Tag: Happy birthday Jensen

Happy Birthday Jensen Ackles – 2023 Edition!

Happy Birthday Jensen Ackles – 2023 Edition!

spnfans

It’s kind of a tradition to wish one of my favorite actors a happy birthday here. For many years, this was a good time to thank Jensen Ackles for bringing to life my favorite fictional character, Dean Winchester – and I am still and forever grateful for that and always will be. Over the past year, he’s brought to life not one but two other characters, and voiced Dean again, released his third record, and had his first live Radio Company show. Not to mention a worldwide publicity tour for ‘The Boys’ and tons of conventions. It’s been a busy year for Mr. Ackles!

I will always wish for Supernatural to still be on my TV or streaming screen, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed those other characters he’s made so memorable. So I think a little celebration of Mr. Ackles’ past (very productive) year is in order this year for his birthday post.

First up? Soldier Boy. Soldier Boy was a revelation – I had already been a big fan of ‘The Boys’, so having Jensen join a show I already loved felt almost too good to be true. To have him portray a character as nuanced and unhinged as Soldier Boy? Utopia!

Wakes from a deep slumber indeed – we were all wide awake when that happened!

We got to see a whole other side of Jensen on ‘The Boys’ (no, I’m not talking about that first very naked introduction) – Prime Video allowed Soldier Boy to curse the way Dean Winchester probably would have, and to indulge in all sorts of things we didn’t get to see Dean do either.  I will also be forever grateful for that amazing super suit and the fact that Kripke thought that long hair would help differentiate Soldier Boy from Dean. Please, universe, let the long hair stay forever!

I half fell in love with Soldier Boy despite the truly awful things he says and does thanks to Ackles showing us his vulnerability and trauma alongside his being an asshole. (So much so that my next book will be a deep dive into that show).

Soldier Boy is not dead and will be back at some point, so we all have something to look forward to when that happens!

I’ve had the privilege of talking to Jensen in depth over the past year about his experience on The Boys, and I’m thrilled that it was a challenge (which he welcomes) professionally. I’m also thrilled that it gave him exposure (no, not that scene again…) beyond what even a wildly popular show on the CW could provide. He shone on the press tours for The Boys, and I loved watching people discover him and his talent for the first time!

Photos: karlsen manuela scarpa

Then we got another intriguing character in Sheriff Beau Arlen in ‘Big Sky’ – and more of the long hair I’d like to stay around forever! (I happen to know that Danneel loves it too, so come on Jensen, listen to us!)

I’d watched a little of Big Sky in the first season and enjoyed it, but wasn’t as excited about it as The Boys. Sheriff Beau really grew on me, though – along with the fascinating character of Donno – and I found myself missing the show when it wrapped, still not knowing if it will get another season.

Beau was the character who I think was closest to Jensen himself, especially since he got to play a father (Soldier Boy’s biological son didn’t really make him a father) for the first time. It was interesting to watch him portray that, knowing what an important role that is for Jensen in real life. It brought out a softness and at the same time a fierce protectiveness in Beau that made the character so much more interesting than I expected him to be – and I feel like there was still a lot more to find out about him when the season wrapped!

Kudos on making us all fall a little in love with yet another character, Jensen!

We also get to hear Dean Winchester (and see him every now and then) on The Winchesters. It doesn’t feel like having him back in the same way as it would if Sam and Dean were truly back and it was Supernatural, but I’m interested in what that show is setting up and hoping it paves the way for just that, without changing any of the canon I so cherish. Fingers crossed.

(And it’s been a bonus to watch that show’s young stars come into their own – watching Drake Rodger and JoJo Fleites experience Jus In Bello con last weekend was joyous).

I got to chat with the cast and EPs Jensen and Danneel Ackles and showrunner Robbie Thompson at New York Comic Con last summer, which was extra wonderful because I hadn’t had a Danneel or a Robbie hug in way too long. It was wonderful to have a chance to ask some questions about the prequel, and it was lovely to meet Drake and Meg for the first time.

