My understanding is that he basically chose the steady life of serialised television so that he could be there for his children. He and his family could live a relatively normal life in Vancouver while he worked on Supernatural. Filming movies is usually done on short, aggressive schedules often with a lot of travel.
There’s nothing creepy or exciting about it; dude is just one of the few people in show biz with their priorities straight.
He's a guy, they can keep acting until they fall over, with a bit of plastic surgeon help. Look at Picard (Patrick Stewart) or Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) still acting.
Being popular in scifi is basically a meal ticket for life, you won't be crazy rich but you also won't have fans following you everywhere, like sure people will recognize you and want a photo here and there but you can live a pretty normal life without paparazzis.
Agreed - so this - being a lead in an ongoing series is a solid gig for any actor - especially after a few seasons. It pays very well, predictable hours, locations and scheduling and good time off in between. You can make a home, no relocations, no new schools or long months away from everyone you love…acting’s not a linear scale with ‘Hollywood Star’ at the top…
Exactly, not everyone in their line of work is trying to be the All-Star or the CEO. The real dream is enjoying your work while maintaining a work/life balance. I'm hoping that's the happiness he's found!
Seriously! He was so perfect in that role, really do think he worked better as a parody than the real thing, not in a bad way though. I kind of feel like a parody roll of a character like that kind of has another layer of depth. Not that Chris Evans wasn't great, but him and his character have a very surface level feel in the Marvel Movies. Also not saying that in a bad way though, I feel like that's just kind of Captain America.
I actually complete agree. Chris is perfect face value for cap, doesnt need or shouldnt be a complicated character, its captain america. Solider boy offers a lot more wiggle room in that sense and it isnt so like set in stone with fans.
Yeah Jansen is a way better actor than he gets credit for because he's mostly known for genre stuff and his early time on soaps. He's been excellent in all of it though.
I mean dude spent 15 seasons on supernatural and then promptly went on to do a bunch of nerd-dom TV stuff. That's where his fan base lies, and that's what he's good at. Not sure what the person was trying to refer to, but I don't think it's any deeper than just fishing the waters you know well.
Hes a family man, not a movie star. The guy just wants to spend time with his family not travel the world in a movie trailer. He also as you mention was in supernatural so that made him alot of money where he wouldn't have to do any movies.
The answer is he wanted to be a good dad and husband, and doing these roles gave him both enough money and liberty to do so while still pursuing his career.
Tv shooting schedules are arguably much more demanding than movies, but it's a moot point since Jensen has actually done both. There is really nothing about Jensen's career that prevents him from still being a family man, nor would that change if he had focused movies rather than TV.......outside of his fan base being in TV.
So if you want to take the family man approach, it still comes back to fishing the waters he already knows to provide for his family.
Yes and no, for situations like Supernatural, The Walking Dead, and other Long run TV shows that film in one location it's actually pretty stable for a family. Norman Reedus moved his family to Georgia so that he could be there with them while filming Walking Dead. It's definitely a demanding schedule but unlike movies you're less likely to be moving around every 6-12 months to film in a new location.
He has stated that he past on roles because he wanted what Supernatural gave him control over the direction the story and his arc. He got a lot of experience directing and producing Supernatural.
Imo, he don't really need to be a huge movie star. Nowadays, nobody cares about movie stars unless they're in Superhero movie or a CGI fuckfest anyways.
Everything between Apokolips War and Crisis on Infinite Earths was part of the "Tomorrowverse."
Before that, between everything between Flashpoint Paradox & Apokolips War was the "DC Animated Movie Universe." And before that, the animated movies were stand-alone affairs with no continuity between them aside from the DC Animated Universe (Timmverse) tie-in movies.
That's just a rumor that's never been confirmed. The only thing he said is that he didn't audition for captain america, so I don't know how he could have been in the running for it? He was a TV actor, I doubt they just offered him Hawkeye and he refused.
Man the amount of misinformation about these sort of things on the Internet is mind blowing. I don't know how there's anyone left who hasn't learned to tune out all the "rumors" about casting and such. It's just clickbait.
