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The Boston Herald
January 16, 2004
AGENT ANDERS; 'Alias' star discovers he's a teen idol
by Amy Amatangelo
David Anders, who stars as Mr. Sark on ABC's "Alias" (Sundays at 9 p.m.
on WCVB, Ch.
5), knows his fan base.
"I always say I have the Backstreet Boys contingent," Anders said in a
recent telephone
interview. As proof that teens adore him, Anders reveals he was invited
to three proms
last year.
"It's interesting. The fans are really, really drawn to my character,"
he said. "I guess I've
always been a cocky guy. I thought I was a decent looking fellow, but I
never thought I'd
be thought of as a sex symbol."
Perhaps that has something to do with his role on the cult show. As the
nefarious and
mysterious Sark, his character has switched sides more times than Roger
Clemens.
"It's only going to get worse," he said.
The series, now in its third season, already has undergone numerous
mind-bending plot
permutations. It's something even the actors have trouble keeping up
with.
"We know week to week. We're just barely ahead of you in our knowledge
of what's
going to happen," he said. "It can be frustrating not knowing, not
being able to form a
back story, but it can be exciting and the fun part, too. On 'Alias,'
you expect the
unexpected, even the actors."
Although Anders sports a convincing British accent as Sark, he's
actually from Grants
Pass, Ore. When he auditioned for the show, he tried out a Russian
accent.
"They called and said, 'We love you, come back with anything but that
accent.' " He tried
a German and then a more generic European accent before the series
decided his alter-
ego would be British. Although Anders never had any formal training,
the accent comes
fairly easy to him.
"I don't think there's any of me in Sark," he said. "It's easy to hide
behind him."
After graduating from high school, Anders was accepted at both the
American Academy
of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, Calif., and Circle in the Square
conservatory in New York.
He skipped higher education to move out to Los Angeles to begin
auditioning. He had bit
parts on "So Little Time" (the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen series) and
the independent
film "The Surge."
"It was two years in L.A. before I got the show," he said. "It seemed
like an eternity. I was
working at the Gap."
The 22-year-old initially was signed on for only three episodes at the
end of season one.
"I kept waiting for them to tell me, 'We're going to kill you off,' "
he said. But he was
bumped up to series regular in the show's second season. The most
difficult part of the
role is "trying to hold my own with Ron Rifkin, Jennifer Garner, Victor
Garber and Lena
Olin. It's challenging but fun to work and learn from these actors."
It's also a lot of fun for Anders' parents. "They tape the show and
watch it over and over
again, fast-forwarding to my parts."
Anders, a self-proclaimed Red Sox fan, used to spend a lot of time
visiting "Alias" fan
Web sites.
"When I was first starting the show, I was on these Web sites all the
time. I'd chat live
about 'Alias' if I recognized stuff about me. One time I read, 'Don't
you think he has a
crooked lip?' My heart just ripped out of my chest. That's when I
stopped."
Now his brother runs his official Web site (www.davidanders.com), and
he uses it to
communicate with his fans to answer important questions - such as,
boxers or briefs?
He's looking to do a comedy and play "someone completely opposite of
Sark" this
summer during the show's hiatus. But he knows that other work may pale
in comparison.
"This set is going to spoil me for any future sets that I'm on.
Everybody is so awesome. It's
the most giving and warm cast. There's no ego or anything like that. I
think it's very rare in
Hollywood."
© Herald Interactive Advertising Systems, Inc. 2004
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