James Marsden

• 1. Introduction

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  In 2023, the actor James Marsden starred as himself in Jury Duty, a hoax reality series. It was a strange destination for a performer who had spent decades playing other people. Those other people were often the rival, the fiancé or the prince. Marsden's work stretches from sitcom guest spots to superhero films, from movie musicals to a drama about android hosts in a theme park. How does a performer move from one-off television appearances to that range? Why did he keep landing the role of the man standing next to the lead? And what did the long road behind him, with its near misses and box office flops, make possible later?

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• 2. Oklahoma and Austin

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  James Paul Marsden was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on the 18th of September 1973. His parents were Kathleen, born Scholz, and James Luther Marsden. His father worked as a food safety advisor to LexiGene Industries, and his mother was a nutritionist. They divorced when he was nine years old.

  Four siblings grew up alongside him, two younger sisters and two brothers. He attended Hefner Middle School and then Putnam City North High School, both in Oklahoma City. At Oklahoma State University he studied broadcast journalism. After one and a half years, he left to move to Los Angeles and chase an acting career.

  On the 22nd of July 2000, Marsden married Mary Elizabeth "Lisa" Linde, the daughter of Dennis Linde. A son was born in 2001 and a daughter in 2005. The couple divorced in 2011, and Linde cited irreconcilable differences. In 2012, Marsden and the model Rose Costa had a son. Marsden lives in Austin, Texas.

  The Los Angeles move, though, had paid off years before any of that. By 1993 it had delivered his first screen credits, a run of television episodes.

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• 3. Television Apprenticeship

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  Eddie, the boyfriend of Margaret Sheffield, was Marsden's first job. He played the part across a series of episodes of The Nanny. Next came the Canadian series Boogies Diner, which aired for a single season. When it ended, he guest starred on Saved by the Bell: The New Class and Party of Five. Touched by an Angel gave him another guest part, and he later starred in the ABC show Second Noah.

  Two near misses date from this stretch. Edward Norton beat him out for a role in Primal Fear. He also auditioned for the lead in 54, and that part went to Ryan Phillippe.

  Film work arrived alongside the television parts. In Disturbing Behavior, Marsden appeared opposite Katie Holmes. In Gossip, his co-star was Kate Hudson. In 1998 he also appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits.

  The television credits kept coming into the new century. During the first half of season 5 of Ally McBeal, he was one of the main cast members. On that show he got to sing, a skill that film audiences would hear a great deal more of in the years ahead.

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• 4. Cyclops and Superman

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  Four films between 2000 and 2014 carried Marsden's name beside Scott Summers, the mutant hero known as Cyclops. Those films were X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand and, in a cameo, X-Men: Days of Future Past. Marsden's performance was well received, and it earned him a Blockbuster Award. In 2001, MTV's movie awards listed him for Best On-Screen Team, shared with Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman and Anna Paquin.

  Bryan Singer had directed the early X-Men films, but he dropped out of the third one to make Superman Returns. Marsden followed him to that production in a different costume. He played Richard White, the fiancé of Lois Lane. The Saturn Awards listed him for Best Supporting Actor in 2007 for that role.

  The Superman project had a price for the third mutant film. Schedule conflicts reduced his screen time in X-Men: The Last Stand, and that cut stirred controversy among fans of the comics.

  In 2014, Marsden came back for the Days of Future Past cameo. It was his first outing as Scott Summers in eight years. Anna Paquin and Famke Janssen, also from the first film, returned briefly as well.

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• 5. Singing Princes

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  Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, James Garner and Gena Rowlands surrounded Marsden in the 2004 romantic drama The Notebook. He played Lon Hammond, Jr., the second man Allie Hamilton, played by McAdams, falls in love with.

  In 2007, he took the part of Corny Collins in the film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray. That stage show itself came from the 1988 film of the same name by John Waters. Marsden sang two numbers, "The Nicest Kids In Town" and "(It's) Hairspray". The film and its soundtrack both drew critical acclaim. The Hollywood Film Awards named the cast Ensemble of the Year in 2007. The Critics' Choice Movie Awards and the Screen Actors Guild awards listed that cast in 2008.