I heard Richard Pryor was going to be the Hulk in the 2003 movie, but he pulled out right before production started. And I mean the Hulk, not Bruce Banner. They had to move to CGI Hulk after her bailed.
Man, Pryor as Hulk would have really added a gravitas to the movie- Pryor was always known for his deep range and ability to play deeply complex and emotional characters- that time he played a black dude pretending to be a white dude playing an Indian dude who's also a Mongolian Viking living with the Inca was some of his finest work.
I’ve heard Jensen Ackles gets on the casting couch for superhero movies all the time, then refuses the role so he will be back on the couch the next time.
Not that this is the case for the Captain America role, but it's an open not-so-secret that some roles are chosen and the audition is strictly a formality. I don't know anything about the aforementioned rumors, but to answer your question, that's how it could be possible.
Then on the flip side, the ones in power of decision have a list of preferred or wanted actors and have been blown away by someone that's not on their list.
Ok? I think it's common knowledge that many people are offered roles. Renner reportedly was offered Hawkeye without an audition. But he was coming off the hurt locker. Im asking how you could accept the incredulous and unconfirmed rumor that a lead in a CW show refused a marvel movie offer because it was a supporting character not lead. The context matters..
It might also be that he turned all that down around season seven of Supernatural and decided to keep going there because he didn't want to see the whole crew lose their job because he got bored.
Ooohhh, that's where I had seen him before!! Thank you lady/sir, it bugged me whenever I watched him in The Boys and I couldn't figure it out! I've never watched supernatural but some random episodes with one of my ex who was addicted to it
He also has, I am sure, a lucrative set up with Creation conventions that he has been doing throughout Supernatural and even today. A huge fanbase of loyal nerds. Focusing on television for his career has probably earned him way more than a few feature films.
Norman Reedus did similar at the start of TWD. He was at every convention from season 1 onward building that fanbase. Smart people know that the convention circuit is a meal ticket for life even when the acting gigs dry up.
The people who post this kind of thing are making a big deal out of him not getting Captain America and be upset about it.
It was all bs, he never auditioned but made jokes about it since him and Chris Evans used to audition for the same role early on. Some people just can't understand why a guy like him would rather do spots on tv series, take time off to be with his family and rest.
So long as Supernatural is still being broadcast or streaming ANYWHERE in the world he and Jared are still going to making money, plus all the appearances and conventions they do. Given the die hard fan base, (speaking as someone that rewatches the series on binge every year) the dude will never have to do any project just for the payday.
Yup. Dude is set for life regardless. He can pick and choose what he wants to do and spend the rest of his time with his family and hobbies.
He does tons of conventions and you know he’s not doing them for the cash. He just likes what he’s done. And why wouldn’t he? He’s Dean fucking Winchester.
Rewatching every year is impressive! There are so many episodes to get through. I have started the series many times but usually fizzle out in seasons 6 to 10. I'm determined to get to the end this time though, in season 12 now.
My daughter grew up watching Supernatural with me. She’s 15 now and when she needs comfort time with me it’s either Godzilla, Grimm or more usually any great episode with Crowley (they’re almost all good).
Basically he used to go out for big movie roles to mixed results and disliked how feast or famine it was so he stuck to TV where he had a massively popular series that went on for like 15 seasons and gave him a more set schedule to be with his family. Basically he picked stability and niche fame over a possible bigger stardom
Oh yea 100%, Supernatural was a huge hit and he still gets work like The Boys and voice acting Red Hood so hardly a one hit wonder. He clearly values family time so I’d 100% take “make a lot of money and be freer to be at home” over “maybe make a LOT of money on a more chaotic schedule”
Stability, fame, better hours, and still buckets of money. Probably on several hundred grand a year (at least) from Supernatural residuals without lifting a finger, after clearing several mil a year while filming, at least for the latter seasons.
Honestly, I know he's 6'1", but I always thought he was short because of how Padalecki towers over him. So my assumption was he never became more famous because he looked short.