And that velvety suit was lovely too. And soft.

And that’s not even all – there have been other acting projects too, and Chaos Machine has been out there pitching new deals. But it’s not just acting and producing that have made the past year stand out for Jensen.

The past year has been a pivotal one for Ackles in terms of one of his other talents (is there anything he can’t do??) – I don’t think he can really say anymore, in his self deprecating way, “Oh I’m not really a musician.”  Pretty sure that ship has sailed, Jensen! I was incredibly fortunate to be at Radio Company’s first live concert in Nashville in December and it was crystal clear that Radio Company can be stacked up against all the other successful bands out there and hold their own. Ackles was a rockstar, truly, and I don’t think I stopped grinning the entire show. Actually I’m pretty sure no one did.

Photo: Paleonut

I was at that long ago convention when Jensen sat onstage with a guitar after the ballroom had mostly emptied out and played a song for us, a little haltingly, as we sat on the floor, rapt. I was at the first little meet and greet/concert with Jensen and Steve at the Nashville convention when they played for twenty or so people – he told me how nervous he was after and asked how it had been. Seeing him blossom into a bona fide rockstar had me so emotional at the Analog show that I’m surprised I didn’t just sob my way through it.

Radio Company’s new album dropped last week and has already been at the top of the country charts. I’m not even a huge country music fan, but its smooth harmonies and catchy tunes get stuck in my head in the best of ways. And Jensen’s voice will never not be addictive. Congrats on crossing over into true musician category, Jensen.

The year has also seen tons of conventions. I wondered, when Supernatural ended (still sobbing…), if the conventions would continue for only a short time – I feel so lucky that they have kept going! Whether I’m fortunate enough to be there or watching from afar like I did with JIB last weekend, it’s wonderful to be able to ‘see’ them and hear their thoughts so frequently throughout the year.

Yes, it’s a job for them, but it’s also something they clearly enjoy and I’ve written many times about how it’s made the relationship between the actors and the fans a little bit more reciprocal in the Supernatural fandom than in others. That has carried over to Walker and The Winchesters (and soon to Gotham Knights I’m guessing), because these actors know their fans so much better than most actors do.

Photos: Alana King

Jensen and Jared and Misha and the gang were in Rome last weekend (in their coordinating jackets) and will be headed to Atlanta shortly – I won’t be able to be there to celebrate with them unfortunately, but I’m sure the fans who are there will make it a special con weekend for the birthday boy. Somebody give him a birthday hug from me!

Photo: eeecat
Photo: SomerInTheWind

Sometimes he still looks about ten years old.

Happy birthday, Mr. Ackles.

May the next year be as exciting for you as this one was – and here’s hoping for more of all three characters you brought to life this past year – and more of whatever other exciting new things you have planned!

gifs: abordelimpala, justjensenanddean, jensenandtheboys, sensitiveham

– Lynn

You can read Jensen’s personal thoughts on

fandom and Supernatural in his chapters in

Family Don’t End With Blood and There’ll

Be Peace When You Are Done – info and links at:

Happy 44th Birthday, Jensen Ackles!

Happy 44th Birthday, Jensen Ackles!

spnfans

I can’t let March 1 go by without wishing a happy birthday to Jensen Ackles, who has made a significant impact on so many people’s lives, including mine.

I love so much about Supernatural, but I don’t think I would have been as captivated by Dean Winchester as I was 16 years ago if someone other than Jensen had played him. The way he cared about that character, making him nuanced and complicated, imperfect and heroic, and achingly real, made all the difference. Add to that, the way he and Jared Padalecki became brothers on set and off brought the Winchesters to life and created a relationship and a story so unique and powerful that I will literally never get over it.

