Actor A.J. Buckley.
In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, we come back down to Earth to talk with actor A.J. Buckley about his role of Adam Ross on CSI: NY.
It’s not every job where you show up at the office and have to, among other things, analyze a shark tooth and stomach contents, use trigonometry to determine the launch point of a corpse that was catapulted from a tall building, and identify a weird substance on a dead person’s lips as, in fact, fish food. All those things and more are all in a day’s work for CSI: NY lab tech Adam Ross. Although dealing with bizarre and extraordinary situations has become second nature for the young man, there is one aspect of his job that actor A.J. Buckley, who plays Ross, still has difficulty with even after all his time on the show.
“It’s the technobabble, and the size of the words,” says Buckley. “I don’t know how I get through it some days. Just recently I had to say a word that was so huge that I thought for sure different muscles in my brain were going to seize up,” jokes the actor. “I even looked the word up on the Internet to get the proper pronunciation and I couldn’t find it. It was so big and so odd that my computer didn’t even want to attempt it. Everyone has a good laugh whenever I get a word wrong. The moment I walk on-set to do the scene, they’re like, ‘Oh, boy, here we go,’ and I say, ‘Alright, then, I hope there’s plenty of film in the camera.’ So it’s all good.”
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Buckley was six years old when he and his family immigrated to British Columbia, Canada. However, it was while still in Dublin that he first set his sights on what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. “I remember the day quite clearly,” notes the actor. “I was five, and my Mom took me to see a play. Afterwards I said to her, ‘That’s [acting] what I want to do.’ It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do, and even more so now that I’m older and have branched out into writing, producing and directing. I love everything about this industry, from the deal making, to going after a story that moved me, to writing a script, to director, acting, etc. To me, it’s the greatest business in the world and I feel very fortunate to be earning a living at it.”
Since making his debut when he was 14 in an episode of the Canadian fantasy series The Odyssey, the actor has guest-starred in dozens of TV shows including NYPD Blue, Without A Trace and Bones as well as several made-for-TV movies. He has also appeared in such feature films as The In Crowd, Blue Car and Disturbing Behavior.
Loyal watchers of TV’s Supernatural are sure to remember Buckley’s performance as Ed Zeddmore, the hothead in a pair of geeky wannabe ghost hunters in the first season story Hell House. Ten years before filming that, the actor guest-starred in not one but two other Vancouver-based series, The X-Files and Millennium.
“The X-Files was really cool,” says the actor. “The first episode I did was in the second season, and I played Agent Scully’s [Gillian Anderson] brother Bill Jr. in a flashback. Then I came back the following year to play a character called ‘Dude’ [in War of the Coprophages]. That was my first time working with prosthetics as well as cockroaches. Back then, The X-Files was one of the most popular shows in the world and I was thrilled just to get on it.
“In the Millennium episode I did [Weeds], my character was kidnapped and tortured in a basement where he was forced to drink blood and all sorts of other nasty stuff happened to him.”
It was an audition for a guest-role on CSI: Miami that ultimately led to Buckley being cast as Adam Ross in CSI: NY. “I didn’t know it at the time, but when I read for CSI: Miami, my name was also on a list to play one of the lab techs that the people at CSI: NY wanted to try out over the course of a season,” recalls Buckley. “The thing, though, with CSI is that you can only do one show a season, so my agent asked, ‘Are you interested in trying A.J. out [as a lab tech] or should we just go ahead with the offer on CSI: Miami?’ They said, ‘No, we’ll write him into this [CSI: NY] episode. It’s only three lines, but we’ll try to come up with something else later and hopefully he’ll return. We can’t guarantee anything, but let’s see how it goes.’
“Those three lines [in the second season episode Bad Beat] turned into a couple of more lines in another episode, and as a result we’ve kind of found a rhythm and banter to Adam Ross pretty quickly,” continues the actor. “And audiences seemed to respond positively to the character. For me, I think the biggest challenge going into CSI: NY was the fact that there was the potential for it to turn into something more. That can always be difficult on you because you’re putting pressure on yourself and not be as free within the role as you might otherwise be.
