Jon-Erik Hexum is one of those examples of a man destined to stir up all manner of envy in other men -- his face is chiseled-perfect; his torso is, well, you can see for yourself, and that voice, as though from Mount Olympus!
In the past, such would have been the prescription for a vapid young star with lots of handsome flesh but little gray matter.
Not so with Jon-Erik.
"I have tried very hard to deal with all the crap in life with as much intelligence and realism as possible," he commented.
One area to which he is paying particular attention is the tendency of actors to sell out to the highest bidder.
"I'm a realistic optimist. I don't think that will ever be necesary in my case."
Another is his very existence on Planet Earth.
"I'm kind of a negative existentialist, a nihilist. I know that's the opposite of being an optimist but I've got to admit to the duality of my nature.
"In college my senior thesis was on the right and responsibility of self-destruction. It was long. It basically said that we're all here for no reason and life's just a mistake and we're just going to die and have kids and they're going to die, and all that is life will do the same thing. If you realize how futile it all is and meaningless, then you must seize the right, should you wish to do so, to destroy yourself.
"That's what is in my head. But in my heart, I don't feel that at all. My heart guides me more than my head. So I suppose, everything considered, I really am an optimist.
"To a certain extent, it is the old flesh warring against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh syndrome. The flesh wants to die, to give up, to climb into a hole somewhere. The spirit urges patience, courage, tenacity.
"In me the spirit is by far the more powerful," Jon-Erik continued. "My friends have remarked that I seem more interested in work than play. What they don't understand is that for some of us work can be play, fun. See, I love what I'm doing. Sure, there's some sacrifice involved in terms of my private life but I don't think you can show me any real accomplishments that are achieved without some kind of sacrifice."
Jon-Erik may not seem to be a model for sacrifice -- tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, with that incredible physique -- but all sacrifice isn't necessarily even. Some of it is of the emotions, the inner self, a sacrifice of quiet moments with your girlfriend, of camaraderie for aloneness, the latter needed to study scripts and plan the future in a variety of ways.
A problem for someone as close to physical perfection as Jon-Erik happens to be is a certain restlessness. Your personal charisma is a given. So what's next?
"I'm not content at all," he remarked. "My managers tell me I will never be satisfied. And that might be the truth. I have an ambitious personality. I want my roles to be better. I want to to as much quality work as I can."
People endowed with the attributes Jon-Erik has can become the most manipulative of all, dominating others by the sheer power of personality.
"What is manipulation? What is good politics? What is striving to make something better? Manipulation has such a negative connotation so in that sense I don't manipulate. Manipulation can be positive. Forthrightness that is positively motivated should be encouraged."
Naturally there was a point early on in Jon-Erik's life when he was a different human being, when his self-confidence wasn't as pronounced as is now the case. But unlike John Schneider and others, it wasn't so much a metamorphosis as a very gradual evolution, and not a major change at that.
"The face has changed, of course; it's matured. But the rest of me is much the same as when I was a teenager, for example. I always was real trim and into athletics.
"I dress better today. I'm learning more, naturally. I see some things differently. The fun of getting older is not constriction of your world but its expansion. You understand more, therefore you can do more.
"Yes, I am happy with how things are going, but I wouldn't be happy if they didn't go any further."
As of this writing, Jon-Erik's series, the Voyagers, has just been picked for a full season. Regardless of the fate of his show though, one thing's for sure: Jon-Erik Hexum, one of the major "finds" of the year, is here to stay!