It’s been a rough few years, and a really rough last month – I recently lost my OG partner in crime Kathy, who fell into Supernatural with me way back in 2006, so I’ve been thinking a lot about those early days that we wrote about in ‘Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls’. We were both ‘Dean girls’ which means that Kathy and I spent a lot of time appreciating one Jensen Ackles.  We spent whole weekends binge watching Jensen’s earlier shows and movies, rewinding (yes, it was that long ago) favorite scenes from Dark Angel and Dawson’s Creek and Blonde and even Devour (yes, you know the one), sipping cold drinks and occasionally swearing or slapping each other on the knee because DAYUM.

We loved all of his performances, but he drew us in with his brilliant portrayal of Dean Winchester, and that ended up changing both of our lives. Half of our story in ‘Fangasm’ was the two of us propelled by some permutation of “how can we meet Jensen Ackles” into roadtrips and flights and online communities and all kinds of unlikely adventures. How do you thank someone for inspiring something like that??

Over the past 16 years, my appreciation for Jensen has evolved –not that I’m not still a Dean girl, because that is FOREVER, but I also have a lot more genuine appreciation for how hard Jensen works and how much he cares about what he does. Because I care so much about Dean too, I am incredibly grateful for that. I’ve been fortunate enough to be on the set and watch him work, and to talk with him about the show and the character many times over the years (and to play an ongoing game of guess-what-was-an-adlib which even he will admit I got frighteningly good at). Dean fascinates me as a psychologist, and I have loved discussing what makes him tick with Jensen – who invariably gets him better than I or anyone else ever could.

I’ve seen how much he puts into a performance, and witnessed firsthand how emotional he is when he’s just gone through something traumatic as Dean. It’s striking, and for me as a non-actor, frightening in how much it clearly takes out of an actor who embodies a character like that. I’ve seen how much he cares, and how much he puts into trying to make a scene ‘right’ – for Dean. I’ll appreciate that always.

I’ll be over here mourning Supernatural forever, which will surprise exactly no one reading this, but as I write this in 2022 I’m also so excited for all the amazing new things Jensen’s doing – if anyone thought all the Supernatural actors wouldn’t be a success after the show ended, they were certainly wrong! I can’t wait to see him bring a new character to life on The Boys, reunited with Eric Kripke on a show I’ve been watching since the start and loving (and enjoying dissecting of course).

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Happy Birthday, Jensen Ackles!

Happy Birthday, Jensen Ackles!

spnfans

This is the first year I’m wishing Jensen Ackles a happy birthday that he hasn’t been Dean Winchester. Last year at this time, I knew that would soon be true, though I had no idea that it wouldn’t be until 2020 was almost over that Supernatural would actually come to an end. It’s been three months, and during that time Jared Padalecki has kicked off a new character and a successful new show with Walker, doing lots of interviews and talk shows and even live tweeting on Thursday nights again. Misha Collins has continued to fight the good fight to change the world, with livestreams and tweets and collaborations with the other people out there trying to do the same thing, and a GISH mini hunt coming up. Jensen, on the other hand, took the time in between Supernatural and his new role in The Boys to retreat to the snowy wilderness of reputedly Colorado to enjoy some family time and shovel snow, with only brief appearances to document the snow shoveling or to accept well-deserved awards.

Suffice it to say, we’re all missing him. A glimpse of his stand-in on The Boys at Friday’s filming location was enough to create a social media uproar, and Jensen wasn’t even the one in the pictures! That says something very good about how much of an impact he’s made on many people’s lives.

In the spirit of missing him, and of missing Dean Winchester (because I still haven’t managed to completely separate them in my head or my heart) I thought I’d do a little appreciation post to celebrate Jensen’s birthday. If I do more of these in the future (which, let’s face it, I’m sure I will), they won’t be focused on Dean. They’ll be focused on new characters, new projects, new photo shoots, new aspects of his life. So for one more birthday, in this post let me express my gratitude to Jensen for giving us Dean Winchester.

There’s no doubt that the characters and the story are a big part of why Supernatural had such a huge impact on my life, and that’s down to Eric Kripke and the other writers over the years, but there’s also no doubt that it was Jensen who breathed life into Dean and made him so compelling.

