Thursday Thirteen - 185 - 13 Ways to Admire Jensen Ackles

1 - A chiseled face with a beautiful mouth, eyes that don't miss a thing and reveal so much, and an attitude that can't be harnessed - Jensen Ackles was obviously born to share his many attributes with far more than the hometown crowd.


















2 - Jensen Ackles - currently appearing as Dean Winchester on Supernatural

6' 1"

Eyes - Hazel/green

Hair - Dark blonde

Type - Athletic / Early 30's

He works as an actor / Director / Producer

Works in television / Film / Stage


















3 - Jensen grew up in Richardson, Texas, the son of actor Alan Ackles. He modelled as a young boy and moved into acting for television after graduating from school.

He worked steadily, receiving Daytime Emmy nominations for his work on Days of Our Lives. Aside from appearances on Dawson's Creek, most of Jensen's work has been in the science fiction / paranormal genre:

Dark Angel
Smallville
Supernatural
My Bloody Valentine remake

Next photo is straying into Not Safe For Work territory...























4 - Jensen keeps in tiptop shape for the grueling stunt schedule required of his role on Supernatural. A strong sports background almost led to a career in sports medicine.

Luckily for us, the acting genes won out.



























5 - No matter how delicious Mr. Ackles may be, he's strictly eye candy, ladies - he belongs to Mrs. Ackles, Louisiana-born actress Danneel Harris.

Also a former model and gymnast, Danneel met Jensen on the set of Ten Inch Hero, an independent film they made in 2007.














6 - Jensen has appeared for the past six seasons as older Winchester brother Dean. Along with his younger brother Sam, he follows in the footsteps of his father, a hunter of the paranormal. When vengeful spirits, ghouls, angry pagan gods and all manner of gruesome beasts start taking down humans, the Winchesters step in and start taking down monsters.














7 - I have to admit I love Dean's stare-down-authority expression, whether he's challenging his own father (above) or a scary angel (below.)














8 - I also love Dean's serious relationship with his car, a black four-door hardtop 1967 Chevy Impala. I think it's the longest and most intimate relationship he's ever had, other than his relationship with Sam.













9 - Remember my soft spot for a man in chains?

...well...

Supernatural gives us a tied-up Dean with wonderful regularity.





















10 - I'm also quite fond of Dean's taking-the-shot expression.











11 - But it's his tormented hero expressions that really do the trick for me.

Since most of my own fictional characters wear this expression at some point in my stories, I adore discovering an actor who captures it so well.

CLICK HERE to watch clip











12 - And Jensen is an awesome crier.

CLICK HERE to watch clip



















13 - Sharing a laugh with Supernatural co-star Jared Padalecki


Here's a bit of levity from the Supernatural set:

During the shoot for the Yellow Fever episode in Season 4, one of the producers encouraged Jared to miss his cue on purpose. The producer let the cameras roll while the audio playback of Eye of the Tiger, needed for the scene, blared over the location. Jensen lay out of sight on the front seat of the Impala, waiting for Jared, assuming the scene was in progress.

Keep in mind that in the world of television and film production, the actors - once embarked on a scene - must continue until they hear the word 'cut', and only from the director. Because time is money - a lot of money - on a set, when a scene is somewhat bumpy, the director will often leave the cameras rolling and tell the actors to regroup into a second or even third take in a row without stopping, as it's less expensive than calling 'cut' and doing a new set-up for a new take.

TV actors in particular get used to this shake-it-off-and-keep-going mentality. It requires the quick thinking of improv skills and is highly-valued by the studios.

In the case of the Yellow Fever shoot, the producer made the call to spend money on preventing Jared from picking up his cue in order to see if Jensen would give them something for the gag reel.

Here is what happened:

CLICK HERE to watch the clip