J. August Richards

Jaime Augusto Richards dit "J.August Richards" est né le 28 août 1973 aux Etats-Unis.
Dès l'enfance, il se passionne pour la comédie et nourrit le rêve de devenir acteur.
En 1988, il participe à une audition et est retenu pour jouer dans un épisode du "Cosby Show".
Puis en 1990, il s'inscrit dans une université californienne où il étudie le théâtre. Décidé à réussir, il enchaîne casting sur casting.
Et ça marche plutôt bien pour lui!
On le voit notamment dans des séries à succès comme "JAG", "Clueless", "Sliders", "Nash Bridges", "Moesha" ou encore "The practice" et "A la maison blanche".
Fort de ces expériences, il tente alors sa chance au cinéma et apparaît dans les films "Good burger" et "Why do fools fall in love?" en 1998.
On le voit également dans les téléfilms suivants: "The temptations" et "Mutiny".
Puis en 1999, il incarne Bryce dans "Undressed", une série diffusée sur MTV.
La même année Joss Whedon, le créateur de "Buffy contre les vampires" et d'"Angel", le remarque et lui confie le rôle de Charles Gunn, le jeune chef d'un gang anti-vampires!
Conquis, les fans d'"Angel" l'adoptent aussitôt et son personnage devient alors un régulier dans la série dès la fin de la saison une!
Il va alors incarner ce personnage jusqu'en 2004 lorsque la série s'arrête au bout de cinq saisons.

En 2003, il a tourné le téléfilm "Critical Assembly" dans le rôle d'Allan et fin 2004, il a participé à la série "Les experts: Miami".

Il reviendra enfin l'année prochaine dans un tout nouveau film intitulé "Paved with Good Intentions" dans le rôle de Travis Balden.

Source: Hypnoweb Angel

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(regarding his given name): It is kind of grandiose, isn`t it? I changed my name at 14 because no one outside of my family could pronounce my first name correctly. My parents are from Panama, and so there`s a primary AND a secondary stress on my first name, Jaime, so it sounds like HIGH-MAY. And my middle name is actually Augusto [Ah-GOOS-toe], so that`s tough too. The funny thing is, I have so many nicknames that no one calls me by my given name anyway. Still, I have thought about changing it just to Jay Richards. -

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Gunn, like me, has a James Bond obsession. He would love to be James Bond, and it`s a great role that I would love to be, someday.

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[on his role as Charles Gunn on "Angel":] "When I change my lines, I just deliver them and wait for their reaction. I just kind of ad-lib sometimes and they`ll pull me back or they`ll just let it go. When they have a problem with it, they tell me. It`s not that I have to change much, because they usually get it right. I`m glad they don`t dumb him down and make him say stupid things." [March 18, 2003]

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[on his role as Charles Gunn on "Angel":] "What`s ironic is that I don`t think race ultimately had anything to do with me getting the part. When I auditioned, I heard that they were looking at white guys, Latino guys, Asian guys, so they didn`t know where they were going with it."

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[on his role as Charles Gunn on "Angel":] "I don`t think my parents were too happy when I announced that I wanted to be an actor. And then when I told them I was starring in a show about vampires, they were like, `Couldn`t you at least get a role as a nice lawyer or something.` My Mom always wanted me to be a lawyer or a priest. I think they were a little bit surprised by my career choice." [March 18, 2003]

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[on his role as Charles Gunn on "Angel":] "Gunn is an activist, a renegade vampire hunter who leads his motley crew of fellow hunters on a personal crusade of execution for reasons that the audience is not yet aware of. He is a tormented soul and a lone ranger, much like Angel, but he has adopted a family of lost and disenfranchised who he will protect at any cost. It`s almost like he`s two people in one, a violent and aggressive warrior, but also someone who desires family and people close to him." [March 18, 2003]

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[on his role as Charles Gunn on "Angel":] "Everybody on the set is fantastic and there are so many interesting people. I absolutely love working with David Boreanaz, and Charisma Carpenter I completely adore -- she teaches me to dance. She`s definitely one of my favorite people on the set. And Alexis Denisof is such a dynamic actor. He`s phenomenal. There is so much I can see happening to this character [Gunn], it makes me excited to think about all the ways he can branch out. Charles is a fantastic character. I really love his spirit. He`s so pure and clean and unaffected. I love the extent to which he goes to protect the people he loves. I find that fascinating and admirable." [March 18, 2003]