- 4 hours ago
The Transformation Of David Boreanaz
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00David Boreanaz's career, personal life, and style have evolved steadily since
00:05he began greasing TV screens in the 90s. You don't need to be a forensic anthropologist
00:10to understand his evolution, although it would probably help.
00:15After majoring in cinema and photography at Ithaca College in New York State,
00:19a 22-year-old David Boreanaz headed to Los Angeles with big dreams. As he told Parade in 2019,
00:26the start of his Hollywood career was as rocky as any other budding stars.
00:30He took up occupancy on his sister's couch and kept busy handing his resume out.
00:35He even sneaked onto movie lots by donning a sharpsuit and impersonating a studio gigwig.
00:41In between the odd commercial or theater gig, Boreanaz spent a few years bouncing between
00:46blue-collar jobs like parking cars and cleaning toilets. But in the middle of it all,
00:51he scored a huge win when he played Frank, a beautiful but dim biker boyfriend of Christina
00:57Applegate's Kelly Bundy, on a 1993 episode of Married with Children. The episode ends with Frank
01:02getting beat up in a movie theater by grumpy family patriarch Al, which was the sitcom equivalent
01:08of winning the lottery in the 90s. The role was also notable for the bad boy leather jacket paired
01:14with a wholesome, crisp T-shirt — a look that Boreanaz would repeat throughout his career.
01:19Nice bike.
01:22Punk.
01:25After struggling for years following his Married with Children guest spot,
01:29Boreanaz eventually found himself in the right place when he was cast as tortured good guy monster
01:35Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997. The role transformed him overnight,
01:41though while Angel's transformation would lead to evil and back again. Offscreen, Boreanaz became a
01:46beloved heartthrob. The actor has confessed to loving designers like Versace and Helmut Lang,
01:52but as he told the New York Post in 2001, his style mostly focused on wearing things he feels
01:57comfortable in. That might explain why he spent much of his Buffy-era rise to fame pairing a
02:03structured leather jacket with a simple T-shirt. But it's interesting to note that the look also
02:07reflects that of his character, who would similarly lurk around Sunnydale in a leather blazer along with
02:13a T-shirt or button-down.
02:15Look cold.
02:19Oh, right. Give her your jacket.
02:22By 1999, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a massive hit. But Sunnydale just wasn't big enough to contain
02:28a vampire slayer and her on-again-off-again undead dreamboat boyfriend. So Boreanaz became the star of a
02:35spinoff show, as Angel premiered on the WB on October 5th, 1999, with the deadpan vamp opening
02:42a detective agency in Los Angeles. The series gave Boreanaz the chance to direct his first TV episode,
02:48and it also gave him the space to better develop Angel as a more fully formed character.
02:53Angel showrunner David Greenwald described the show at Entertainment Weekly as a noir about addiction
02:59and redemption, with Angel symbolizing a man very literally trying to fight his demons.
03:04Though the more adult-oriented role demanded that his character be much darker,
03:08Boreanaz thrived in his ability to underline the character's tragedy with moments of comedy.
03:14He would continue to showcase this sort of duality throughout his career. As his character grew,
03:19so too did Boreanaz. Sartorially, while Angel swapped out his leather for a private-eye
03:24trench coat, the actor incorporated a slicker, more professional look as the leather went out
03:30and tailored suits came in. In 2001, David Boreanaz tried his hand at big-screen success,
03:37within the comfortable confines of the horror genre, with a role in the schlocky slasher flick
03:43Valentine. Though the actor continued to swagger along red carpets in a series of suits,
03:48he was suddenly leaning into more showbiz territory with daring cuts, colors, and fabrics that
03:54sometimes tested the limits of taste. Perhaps the transformation stemmed from a desire for movie
03:59stardom. As Boreanaz admitted in an interview with The Movies Online,
04:04"...I'll take a project if I can enjoy it and learn from it. And if I'm afraid of something,
04:08if I feel it's a stretch, then I know it's right."
