Buckley: You’ve Got To Work Through It

AJ Buckley (Adam Ross) discusses dyslexia and joining other members of the CSI: New York cast on Twitter.

Buckley had trouble with dyslexia growing up, and it makes learning his lines for New York a bit more difficult; however, he doesn’t let that get in his way. “I’ve struggled with it my whole life, and I don’t look at it as a disability, it just made me work harder,” the actor told CTV. “At times it gets frustrating, but you have to apply yourself more. It’s trying sometimes, especially with the dialog I have to say on set… I could not be saying harder dialog with this type of reading problem. Some words are just so hard to say, so adding that on top, I’ve got my work cut out for me.”

“You’ve got to deal with it,” he added. “Rise to the occasion. Somebody once said to me, that the only way I was going to get through this, was to apply myself. You’ve got to work through it. You’ve got to deal with it; it’s going to be with you for the rest of your life. Work hard. Once you have that mentality, then you build that muscle up. Don’t be too hard on yourself; it’s something you can totally get through.”

When he’s not learning his lines on the CSI: NY set, Buckley and some of his costars use Twitter to communicate with the fans. Hill Harper (Dr Sheldon Hawkes), Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) and Sela Ward (Jo Danville) all have accounts on the website. “Everybody talks to each other,” Buckley said. “It’s funny seeing Gary Twitter, because he gets really excited about it, he loves it. I remember when Hill took pictures on set, and Gary would ask, ‘What’s this picture for?’ And when he was told it was for Twitter, he would go, ‘Twitter?’ And now he’s like, ‘Guys, let’s take a picture for Twitter.’ But Gary is great because he does so much work with the troops, and a lot of his followers are guys who have been in the service, so it has an emotional connection for the people he talks to. It’s his way to have access, in the best way possible, with his band and stuff.”

You can read the rest of the interview, in which Buckley shares more about dyslexia as well as his work with the Mantra Venture Group, on CTV.ca. Thanks to perlnoir from TalkCSI for sharing the link!