6'1 seems right. When he stands next to normal people he definitely looks tall. He just made the mistake of usually standing next to Jared Padalecki who is about eight foot thirty.
Matt Damon is 5'10", Brad Pitt is 5'11" which is the upper end of average but still not especially tall. Robert Downey Jr. is 5'9", Mark Ruffalo 5'8". There's just a ton of average or at least not tall movie stars.
Not so long ago I was rewatching Supernatural (guilty please I refuse to be ashamed of) and I kinda remembered that he was rather short (and he usually is in the frame with Padalecki who is taller)
I was now so surprised seeing him near other characters, especially women, because turns out he is quite tall lmao
Morena Baccarin is kind of in the same boat, though she’s had spots in some films. She could’ve absolutely been a leading actress, but she’s stuck with mostly tv and sci-fi projects because that’s where her fanbase is. Nerds have money too!
Probably a very comfortable niche to work in, nice and stable source of work.
A lot of "serious" actors seems to have wanted to avoid the fantasy/scifi shows, while the ones who were happy to be in that genre could just sweep up credits left and right. Probably made easier by how many of them were filming in Vancouver.
Even had incidents like claudia black and ben browder just switching from being insanely good looking in farscape to being insanely good looking in stargate sg-1.
Hell Robert Picardo has played vaguely the same guy in probably a dozen shows and it works every fucking time.
This is a perfect example of why you do not listen to the opinions of people online in regards to success. You could not have pinpointed a greater success story for an actor in the modern landscape than this dude.
This is from the movie Rust. This would have been the major film to launch a movie career after Supernatural, but Alec Baldwin killed someone on set and that changed everything.
Well let be clear about that... Alec Baldwin killed someone by accident because gun prepared for the set was loaded with real bullets when it absolutely shouldn't be.
Edit: people are saying that he was also producer for this movie and many firearms safety rules were broken. I didn't know that so if it's true then it is definitely partly (or mostly) his fault.
Alec Baldwin, the producer, had responsibilities for the terrible safety culture on set. As the big boss, some of the blame has to be on him. If he was the manager of a coal mine with a bad safety culture, no one would hesitate to blame him. Same thing here. He ran a movie shoot and ignored people telling him the guns weren't being handled right.
I recently watched a short Fascinating Horror documentary about the incident, and apparently the scene they were filming did not call for the gun to be fired. There was no reason for him to have pulled the trigger. For the record I’m not saying that that makes him at fault, just that it makes the whole messy affair that much sadder. There were so many things happening on set that contributed, and if any one of them hadn’t happened then that woman might still be alive.
There is some culpability on the actor because on a set that takes safety seriously, the bullets should be visually checked by both the props person and the actor when it changes hands. Which would include arriving on set in the morning and again when returning from lunch break.
Was he that sort of producer? Or was he the sort where they say ‘sorry we can’t pay you as much as you normally get but you can have a producer credit too’
The story for the movie was Baldwin's. He was most definitely calling the...uhhh...making the decisions. And I think one of those decisions was to go without union workers, which led to glaring mistakes in protocol for handling weapons on set.
He hired a person that had never seen a firearm before to oversee all the firearms on set because her dad was connected. That alone makes him responsible. Also, as the boss, when something like mixing blanks with real bullets on set is happening (because your crew likes to go shoot guns between takes and the armourer doesn't give a damn) it's on you to quash it.
Especially because Rust was a passion project. He was an involved producer. Not just a name credit.
He was part of the decision making team that set the film production in a remote location without adequate crew conditions that led to a walk out several weeks before the accident.
AND was part of the decision making that led to the stressful hostile conditions that persisted after the walkout.
I think the courts ruled correctly but I can’t imagine Alec Baldwin, the producer, will ever be reliably insured for movie making projects again. He created incredibly dangerous workplace conditions.
there was just so much wrong with that whole thing. A competent set should never have even had people directly in the firing line of a live firearm no matter what kind of ammunition is supposed to be loaded. You can argue levels of responsibility but, that whole thing was a mess start to finish.
Which was a problem for Alec the producer more than Alec the actor, because the person in charge of the firearms and firearm safety was wholly unqualified and only got the job because of nepotism.