People joke that Jensen has chemistry with even inanimate objects, and I think that might be true. He could disarm someone as easily with a moment of flirtation as with a knife to their throat. But make no mistake, Dean Winchester is dangerous.

You never doubt that, the way Jensen portrays him.

At the same time, Jensen also made you believe in his vulnerability.

Dean was not a cardboard character who didn’t have emotions. Far from it. Jensen’s ability to make you really believe in Dean’s feelings about the other people in his life who were important to him was so brilliant that the show made us love anyone he loved, and root for those relationships with all our hearts.

He didn’t love easily, but when he did, he loved fiercely.

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Happy Birthday Jensen Ackles!

Happy Birthday Jensen Ackles!

spnfans

 

Last year I wrote a long post for Mr. Ackles’ birthday and the top five reasons he’s a pretty special person. This year, I find myself emotional in a slightly different way about Jensen’s birthday today – because this is the last year that on his birthday, he is still Dean Winchester.

I fervently hope that at some point in the future, Jensen will get to portray Dean again – and I know, because he has said it more than once – that Dean will always be a part of him. But this is the last March 1st when Jensen is Dean and Supernatural is still filming and on the air. The last birthday when Dean’s story is not yet fully told, and the character that Jensen has inhabited for the past fifteen years is still so much a part of him – likely in a way that no character will ever be again. It’s a rare and special thing to be able to play a single character for fifteen years, as he has often said; they become a part of you, a best friend who you come to love.

A few years ago, Jensen talked about a dream he’d had that really struck a chord and brought some surprisingly strong emotion. It was a dream about Dean, from Dean’s perspective. A dream in which Dean hands over the keys to the Impala to a motorcycle rider and trades vehicles – because Sam is dead and he no longer needs a vehicle with a passenger seat. Recently, Misha mentioned the dream too, saying that Jensen had shared it with him and Jared and they had all gotten emotional. At the time he had the dream, I’d had the chance to talk to Jensen about it. Perhaps, I’d said, the dream was not just about Sam losing Dean, but was as much about Jensen thinking about eventually having to say goodbye to Supernatural – to Jared, to Misha, to Bob, to Jerry, to Serge, to the crew he loves. I think that’s why it hit all three of the actors so hard to remember it now, knowing there’s only one more month of filming. It’s not like they won’t see each other or remain friends, but it will inevitably be different. Just like the everyday happenings in the fandom will change, Jensen has to say goodbye not only to Dean, but to Sam and Cas and Jack too.

So this post is a reminder of how much Dean Winchester has meant to me and to so many others, as Jensen and his fellow actors face saying goodbye to their beloved characters (temporarily at least!). A reminder that as hard as it is to say goodbye, Castiel’s words to Jack are still true. We are so lucky to have had this time with these characters – to know them and to love them. So lucky that they were here at all.

Dean Winchester, more than any other fictional character ever, taught me to never give up. That you don’t have to be perfect to be a good person, or win every battle to keep on fighting. You can be flawed, and constantly struggling, and ricocheting back and forth between good decisions and bad ones, and still hang onto the goal of doing what’s right. Of fighting every day with the purpose of saving people, hunting things. That works literally in the show, but figuratively in real life, and has inspired countless people to try to change the world for the better in a million ways.

Dean’s incredible, unshakeable loyalty and the way he fiercely, unabashedly loves those he calls family – perfectly willing to move heaven and hell to save their lives and keep them with him – has been a revelation. I’ve never encountered another character as determined as Dean Winchester. Do not get in between him and someone he cares about, because he will never ever give up making sure they’re safe.