“So that was definitely in my head starting out, and on top of that, it was only three or four lines. That’s it. There was no real character description. It was like, you’re a lab tech, let’s see what you’ve got. So I kind of threw a bunch of things at the wall all at once and waited to see what stuck. I remember, though, sitting in my trailer and being terribly nervous, and I thought, ‘Use this. Make the character nervous and truthful to what you’re feeling right now.’ And it worked. Again, people responded to that and were able to relate to Adam’s overachieving and wanting to be on the team. Now I think just in the evolution of my character and learning a bit more about his past and with everything that he experienced in last year’s finale, that he’s grown more confident. People are listening to Adam more, and he’s starting to grow a little hair on his chest so to speak.”
One particular CSI: NY episode that showcases a multitude of the actor’s talents is the aforementioned third season finale Snow Day. In it, Adam is left to finish up at a crime scene after a successful warehouse raid, when he along with two uniformed police officers are taken hostage by Irish mobsters looking to recover their drugs. Detective Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) later arrives at the warehouse to assist Adam, and is taken captive as well. The two must work together in order to find a way out of their predicament.
“When I first read the script I thought, ‘Hey, this is great. I get a chance to break out of what my character typically does and really delve into the acting side of it,’” enthuses Buckley. “And by no means am I implying that what I do is boring. I thoroughly enjoy being in the lab as Adam. However, when I saw the emotional side of this story, the actor in me went, ‘Wow, OK, I can show up on-set today and go to a fun place and change things up a bit.’ Prior to this, I don’t believe the writers or producers had seen me in that light as far as the emotional level of my character.
“Those scenes, though, wouldn’t have been anything without Danny being in them with me, and the two of us just going for it and getting something out of it. So I had a blast on those couple of days where Adam was getting beat up. Again, it was different. I’ve grown accustomed to doing those weightier scenes in the various characters I’ve played over the course of my career, and it was a treat to revisit that type of acting.”
Having worked on 20 episodes during seasons two and three of CSI: NY, Buckley was made a series regular at the start of season four. His character was also given a romantic interest, namely Adam’s fellow lab tech, Kendall Novak (Bess Wohl). “The opening scene in that episode [Can You Hear Me Now?] has my character on the floor and a half-naked Kendall on the couch, and I was like, ‘Alright, this is a cool place to kick off the season,’” jokes the actor. “Beth is absolutely fantastic and we have terrific on-screen chemistry. Again, it breaks up the regular sort of scientific thing and shows that Adam has some game with the ladies, but he’s still a klutz and nervous. I mean, there’s a reason why Adam was on the floor and Kendall was on the couch,” he laughs.
“I think the writers enjoy writing for my character because he’s kind of the lightness of the show. You’re watching all this murder and mayhem, and then you cut to Adam for a minute or two to have a laugh and take a breather before going back to the action, and I enjoy that.”
Behind the scenes, Buckley enjoys a good rapport with his CSI: NY costars, and he hopes that translates on-screen. “I love my scenes with Gary Sinise [Detective Mac Taylor],” says the actor. “The energy between the two of us always brings out some moments that aren’t necessarily on the page. In real life, Gary is someone I look up to, and I’ve tried to show that in Adam, too, with regard to Mac, and that deep down he kind of wants to be someone with Mac’s leadership skills and a little bit of Danny’s toughness.
“With Detective Stella Bonasera [Melina Kanakaredes], she’s a motherly figure who my character feels comfortable around and definitely respects. I think the HIV storyline with her and Adam resulted in a connection between them, and I liked that Stella would confide in Adam and lean on him for his expertise.
“As for Carmen Giovinazzo, I think he’s a big part of me being here. I knew him prior to working on this show, and he’s gone out of his way to create some cool beats with our two characters and show that, yes, there is chemistry between Danny and Adam.”
As much as Buckley loves acting, there was a time when he considered giving it up. “It was right before CSI,” he says. “I was down to $32, and thought, ‘Do I go back to Canada and try to get a 9 to 5 job while I figure out what’s next, or do I stick it out a little longer.’ Thank God I’ve got great friends as well as family, and, of course, my health, and I was like, ‘Just hang on a bit longer,’ and I’m so glad I did.”
Steve Eramo
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