04:11Unfortunately, Valentine would not deliver those big-screen dreams to Boreanaz,
04:16as the film was poorly received by critics and audiences alike. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times,
04:22for one, said that, despite a huge on-screen body count, Boreanaz was, quote,
04:26"...the biggest victim of the film," while also noting that the movie had very low stakes.
04:32It's clear that a horror film has failed, Mitchell suggested, when it's hard to hear
04:36the dialogue because the audience is laughing. But undeterred, Boreanaz would forge ahead and try again.
04:43Following Valentine, Boreanaz's big-screen career continued to stall. The roles he was cast in
04:49seemed entirely dependent on him leaning heavily on one half of his established dual appeal.
04:55He was either the dreamy heartthrob who would go on to lead forgettable romantic comedies like
05:00These Girls and Mr. Fix It, or he was the brooding bad boy chewing scenery in genre fare like
05:06The Crow, Wicked Prayer. Still, the movies usually found a way to get him topless and flexing his abs,
05:13which plenty of audience members were surely happy to see.
05:15Angel was a physically demanding show for Boreanaz due to its 14-hour workdays,
05:21so he appreciated having the opportunity to try on new characters and to work with legends like
05:26Dennis Hopper, who appeared in The Crow, Wicked Prayer. As he told Behind the Lens,
05:32I enjoyed all these little roles. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then,
05:35Boreanaz's personal style seemingly shifted back to his comfort zone. Gone were the razzle-dazzle suits,
05:41and in their place were his favored cozy combo of leather jacket and T-shirt.
05:47In 2004, Angel was canceled. As cast member James Marsters told The A.V. Club in 2016,
05:54the decision took the whole team by surprise, as the show's audience had apparently almost
05:59doubled during the final season. But David Boreanaz was ready for the potential of having
06:03to leave Angel behind. As he put it to Entertainment Weekly in 2003,
06:08if it has to be, then it has to be, and you just move on. I have no regrets, and nothing bad to say.
06:14But Boreanaz soon found a new opportunity to star on TV, this time in the Fox series Bones,
06:20which he once described to Parade by saying,
06:23Bones was like these small I Love Lucy skits in the forensic anthropology world.
06:28The comedy crime procedural series, in which he starred alongside Emily Deschanel, suited his general
06:33vibe. It had a dark undercurrent, but it was also light and fun, and allowed Boreanaz to play an
06:39everyday guy with a dark past that the show didn't necessarily tap into. He described his
06:45character of Celie Booth to Entertainment Weekly as,
06:48a loose cannon under control, who evolved over time to find stability for himself within an ever-erratic
06:54environment.
06:55I find you very condescending.
06:56On me? I'm condescending. I'm not the one who's got to mention that she's got a doctorate every
07:00five years.
07:01I am the one with the doctorate.
07:02Yeah, well, you know what? I'm the one with the badge and the gun.
07:04While he was continuing to evolve on screen, on a personal level, the transformation of David
07:09Boreanaz saw him building a family. In 2001, he married former Playboy Playmate-turned-actor,
07:15Jamie Bergman, and in 2002, they welcomed their first child, Jaden Rain. Seven years later,
07:22the couple added to their brood a daughter named Bella. This proved to be a transitional period for
07:27Boreanaz, and he was seen on red carpets proudly posing with his family a little more often.
07:33Speaking to People magazine in 2009, he compared his own transition to being a father for a second
07:38time to the interesting road that his Bones character was similarly working through. He described
07:44it as,
07:44"...looking at love, finding it, and trying to apply it to somebody who really is special."
07:50In 2010, Boreanaz came clean about having had an extramarital affair while his wife
07:55was pregnant with their second child. Admitting that he'd been irresponsible and tainted his
08:00marriage with his infidelities, he confessed to People magazine that his mistress had threatened
08:05to tell media outlets about the affair. As he put it,
08:08She asked for money.
08:10I felt as though I was being blackmailed or there was some sort of extortion.