He’s not perfect, and I wouldn’t want him to be. He can be singleminded and obtuse and lashes out when he’s hurt in ways that can hurt others (even those he cares so much about). He started out a product of the way he was raised, brittle and defended and brusque because of it. It took me a whole season to really understand the depth of emotion and vulnerability he was hiding under that gruff no-chick-flicks-moments exterior, and another fourteen seasons to understand how much it eventually cost him to let some of those walls down. His moments of vulnerability have brought me to tears again and again. I’ve been there to see how much those moments cost Jensen the real person in real time, too; how real those tears are. I’m pretty sure that’s why they get to me the way they do.

I am incredibly grateful for Dean Winchester and the inspiration he’s brought me for the past fifteen years. I’m incredibly grateful that Jensen Ackles cared so much about this character that he brought him to life and made him real, and never let him become a caricature. No matter where the story went, Jensen kept Dean being Dean. Because he cared about the closest imaginary friend he’ll ever have, as he recently said. He talks about his relationship with Dean in the chapter he contributed to the new book, There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done, and I’ll hang onto his words whenever I start to miss Dean Winchester too acutely.

I’m sure that next birthday, there will be all sorts of new things to celebrate – because this is Jensen Ackles we’re talking about. He’s talented in so many ways, and perhaps more importantly, he’s a kind and caring person who always gives 100%. There will be other acting roles, perhaps more directing. Already there’s that incredible Radio Co. album full of songs, and I’m sure that’s only the tip of the iceberg. After that dream sequence recently, maybe we’ll see him struttin’ his stuff on Dancing With The Stars (sorry, Jensen, couldn’t resist…)  I’ll celebrate Jensen’s future successes and be excited for every step of his journey. This year, though, I’m wishing Jensen a happy birthday and celebrating the fifteen years he’s put into crafting the most amazing, inspiring, heroic, entirely human fictional character I’ve ever had the pleasure of ‘meeting’.

Jensen connects with his inner Dean in Lawrence Kansas

Happy birthday, Jensen.

Thank you for Dean Winchester.

— Lynn

You can read what Jensen and many

other actors (and fans) have to say about

the legacy of Supernatural in There’ll Be

Peace When You Are Done – preorder

links on the home page!

 

Happy Birthday Jensen Ackles!

Happy Birthday Jensen Ackles!

spnfans

 

Most Supernatural fans would agree that there are plenty of reasons to adore Jensen Ackles – and his birthday seems like the perfect time to reflect on what some of those reasons are. I’m sure everyone’s list is a little bit different, so this is my own personal collection of reasons why I’ve admired Mr. Ackles for well over a decade and why I still do today.

I feel like somebody out there is going to call BS on what I’m going to say next, but it’s true – the first thing I noticed about Jensen was his acting. I casually watched the whole first season of Supernatural (and the Jensen season of Smallville) without saying OMG this guy is smokin’ hot! (That admittedly came later). Instead, I noticed him because his performance as Dean Winchester suddenly and unexpectedly made me fall head over heels in love with the show and the character. It happened as Dean and Sam were having a heart to heart, leaning up against the Impala on top of a panoramic cliff sometime in Season 2, Dean breaking down and finally sharing his guilt and pain with his brother.  Somehow I had missed the nuances of the character in the first season, perhaps because I was only watching to placate a friend who had fallen for the show, but Dean’s (Jensen’s) tears and palpable anguish in that scene just flew off the screen and right into my heart. I literally let the pile of papers I was grading slide off my lap and fall to the floor as I stared open mouthed and asked out loud “How did I not realize this is the most incredible television show ever?”

There was no going back after that realization, and it was due to that performance (and Jared’s performance, because something magic happens with they’re onscreen together and I’ve never been able to separate the Winchester brothers anyway). Since that initial revelation, I’ve been blown away by Jensen’s acting again and again and again. He has broken my heart and made me sob my way through countless boxes of tissues. He has made me laugh until I was crying all over again. He’s made my heart sing with joy in those rare moments when Dean allows himself some measure of happiness and contentment (or just plain relief that someone he loves has come back from the dead….again…)  I’ve never loved a fictional character the way I love Dean Winchester, and that is largely due to Jensen Ackles.

That’s reason number one. Honest it is.

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