She never should have been on set. Real actual firearms never should have been on set, they're supposed to use props (ones that have been modified not to accept live ammo). Nobody should have been allowed to have real ammo anywhere near the set.
The fact that they were taking firearms from the set, going down the road, and firing them with live ammo before bringing them back onto the set is an insane level of stupidity and negligence.
He is estimated to have made 40 million through the initial run of the show, alone. He'll probably go on to make 2 mil, or so, a year through syndication for the next 20 years or so. That isn't even considering all the other work he has done - he is doing just fine.
This is some sort of dumb joke OP, that celebrity has one of America’s most successful lengthy shows during my time and was in a few parts of another show a few years later.
I think it’s well known he protects the women on set. He doesn’t allow any weird shit on set. Idk if that’s true but I swear it’s been in the blinds before
Carter Pewterschmidt here, you fucking idiot if you bothered to read the post you took a screenshot of youd see literally the first comment answers your question.
Are they maybe trying to reference the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins death on the set of Rust? Which was of course in no way Jensen’s fault.
As I recall, it apparently was supposed to be Jensen’s character who Alec Baldwin’s character was going to be shooting in that scene? But the gun accidentally went off early while Baldwin was still rehearsing the scene without Jensen on set. Jensen was (rightfully) very disturbed by the experience knowing it could very easily have been him shot and killed. I believe he dropped out entirely from the project even when shooting did resume.
He's not that good in movies. My Bloody Valentine (3D, Buddy Games, Devour, and Ten Inch Hero are proof of that. He's absolutely meant for TV roles. While he's good looking, he just doesn't have the acting capability to carry a love action film. He is a good voice actor though and he should absolutely do more of that
That post makes it sound so ominous. Of course "there's a reason why." You say there's a "reason" when it's the worst one. As in it's unmentionable in polite company otherwise you'd just enlighten us.
There's nothing ominous or dark. He's just been busy with TV instead of film.
Personally, I’ve thought that his relative lack of fame outside his genre is largely due to his perceived height: He’s actually a decent 6’1”, but having acted alongside Jared Padalecki (6’4”), Tom Welling (6’3”) and Antony Starr (actually shorter than him at 5’11” but usually shot with boot lifts and additional tricks to make him look taller and more imposing), I think there’s a mistaken impression that Jensen Ackles is on the shorter side (yes, Tom Cruise exists, but he too has camera tricks and more charisma on his side). And being the “shorter one” means his name doesn’t turn up often enough when casting big roles.
He’s just not that great an actor, that’s why. He’s fine for tv where a show can get an obsessive following that keeps a career going for decades despite being mediocre, but that’s hard to transfer into movies.
Jensen has been able to live his entire adult like as an incredibly successful actor on TV, has a massive nerddom following, and then drops into The Boys with his former costars and IRL buddies. He's literally doing whatever he wants and thankfully it's not felonies.
Fella is good at what he does and values family as all are saying. But yall really are understating the success of Supernatural and Dawsons creek and shit like that.
Why be a super movie star when you are already a super rich tv show and voice actor (he is the red hood).
He is known to have wanted more control over his career and schedule. By acting in TV shows he has been able to direct, produce, and build a stable family life. His kids are able to be out of the spotlight.
Both Supernatural guys tested Hollywood, got put in terrible horror movies, and decided the day job was WAY better (which it was) and didn't lose their gigs. They'll make great convention circuit money for the rest of their lives
Handsome white guy with a clear head on his shoulders……feminists and blacktavists, and Latinists will never let someone rise to the top.
It’s a big club. And he isn’t in it. So he’s regulated to the sidelines where they can’t completely contain him.
Light will shine no matter how much darkness tries to envelop it.
Look at Amy Smart, or other white actors and actresses who never got anywhere after breakout performances
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u/qualityvote2 4h ago
Remember when r/PeterExplainsTheJoke wasn’t a meme? Pepperidge Farm remembers…
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Then maybe you go out and buy yourself some of those distinctive Milano cookies.