major in college, so I never actually studied it until I moved to Los Angeles to pursue it, and I consider myself very lucky.

Mimi: Can you tell us about appearing in the film "Pleasantville"?

Marc Blucas: That, again, was another situation in which I was very lucky. I was only cast to work for a day on the movie, and ended up working for eight weeks on it. It was during the filming of that movie that I really fell in love with the process and the business of making a movie. Even though it was a small part I got to be around an extremely talented film maker in Gary Ross, and a great cast of actors that really put the right kind of taste in my mouth and made me want to pursue this. So Pleasantville was a wonderful experience for me. I'm surprised you could even see me in the movie! (laughing) My part was so small.

Daleanne: What part did you play in the NBC miniseries "The 60 's"?

Marc Blucas: My character's name was Buddy. He was the best friend of the actor Jerry O'Connell, who was one of the leads in the miniseries. My character kind of represented the younger generation that was college educated during that turbulent time, and it was a wonderful project to be attached to and to work on because of all the people involved. It's pretty hard to cram ten years into a four hour television show, but I thought they did a wonderful job in trying to depict all of the events and issues that happened in that time. It was hard in a way, because I didn't have a reference point, not having grown up and been a part of the 60's. But again, it was a very educational and interesting project to be involved with.

Tae126: do you have any advice for someone like myself who wishes to pursue acting as a career but has no idea where to start?

Marc Blucas: Well, training is always the best place. There's no substitute for talent. To recommend someone to pick up and move to L.A. is a tough thing. That would be hard for me to do, because it's a very hard town. But regardless of what it is, if you find that passion in life, there's only one way in life to go after it, and that's all out. So my biggest advice would be to study, be the best you can be at it, identify what you want out of it, and do what it takes to make that happen. I know it sounds very rocky, in a sense, but you have to be kind of a professional dream chaser with a real discipline to accomplish the goals that you set.

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