Nathan Fillion, from Soap Star to Famous

The plain and simple about Nathan Fillion is that he is a Canadian-born actor who has had many movie, television and voice parts. But Nathan Fillion is not plain and simple. In fact, he is a very good actor that allows you to buy him in any role he takes on. My earliest memories of Fillion are from the soap opera "One Life To Live." For years he played Joey Buchanan, and was the best Joey Buchanan there ever was. But, unlike many soap actors, Fillion was able to go on to bigger and much better in his acting career.

In The Beginning

Alright, not all of Fillion's acting choices have been great, though he does a great job in all of hist parts. Have you seen "Slither?" That movie is horrible, but Fillion makes it a movie worth seeing. Before Fillion made a name for himself in the television series "Firefly" (which I will get more into later), he had a bit part in "Saving Private Ryan," he was on the television series "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place," he played Father David in Dracula 2000 and he visited vampires a second time with a brief role on "Buffy The Vampire Slayer."

The "Firefly" Years

Then in 2002 director Joss Whedon made science fiction history with the television show "Firefly." Anyone that hadn't known who Nathan Fillion was soon would. In this phenomenal show Fillion played Captain Malcom 'Mal' Reynolds, captain of the transport ship "Serenity." The tongue-in-cheek script of this show and Fillion's quirky humor and boy-next-door looks made it a quick hit for sci-fi fans. The show didn't last very long, unfortunately, but in 2005 the movie "Serenity" gave some of us closure to "Firefly" and left us missing Fillion once again.

The In-Between

Fillion is a big name on television once again, but before he became a mystery writer for "Castle" he did some other stuff. He had brief stints on television shows called "Miss Match" and "Drive." He was in a romantic comedy called "Waitress." He had a recurring role on "Desperate Housewives." And he even went musical with Neil Patrick Harris in "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" in which he played a superhero named Captain Hammer.

Now We Have "Castle"

Nathan Fillion's fans cheered when they heard of ABC's new television series "Castle" that would be starring the one and only, in 2009. Of course, like most shows I have loved I expected it to be canceled after the first season, but as luck would have it it is still going strong. In "Castle" Fillion plays a writer, Richard Castle, who shadowed an NYPD homicide investigation team for information for one of his books, and he has been their confidant since. The show has great crime scenes, sexual tension, and that quirky humor we all love Nathan Fillion for. And, if you love him as much as I do you will run out and buy the Richard Castle books based on the television series (even though they are not actually written by Nathan Fillion and Richard Castle is not a real person)!