He spent a decade in uniform as the star of the television series “JAG,” then went on to do other projects, but David James Elliott’s shore leave from the small screen is over.
The 49-year-old actor will star in ABC’s “Scoundrels” with Virginia Madsen, premiering 9 p.m. tonight. And he took the lead in the Hallmark Channel original movie “Dad’s Home,” which premiered on Saturday, but will play again at 9 tonight.
Elliott’s off-screen life includes an 18-year marriage to fellow Canadian Nanci Chambers, with whom he has two children. They have become U.S. citizens. As for family time, they recently lived with an indigenous tribe in the Amazon.
Q: Have you ever had to make a really difficult career vs. family decision?
A: No. I made those decisions before my family came. I remember telling my now-wife that, “Just so you know and we’re up-front, my career comes first.” But she hung around. Listen, people may disappoint you, but in the end you still have to feed yourself, and if you have a family, you’ve got to feed them, too.
Q: Do you see yourself as a guy defined by his job?
A: No, not at all. Your job, certainly as an actor, is to hold a mirror up to nature, as Shakespeare said. You can’t do that if you’re not living a real life. I don’t get caught up in it. It’s a job.
Q: How do you deal with the job insecurity, especially having a family?
A: I never figured that I would ever get married. I might have taken a different path if I thought I had to support a bunch of people. I always thought I’d be taking the George Clooney path of existence. I’m always looking for a revenue stream. It’s a feast-or-famine business, and I understand that, and I accept it.
Q: So, how did you become so driven?
A: I don’t know, but that interests me a great deal. I’m working on a project now that kind of explores that: why some people are driven and why some aren’t. I have two brothers who weren’t really that driven. I wondered: Why me and not them. I’m the middle child. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s something that’s inherent, or maybe it’s in everyone and just gets awakened by some moment, some person or something.
Q: Because there is a 10-year difference in age between your children, did your parenting style change by the time your son came along?
A: Oh, yeah! The first kid, you’re a wreck. You’re afraid everything is going to destroy them, you know? Then when my James came along, it was like, “Ah, sure, go ahead. If he falls he’ll be all right.”
Q: So I understand you took them to the Amazon jungle recently.
A: It wasn’t something I did without a great deal of thought and reading a lot, but also life is for living. It’s a big wide, wild world, you know. So (I thought) let’s just go and do it.
The Amazon always fascinated me, and it’s close to my heart in what’s happening to it now and all the problems facing the indigenous people of the Amazon. The rain forest is disappearing, and it’s very distressing and it provides 20 percent of the world’s oxygen. When it’s gone, more than likely we’ll be gone.
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