Photo by Benny Haddad


(Editor's Note: This is a portion of the article featured in the new issue of Variance.)


American born, thought to be British, actor David Anders has been keeping himself quite busy these days. Perhaps you saw him on Alias or Heroes or even Vampire Diaries. Even though the list of Anders’ appearances is plentiful, he can currently be seen on ABC’s Once Upon a Time or on USA’s Necessary Roughness. There is no doubt that Anders is definitely doing what he loves.

Upon moving to L.A. several years back, Anders admits that he originally came with the intention of doing comedy. But since that hasn’t happened yet, Anders can be found comfortably and professionally playing the role of the villain, the bad guy.

“I think playing the villain is more fun than playing the good guy, the hero,” Anders says. Who can argue with fun?


But sometimes playing the villain will result in invested fans thinking that he is actually a villain. Anders recounts one of these incidents saying, “Someone has actually said, ‘I don’t like you and I don’t know why,’ looking at me critically. [I know it’s] because you don’t like my character... that’s not me.” For instance, people often assume Anders in British because his villainous roles thus far have called for an English accent. He just happens to put it on quite well.

Currently seen alongside John Stamos in Necessary Roughness, Anders says it’s great to work with him.

“He’s absolutely a delight, all we did was laugh,” Anders says in reference to Stamos.

But with all the roles that Anders has been seen playing, he says that when deciding to take a part, “you hear a lot of no’s and I’ll say a lot of no’s to roles that I just don’t think are right for me... There are a lot of factors that go into it.”

As a former actor on 24, Anders expresses enthusiasm for the show’s return next summer, as well as his love of Arrested Development.

“I think it’s great for shows like that, that had such a huge cult following. [The return of ] Arrested Development has been a dream for me because that was my favorite show in the history of television. These 14-15 episodes that just came out have just been a wet dream for me and for all the other fans that love it. I think 24 is the same. Why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t you bang out some episodes to that fan base that you left behind when it ended?”

Anders also mentioned hearing rumors of Heroes coming back as well. Like Arrested Development, perhaps this will be another Netflix hit.

Read the full interview here.