  Enchanted came next. Marsden played Prince Edward opposite Amy Adams in a Disney film that mixed animation with live action. He sang a duet with Adams near the start. A second duet, with Idina Menzel, was cut from the finished film. Critics received Enchanted well, and it took in more than $340 million worldwide. Marsden returned as Edward for the sequel Disenchanted, released on Disney+ in November 2022.

  In 2008, he played the male lead in the romantic comedy 27 Dresses opposite Katherine Heigl, which grossed $160 million worldwide. That year he also starred in the teen comedy Sex Drive. It was a moderate success, but his performance drew heavy praise.

  The Teen Choice Awards nominated him for Choice Movie Actor in a Comedy, citing both Enchanted and 27 Dresses.

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• 6. Remakes and Reversals

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  Richard Matheson's 1970 short story "Button, Button" had already become an episode of The Twilight Zone before Marsden touched it. In 2009 he played the male lead in The Box, which was based on that story. He worked opposite Cameron Diaz, and Frank Langella also appeared in the cast.

  In 2010, he joined the cast of Death at a Funeral, an American remake of the 2007 British film with the same title. Chris Rock, Luke Wilson, Danny Glover and Columbus Short shared the screen with him.

  January 2011 found him on Modern Family as a squatter. In April, he was the live-action lead in Hop, an Easter comedy with Russell Brand as the Easter Bunny. Hop opened at the top of the weekend box office and passed $100 million in the United States. Even so, reviews were generally negative.

  Straw Dogs, later in 2011, was a remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 film. Marsden took the character that Dustin Hoffman had played in the original, and Kate Bosworth co-starred. Reviews were mixed, and the film ended up a box office flop.

  The next year, 2012, brought a very different mix of work, including a recurring television part and several independent films.

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• 7. Supporting Turns

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  Criss Chros was the name of Liz Lemon's boyfriend, and later husband, on 30 Rock. Marsden played him in the sixth and seventh seasons, across 2012 and 2013.

  Smaller films filled the gaps in his schedule. Among them were Robot & Frank, Small Apartments, Bachelorette and As Cool as I Am.

  In 2013, Marsden joined Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg in the action film 2 Guns, which debuted at number one in its opening weekend. Soon after, he played President John F. Kennedy in Lee Daniels' historical drama The Butler. That ensemble film also opened at the top spot and drew positive reviews. In 2014, the Screen Actors Guild awards listed him in the ensemble categories for both The Butler and 30 Rock.

  Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues cast him as Jack Lime, a reporter who rivals Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell. MTV's 2014 movie awards listed the cast for Best Fight.

  The Best of Me, which followed in 2014, was his second film based on a Nicholas Sparks story, after The Notebook.

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• 8. Androids and Streaming

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  Teddy Flood, a sentient android, became Marsden's role in HBO's Westworld, which ran from 2016 to 2022. He appeared in three seasons: the first, the second and the fourth. The Screen Actors Guild awards listed the show's ensemble in 2017.

  Netflix's dark comedy Dead to Me gave him two characters. At first he played Steve Wood, the former boyfriend and lawyer of Judy Hale. From the second season onward, he played a separate character named Ben Wood. The show ran from 2019 to 2022, and the Critics' Choice Television Awards nominated him for it.

  2020 was crowded. He starred as Tom Wachowski in Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog film, then returned for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 2022. He also appeared in the miniseries The Stand as Stu Redman and in Mrs. America as Phil Crane. In 2021, he voiced Hitch Trailblazer in the Netflix animated film My Little Pony: A New Generation. In May 2024, he played Jack LaLanne in the Netflix film Unfrosted. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 followed that year.

  Jury Duty won a 2023 Peabody Award as an Entertainment Honoree. Marsden's performance brought nominations for a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy. The Television Critics Association also recognized it in the category of individual achievement in comedy.

  Paradise followed in 2025, with Marsden as Cal Bradford, and it brought his second Primetime Emmy nomination. In 2026 he joined the main cast of the second season of Your Friends & Neighbors, as Owen Ashe.

  Avengers: Doomsday, set for 2026, brings Marsden back as Cyclops. Another Sonic film, with Tom Wachowski again in the cast, was listed as filming for 2027.

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