Ryan Kwanten is Not Like Jason Stackhouse in Real Life

While True Blood is on hiatus before it’s 4th Season, Ryan Kwanten, who plays the sexy Jason Stackhouse, sat down with GQ for an interview and photo shoot. Ryan is very different from his onscreen character, Jason, and the interview really clarified that.

When fans meet Jason Stackhouse, they realize that he works better with his hands than his head. Jason’s lines are more funny than enlightening and viewers enjoy seeing him shirtless on a football field than behind a desk shuffling papers.

Ryan, an aspiring novelist and yoga practising actor, easily noted the differences between himself and his character. Very early on in the interview, he makes it clear that the book he is writing is a satirical self-help book, not a sex book like Jason fans might think. He explained,

“I came up with the concept a few years ago, when I walked into a bookstore and there was Chicken Soup for the Soul, Chicken Soup for the Dieter’s Soul, Chicken Soup for everything in life. Everything could be solved in 10 steps. I decided to add another step. It’s called the G-Strategy. The first step is to ‘Ask yourself the question.”

Now many might automatically assume the G-Strategy has something to do with sex, but actually it has to do with giving yourself a G-name, which is free from the initial stigmas attached to it. From this brief explanation, one comes to realize that Ryan is much more than the beefcake Jason Stackhouse.

In fact the 33 year old actor is much slimmer and more thoughtful with his conversations than he is on screen. He’d rather quote Einstein than watch television, and for the last 19 years has been working on a novel, which has hit the 290 page mark. One has to admit that Ryan Kwanten is a real actor.

Before hitting it big on True Blood, Ryan was a rising star in Australia thanks to roles like Vinnie in Home and Away. After an American movie called Junction Boys, he was casted in Summerland, a movie called Flicka and then Alan Ball got a hold of him. Alan explained that he appreciates that Ryan is willing to look foolish for the sake of creating a good character; Ryan  embodies the character fully, never really having to tell the audience: you know, I’m actually smart in real life. For all of Jason’s ridiculous remarks, Ryan does appreciate the character saying,

“I’m very much… um… I think too much. Even in this answer…My brain is forever coming up with these options. Maybe I could do it this way or that way. But Jason, whether you call it lack of thought or willpower, he’s one of these guys, and we all know one, who totally acts in the spur of the moment. He has no real regard for the consequences of what may happen. It’s really liberating to play a character like that because I would stop at the edge of a cliff and think ‘Whoa’. He’d just jump off.”

Ryan also admits that when it comes to sex appeal and being a sex object, Jason wins. For him, what makes Jason so sexually appealing is that he has no inhibitions. While men pride themselves in holding back their emotions, Jason seems perfectly secure in opening himself up.

Ryan’s Early Acting Career

Things haven’t always been easy for Ryan; when he first got to LA, he had to plead with his landlord to let him stay in his apartment without paying while he searched for a job. He slept on his yoga mat, rode his bike from audition to audition but none of this seemed to devestate him. In fact, he felt that he had nothing to lose and was able to find the experience exhilarating.

It was this moment in his life that funnily enough found Ryan tying up his bike to the wooden sign that was holding Spielberg’s parking spot. Needless to say that his audition didn’t go well and he didn’t work with Spielberg productions.

Ryan Kwanten and Fame

Nowadays, Ryan doesn’t have to go to cattle-call auditions and he doesn’t have to ride his bike unless he wants to. Now he can cruise to his home in Venice Beach in his new Audi TT, and enjoy his comfortable bed and not worry about not having enough to pay the rent. Fame has surely changed his life, but Ryan is not one who focuses in that aspect of acting, explaining,

“I don’t know about any of this…Occasionally I get paparazzi, like this week when I finished yoga, there were 10 waiting outside. But I’m not very newsworthy. I’m still a very private person. I want to leave all the drama in my life on the set. I’m not going to call my publicist from a restaurant and say, ‘I’ll be leaving at 7.57. Make sure there’s a photographer outside.’ Giving my life up like that would be taking a little bit of my soul. I think some people think they’re constantly on show. I don’t want to live like that.”

One thing that keeps him so grounded is his family, who are back in Australia. When he went back on an endorsement gig, he abandoned his five star hotel for the comfort of his family home and his bedroom that is still decorated for his former 16 year old self. This deep bond for family also is apparent in his love life. Although he is currently single, he isn’t looking to simply play around with the ladies. He doesn’t want to be careless about love, which he believes that many people in the industry have fallen into. He doesn’t want to lose the value of love and the sanctity of marriage for a cover story.

So while romance is on the back burner, his career seems to be growing with every day that passes. While True Blood is on hiatus, Ryan is focusing on film; he starred in two Australian films, Griff the Invisible and Red Hill as well as having lent his voice to the animated film Legends of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, which will all be released at the end of the year. Currently Ryan is working on a comedy horror with director Joe Lynch called Knights of Badassdom.

When asked what motivated Ryan to become an actor, he believed that there was an art form to it. He is allowed to take a character and truly embody him, and take what is written and make it physically apparent for viewers.

There can be many differences pointed out between Ryan and Jason, but it seems that fans have gotten the similarities right all along. Like his character, Ryan is family oriented, positive and hardworking. Knowing a little more about Ryan Kwanten makes fans appreciate his acting skills so much more.

Source: ryankwanten.com — GQ Cover

(Photo Credit: GQ Magazine )