Jamie Walters (American entertainer)

Jamie Walters (born James Leland Walters Jr. June 13, 1969) is an American actor, singer, firefighter and record producer, best known for his roles on Beverly Hills, 90210 and The Heights and his number one^[1] single "How Do You Talk to an Angel".

Career

Walters was born in Boston, Massachusetts^[2] and grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts.^[3] After graduating from high school, Jamie Walters attended New York University and studied film for two years and studied acting at The Actors Space in New York City.^[4]

While attending college, he was discovered at a bank by a casting agent who placed him in three high profile commercials for Levi's 501 Jeans. He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting and musical career. He played a bit role on Everyday Heroes. His film debut came in 1991 with the movie Shout, alongside John Travolta, Heather Graham, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Walters performed the song Rockin' the Pad on the Shout soundtrack album.

In 1992, Aaron Spelling cast Jamie as the lead on the Fox series The Heights, in which he also sang the theme song "How Do You Talk to an Angel?." The single reached #1^[1] on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 14, 1992 knocking Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" off of the top spot. It was also nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics". (The award went to Liza Minnelli.) The show was canceled by Fox, but it launched Jamie's music career when Atlantic Records took an interest in Walters and signed him to a recording contract.

In October 1994, Aaron Spelling created a role especially for Jamie on Beverly Hills, 90210, casting him as Ray Pruit, the musician-boyfriend of Donna (played by Tori Spelling). Jamie was a cast member of the hit show for two seasons until November 1996, when he asked Spelling to leave the show to focus on his music career.

On September 20, 1994, Jamie released his self-titled debut album Jamie Walters. The first single off of the album "Hold On" peaked at no. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[5] Jamie made appearances on MTV and various shows to promote the album, and also had a nationwide tour. The album sold over 1 million copies and was certified platinum.^[6]

In 1997, Jamie released his second album 'Ride'. The album was certified gold.^[6]

With his residence in Los Angeles county, he pursued training, certification, and employment as a paramedic and worked with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He is now working as a full-time firefighter/paramedic for the Los Angeles City Fire Department as of early 2004. Walters is focusing on his family and his career with the fire department but hopes to get back into music and acting sometime in the near future.

In 2009 Walters appeared in the VH1 reality show Confessions of a Teen Idol, in which former teen idols attempt to resurrect their careers.^[7]

Favorite artist and influences

Tom Petty, Jimi Hendrix, The Black Crowes, Matthew Sweet, Steve Miller Band, John Lee Hooker, Bruce Springsteen and Counting Crows among others.

In 1995, he said his favorite songs were American Girl by Tom Petty and Take the Money and Run by Steve Miller Band.^[8]

Favorite actors are Nicolas Cage, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro and Gary Oldman among others.^[8]

Band members

• Leland Sklar - bass guitar
• Russ Kunkel - drums
• Gary Mallaber - drums
• Michael Landau - guitar
• Reb Beach - guitar
• Zachary Throne - guitar, backing vocals

Personal life

Walters was engaged to Drew Barrymore in 1992. He broke up with her in 1993.^[9]

In 2002 Walters married Patty Walters. They met at Centinela Hospital, where they were both EMTs. He and Patty have 3 daughters.^[10]

Walters also has a son named Noah from a previous relationship.

Quotes

• "I don't want to turn into someone like David Cassidy. Most people's impressions of those kind of guys are that they're cheezers. I'd like to think of myself as a lot more real than some of the pop stars I grew up watching." - 1992

• "Nobody wants to take an actor seriously as a musician. I'm totally expecting to get shit. Music has been my love forever. Playing the guitar to me is like therapy. And that's how I write most of my songs, too; it's my way of working through experiences I've had, working them out. Acting is cool and I love to do it, but you don't get the same back from it that you do from playing music." - 1994

• "I like combining acting and music. I also like playing characters that are similar to myself 'cause they're playing my music. It's sort of the best of both worlds." - 1995

• On his Beverly Hills, 90210 role as Ray Pruit: "At first he was like this sort of like the underdog he was this guy from the wrong side of the town, who didn't fit in with the Beverly Hills kids but he had his music and he was honest and all this stuff. And then they started twisting him into being like this abusive evil boyfriend. I was like you either have to change the character or you have to let me off the show, because I'm going out and I'm like trying to sell tickets on our tour, and there's like teenage girls out there who think, like they really think I'm an abusive guy you know, and they'd hold up signs saying like 'leave Donna alone' and that's like so not what I wanted". - 1999^[11]

• "People were so attached to those characters, and then when one of those characters starts abusing one of the other characters, people do get mad at you. I didn't throw Donna down the stairs but my character did. I kept having to remind people of that, you know...that it was a show, I played a character." - 2003

Filmography

• 1989 Quantum Leap as young Al
• 1990 Everyday Heroes as Erik Linderman
• 1991 Bed & Breakfast as Mitch
• 1991 Shout as Jesse Tucker
• 1991 The Young Riders as Frank James
• 1992 The Heights as Alex O'Brien
• 1992 Quantum Leap as young Albert "Bingo" Calavicci
• 1994 Beverly Hills, 90210 as Ray Pruit
• 1994 Catwalk (MTV series)
• 1994 Vanishing Son II as Reggie Valmont
• 1994 Vanishing Son IV as Reggie Valmont
• 1995 Burnzy's Last Call as Shannon
• 1996 God's Lonely Man
• 1998 Chick Flick
• 1999 To Serve and Protect as Jeremy
• 2000 The Mumbo Jumbo as Thomas Doubting
• 2001 Dead Last as Vince Harmon

Discography

• 1994 Jamie Walters
• 1997 Ride
• 2002 Believed

References

External links

• Jamie Walters at the Internet Movie Database