Living the life of the undead by Bill Brioux from last week's Starweek magazine:
He may play someone called Angel on TV but David Boreanaz says he's no angel in real life.
The undead dude from Buffy The Vampire Slayer now sinks his fangs into his own blood-sucking spinoff, Angel (Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on the WB and VR).
Boreanaz's centuries old character who trolls for lost souls on the mean streets of Los Angeles, walks a think line between good and evil.
Critics got a close-up look at Angel's subterranean set this past January in L.A. It was there that the 28-year-old actor admitted he had his own dark side growing up back in Buffalo, N.Y.
"I went to this Academy Farms day camp in Buffalo," Boreanaz says. "There were these two hens in the barn and when we were kids, we used to throw racks at their feet. I know -- there's an evil side to me."
However, the chickens eventually gave Boreanaz the bird.
"One day I was actually trapped in the barn and the evil hen was on one side and the other hen was on the other," he says. "I couldn't move -- it was really scary."
Chickens still give Boreanaz the creeps, but not as much as tabloid headlines.
"The most cutrageous thing I read about myself was that I was with (Buffy star) Sarah Michelle Gellar Christmas Day drinking apple cidar," he says. "The truth is I was in Philadelphia with my parents."
Boreanaz credits family and friends with helping him deal with rumours and speculation about his private life. Besides Gellar, he's also been linked romantically in the press with Angel co-star Charisma Carpenter, who plays icy actress Cordelia Chase.
"You read certain things and you know they're not true so there's nothing I can do about it," he says. "I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I understand the context and the source."
Besides, he has his hands full just trying to be an Angel on the set.
"On this show, I'm in every scene," he says. "You don't really have time to think. But it kind of helps in a strange way because it really makes you focused."
Going from a virtual unknown to a Hollywood headliner to under three years is pressure. Boreaanaz admits. However, he's determined to take things in stride. "That's my new thing." he says.
So far, the let-it-happen philosophy is working. Last December, he had to vacate his L.A. apartment before spending Christmas in Philadelphia. "I had no place to live when I got back," he says.
"The day he returned to L.A. he met a woman who was renting an apartment month to month.
"Turns out she was from Philadelphia and her dog's name was Buffy," says Boreanaz, who grabbed the apartment on the spot. "From now on, I'm just going to go with the flow."
As far as the series goes, executive producer Joss Whedon plans to keep things as scary as possible.
"We have an opportunity to do that more on Angel than Buffy," Whedon says. "Buffy has that warm centre with all these high school friends and it's hard to drum up somebody who might actually die. Angel has a lot more dark possibilities."
In fact, the series has already killed off one main character, Doyle, played by Glenn Quinn.
"We did it just to keep the audience on their toes, to keep them frightened and not feeling safe in the world they are watching." Whedon says. "For me, the element of surprise is the best thing you can give someone."
Naturally, not all the co-stars are that comfortable with that vision.
"Joss keeps joking that we're all going to be killed off all the time and we never laugh," Carpenter says. "It's not funny."
At least Boreanaz knows his job is safe. As the title character, he looks forward to a long after-life as Angel.
"This character has a lot of depth to him," he says. "He's not like this vampire with this cape running around biting people's necks. He's got personality and he's got depth."
And if he ever does get out of line, the producers can always bring on the chickens.
