David Boreanaz is known to sci-fi fans as Angel/Angelus, his role from the cult classic WB series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as its WB/UPN spinoff Angel, which moved the action from Sunnydale to a Los Angeles detective firm.
But if it wasn’t for a chance encounter while walking his dog, Boreanaz may not have been cast in the role at all.
In the mid-1990s, the actor/director’s most recognizable credit was a guest appearance on Married with Children, but as Showbiz Cheatsheet explains, that was soon to change.
The casting director for Buffy, Marcia Shulman, got a call from one of her friends, who had spotted David Boreanaz while he was walking his dog and though he might be perfect for such a unique vampire.
David Boreanaz can thank a dog-walking experience for his biggest role.
That obviously worked out well, though these days Boreanaz stars as Hayes on the CBS war drama SEAL Team, which has featured a dog as a regular part of the cast in Cerebus, and he also had a main role in the Fox sci-fi show Bones, playing FBI agent Seeley Booth.
He has also had voice acting appearances on the adult animated series Family Guy, which featured Brian the dog as a main member of the cast.
Buffy’s cast also included Buffy Summers herself, fellow dog lover Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, Charisma Carpenter, James Marsters and Michelle Trachtenberg.
The cast of Angel included Carpenter, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof and J August Richards, all of whom have appeared in multiple Whedonverse projects.
While the show itself, as well as related properties (Firefly, Dollhouse, Agents of SHIELD, etc) in the Whedonverse have come under scrutiny due to creator/showrunner Joss Whedon’s reprehensible behavior, the product itself is very much art, and so well worth pondering and chewing over.
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