08:14That same year, a woman named Christina Hagen sued Boreanaz over claims that he'd sexually harassed
08:19her when she worked as an extra on Bones in 2009. In a statement, Boreanaz's publicist denied the
08:25allegations. Then in 2011, Hagen had her attorney, Gloria Allred, file a dismissal of her lawsuit,
08:32as Allred reportedly stated in an email that the case had been resolved, without providing any more details.
08:38Meanwhile, Boreanaz and his wife Jamie Bergman started the long road to repairing their relationship.
08:44In an interview with TV Week, Boreanaz revealed that he and Bergman had turned his affair into,
08:49quote,
08:50"...a bonding experience." Boreanaz also admitted to People magazine that he'd damaged the foundation
08:55that he and his wife shared when they got married. But they were working to heal from this damage,
09:00with Bergman sharing that they were dealing with their issues in therapy so that they could start
09:04moving on from the scandal. But it wasn't going to be easy. As Bergman admitted,
09:09"...I'm not saying everything's okay. I'm still angry. I'm still mad. I am still hurt."
09:15In 2013, Jamie Bergman started an 18-shade nail varnish range by the name of Chrome Girl with her
09:21friends Erin and Melissa Ravo. Her husband David Boreanaz, he of the infinite leather jackets and
09:27macho man furrowed brow, was also a creator of the line. As he admitted to Cosmopolitan,
09:33he was happy to try out whatever shades his wife wanted him to. His personal preference was
09:38Sweet Spot, a coral-orange shade.
09:40"...I think that one's a really good one for me. It's perfect."
09:42As Cosmo's coverage noted, it was impressive to see the actor be in touch with his feminine side,
09:47and even more so to hear that he was apparently also interested in putting together a women's shoe line.
09:53Alas, as of 2021, such a miraculous endeavor has yet to bless this universe. While Boreanaz was
09:58enjoying some changes in his personal life, his Bones character was undergoing a huge change as well.
10:04And it, unfortunately, wasn't quite to everyone's tastes. In 2011, a plot decision
10:09significantly changed the dynamic between Booth and Emily Deschanel's Dr. Temperance Brennan.
10:15They went from co-workers brimming with romantic tension to parents raising a child together.
10:20There was also a frustrating time skip that led straight into Brennan and Booth's serious
10:24relationship, without showing the romance that got them to that point along the way.
10:29It wasn't necessarily all bad, though. Den of Geek, for one, posited,
10:33"...the addition of their baby has added some really fertile narrative ground."
10:37And it was hardly a harbinger of the end, as the show continued on,
10:40eventually running for a total of 12 seasons.
10:44In 2017, David Boreanaz wished a fond farewell to Bones,
10:48as the show tidily wrapped itself up after 12 beloved seasons.
10:52And just like comedian Billy Eichner, who screamed about the show's demise through the
10:56streets of New York, America was obviously bereft.
11:00"...Will you miss Bones?"
11:01"...No!"
11:02"...No!"
11:02So just what would one of American TV's most reliable stars do next? The answer,
11:08of course, was another hit show.
11:10Debuting on CBS in September 2017, Seal Team marked a departure from the comedic comforts of Bones,
11:18it saw Boreanaz taking on the most physically and emotionally demanding role of his career.
11:23As Parade noted in a 2019 profile, Boreanaz did 90 percent of his own stunts,
11:29and the actor revealed that it was important to him that the depiction of his character be as
11:33accurate and respectful to all veterans as possible. That meant he went so far as wearing
11:38the armor of the former Seal who went to CBS with the series' premise. As Boreanaz explained,
11:44"...I wear his helmet. I could wear a lighter prop helmet,
11:47but I decided to wear his actual helmet to honor him, and I will do that throughout the whole series."
11:52Now in his 50s, Boreanaz has started to lean into a more rugged, masculine look
11:57that expertly expressed where he appeared to be in life. He was confident, content,
12:02and perhaps the most comfortable he'd ever looked in his career,
12:06having fought against the fallout of personal and professional challenges.
12:10Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
12:13even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite stars are coming soon.
12:17Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.
Be the first to comment