He's a trained Shakespearean actor, and even taught the subject ni schools around the nation. He even taught "Elizabethean Rhetoric", which explains the speech pattern
of the plays. He was also thisclose to being in King Lear with Richard Burton, but producing problems ended that possibility
But now he's made a mark in two major scfi-fi franchises, Star Trek and Buffy.
Way before that, he was "Pascal" on Beauty and the Beast. He was in charge of the unique communication system in the world under New York City where Vincent lives. He learned a lot about developing characters, and one bit of advice from Ron Perlman: "think of the money".
Then, he became Quark, who started as a reprobate and willy guy around the space station, but Armin thought it would be good to show other sides of him to show how he "adapts" to survive. As for acting between theater and TV, he says that theater is a stage performance, while acting for TV is just you. In fact, he says he puts much of himself into Snyder, because you have to like and respect the characters that you play.
Before he got the role as Snyder, he was nearly Principal Flutie, the one who was eaten by his students. Sure, Snyder was always suspicious of teenagers, Buffy mainly because she upset the order and calm he wanted in the school. Actually, that's tough when you have the odd mysterious death. Armin points out that it doesn't mean Snyder was evil. He was a "company man" who had to run the school as it should be. In short, he says he may not have been Buffy's friend. but that doesn't mean he was her enemy. Armin is not sure if Snyder suspected the mayor was rather demonic.
He came back, at least his head, in Xander's dream in "Restless". He had to base his scene on Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Joss suggested that he should get the film to get an idea. The scene is on Armin's audition reel.
He also admitted then when he came for his first day as Snyder, he had his doubts about the show. Soap actress? English guy? Once he came down the auditroium for the first time in "The Puppet Show", Armin became Snyder. He also developed a strong respect for the show once he knew what it was all about. If only the Emmy voters did the same thing.
Armin aso has an interesting take on being in Buffy cons...they're almost like state fairs where fans from all over get together to share a common passion, while the celebrities are the, well, main attractions (he used another term, but never mind). Still, he enjoys seeing all the fans who come.
Meawnhile, Tom Lenk has been busy since his time as Andrew on Buffy. He'll soon be seen on Reno 911!, a show he's obsessed over (and why not). He was recently on Six Feet Under, and noticed the workpace is slower than it is on Buffy. He also has his one-man show where he talks about his life, and what he finds in his website. What other pay involves th emain character showing bad photos of himself. He also noticed that Armin had these poetic answers to the fans' questions. He was also suspicious I was taking notes, but never mind.
Tom said he created his character by "stealing" from his life, and took speech patterns from Betty White's character on Golden Girls.
As for acting itself, he also notices the difference between working in theater and on TV....theater means preparation, TV means rehearsing...usually hours before the audition. He also found out mumbling his lines often works. That's TV for you, but he should be a riot on Reno 911!
He recalled all the tough things he had to do...like wearing yellow contacts and having problems seeing, or eating the same can of beans, or showing too much skin to Gina Torres, in Firefly. But he's been busy..he'll star in a movie about Betty Page, and another movie on the BTK Killer that plagued Kansas for years.
His Sunday morning appearance was surprising. He decided to question the audience. That's him with the camera on the left. He learned about how far we traveled, and what we think of cons in general. He even gave dollar bills to select fans who had, ahem, interesting comments. One was asked if she "hooked up", while another crossed her fingers her house would survive Hurricane Dennis. One person from London commented on how people were comnig up to her to ask if she was OK after the bombings there.
Johnathan actually had an interesting idea...why not add a picnic to a Buffy con? Considering it was sunny that day, that made sense.
