Michael Shanks is a Canadian actor best known for his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the Stargate universe. He’s known universally as a nice guy, an ice hockey fan, and the lucky guy who married fanboy favorite Lexa Doig.

Of late, Michael has been in a number of high-profile shows, including recurring guest roles in the Kiefer Sutherland show 24 and the USA Network’s spy thriller Burn Notice. His latest work includes co-starring in the Hallmark movie Living Out Loud (along with Gail O’Grady, airing May 8th at 9 p.m. and May 17th at 9 p.m. on the Hallmark Channel) and filming a television pilot titled The Eastmans (co-starring Donald Sutherland, Jacqueline Bisset, and Saffron Burrows).

Sara M. Harvey (author of The Convent of the Pure) spoke to Michael via telephone in late April.

Sara M. Harvey: Hi Michael. Perhaps you are best known in the geek world for your role on Stargate–

Michael Shanks: I like to call it the “intelligent world population.” Much nicer.

SH: So, what is it like being a genre icon?

MS: It’s no different than my normal life, I suppose. It’s a job, a very fun job. In terms of the fanfare, that’s for the media. I live my life pretty normally and go to work like everyone else, but it’s fun to be a part of something that people follow so tightly and feverishly.

SH: How did you like working on shows such as 24 and Burn Notice?

MS: Those shows, in themselves, are like genre shows. They’re not terribly different–the techno-babble is just less SF. They’re both action shows similar to Stargate. Sometimes shows like that are even more absurd than the SF shows. At least some of the odder action elements on the SF shows happen on places like spaceships and alien worlds. It allows for a greater, more logical suspension of disbelief.

SH: Who do you want on your side in a fight? Michael Westen or Jack Bauer?

MS: Oh boy, that’s a tough one! I’d put it on Bauer because he’s a little nastier, while Westen has a bit of a conscious. Bauer would just eat your opponent’s face a la Hannibal Lecter. Jeffery [Donovan, who plays Westen], though, he’s a nimble fighter, agile. He’s a black belt. I’m a bit more of a boxer and he was certainly a lot more adept at the choreography during filming than I was.

SH: Do you have any interesting behind-the-scenes stories to share about Bruce Campbell from your time on Burn Notice?

MS: Well, the best thing I can say is that Bruce is…exactly what you would expect, in a completely good way. He’s self-effacing, he’s very funny, and he’s very down to earth. We really only had one scene we shared on Burn Notice, and we sat in-between the takes shooting the crap about our backgrounds and filming in Bulgaria. He’s a smart man who knows the animal that he is and is trying to take a more creative front with the success he’s had. I told him my wife was a big fan and he got on the phone with her and they chatted for a bit. He’s exactly what you would expect in exactly the best way.

SH: It’s good to hear he’s really so genuine. By the way, I hear the same thing about you from my Stargate friends.

MS: Haha…well, it’s true about Bruce. He’d probably punch me in the face if he heard me waxing poetic about him.

SH: On to more recent stuff. You’re going to be starring with Gail O’Grady in Living Out Loud on the Hallmark Channel. Tell us a bit about that. It’s somewhat of a departure from what you have been doing.

MS: Yeah, actually we filmed it over a year ago. It was meant for Mother’s Day, but some sponsorship issues delayed things so it’s been on hold. It’s a…feel-good cancer movie?

SH: That is a weird combination to put together.

MS: What’s great about it is that I’ve only done one or two slice-of-life types of stories and this is definitely one of those. It’s epic in its simplicity in terms of human emotion. This movie was something I could relate to better than many of the other things I’ve filmed. I’m a father and husband myself, and the movie actually dredged up some things in my personal life that made me question myself and maybe answered some questions for me.

My character, Brad, is a father and husband who thinks he’s doing the best he can and is trying to make the most of his career for the sake of his family. He just wants to help get his family back to the place they were before the cancer. But he realizes, with his wife, that where they were is not where they wanted to be and maybe they weren’t as close as they thought they were. And that there are more important things than getting a better job and making more money, such as being with your family. There’s a nice character arc that addresses the revelations he experiences; it’s a much deeper plot than I’m used to. It made me think, after a few weeks, “I want to go back to the gunfire and action!”

SH: You also have a great online presence with your charity bazaar. What inspired that and how can our readers get involved?

MS: I give a lot of credit to the gals who run the web site, who do so out out of the goodness of their hearts. They created this wonderful thing for the MS Society of Canada. Multiple sclerosis, obviously, affects a great many people. It hadn’t been much apparent in my life until I met my wife, Alexa, whose father has suffered from MS since she was about eight years old. It’s been a difficult journey for her family and it’s shaped the person she is. Obviously, he’s past the point of a quick cure, and he’s confined to a wheelchair. The ladies running the site came up with the idea for the charity. I would provide and sign things that would be put up on eBay. But then a lot of actors approached us and offered signed items on their behalf, so it’s turned into quite a big deal. We’ve raised $100,000 dollars in a few short years.

SH: That’s fantastic! You’re from Canada and I know that you play hockey. So who did you play for and what position did you play?

MS: I played up through university. I played one year with the UBC Thunderbirds JV team. I played less than a year because I was trying to play rugby, hockey, do theatre, and get a degree in business, and I ended up quitting almost everything and going into theatre. Go figure.

SH: What position did you play?

MS: I played defense.

SH: Oh, I love a good D-man. Are you a Canucks fan? I saw you with a puckhead hat on that said Vancouver Canucks.

MS: Yes, I’m a long-suffering Canucks fan. I will admit to that.

SH: As somebody who does genre stuff for a very educated public, do you enjoy reading genre fiction?

MS: I do not. I’m not a huge reader. I used to be as a kid. My wife is a huge reader and reads like a book a night. The things that I read nowadays are generally nonfiction, a lot of biographies, anything to do with politics and the recent wars. I’ve gotten into reading nonfiction spy biographies. But I’m just not an avid reader. I’m a big movie guy. I have a big collection at home.

SH: Ah, that’s my next question. Do you like genre films?

MS: I love genre films! Give me a good Terminator movie, Aliens, Terminator 2, films that show the human condition pushed to extremes. The latest Star Wars movies really disappointed me, and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was a colossal disappointment.

SH: What’s your number one favorite?

MS: All of them…that’s tough one. Probably I would say Aliens is my all-time favorite SF movie.

SH: Wrapping up, where can we find you next on the big screen or television, aside from Living Out Loud? What’s your next big project?

MS: I finished a movie in November called Desperate Escape with Elisabeth Röhm. And I just finished a pilot with Warner Brothers called The Eastmans with Donald Sutherland, Jacqueline Bisset, and Saffron Burrows that is about a family of doctors named “Eastman.” Donald and Jacqueline have five kids. I play the best friend of one of the sons, and I’m having an affair with Jacqueline Bisset.

SH: You also do a lot of fan conventions. Where will we be seeing you next in the flesh?

MS: I think the next one is supposed to be in July at the London Film Festival, then ComicCon, and DragonCon in Atlanta, and another CreationCon in Chicago.

SH: Thank you so much for your time and answers!

MS: Thank you, it’s been great!

About the Interviewer
Sara M. Harvey made her fiction debut in 2006 with the romantic urban fantasy A Year and a Day. In 2008, she turned her attention to horror with The Convent of the Pure, the first in a novella trilogy set in a Steampunk universe. Sara is also a costumer and works as an assistant costume designer, an instructor in costume and fashion design, as well as a contributor to costume history textbooks. She lives in Nashville, TN, with her husband and fellow author, Matt, and their dogs, Guinevere and Eowyn.