Buckley: It’s A Fresh Chapter

AJ Buckley (Adam Ross) uses his time away from CSI: New York to pursue more acting projects.

Buckley recently starred in the independent film Skateland, which will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this Monday, January 25 in Park City, Utah. Buckley plays Teddy Tullos, a Grateful Dead fan who owns a skating rink. The movie takes place in 1983, and it follows a young man named Ritchie who is looking to get out of the small Texas town.

“It wasn’t the starring role or anything, but it was a great character piece of this guy trapped in the 1970s,” Buckley said of his part. Now that he’s in his thirties, the actor is portraying different characters than he might have played in the past. “I like getting older,” he revealed, “now it’s the cops and the lawyers. It’s a fresh chapter.”

Despite taking place in Texas, Skateland was filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. A native of Canada, Buckley is used to filming in cities like Vancouver for movies and television shows that take place elsewhere. Even his current role on New York films in Los Angeles, California rather than the Big Apple. “I once went to Bulgaria to shoot Oregon — I thought for sure when I read the script I was going to Oregon,” the actor said. “Terrible movie — that movie was called I Need to Pay My Bills.”

CSI: NY now pays the bills, allowing Buckley to be more picky about which roles he chooses. Fans of the CW series Supernatural may recognize Buckley as Ed Zeddmore, a wannabe ghost hunter that crosses paths with the Winchester brothers from time to time. However, Buckley almost didn’t get the part. “Originally they didn’t want me,” he explained. “I am a huge dork, let’s not kid anybody. But casting was like, no he’s too good looking. I never get that, are you kidding me? Usually I’m not good looking enough and now I’m too good looking?”

Buckley doesn’t know if he’ll be called back to film an episode for Supernatural‘s fifth (and possibly final) season, but fans have not seen the last of Ed and his GhostFacers pal Harry Spengler (Travis Wester). The pair are set to star in an upcoming web-based spinoff. Buckley and Wester were hired to write 10 episodes for the horror/comedy series, which will begin filming in Los Angeles this March.