very good detective needs a snitch. Some slimy, shady character to give them the inside scoop on everything that is evil. For Angel, this glorious position was occupied by the tongue-less, lizard-like demon known only as Merl. Yet behind the money-grubbing stool pigeon lies a very personable and distinctive actor: Matthew James. Still relatively new to Los Angeles, Matt is making his impression with an innate talent for characterization. His ability to bring an entertainingly unique personality to his characters will undoubtedly land him many roles in the future. The following interview explores the various sides of Matt: from his musical ties in New York City, his unique relationship with Merl, to his future projects. We discover a very tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that keeps things far from ever getting too serious but make no mistake that Matt is quite serious about his career, and he enjoys what he does to the fullest.

While many actors in Los Angeles tend to be natives of the West Coast, Matthew is a proud "Eastie." Still relatively new on the Hollywood scene, his roots burn strong: "Brand new! Out of Manhattan. Came out to LA about 4 or 5 years ago. I'm 28, oh yeah; I'm a young boy," he explains, already lightening the mood. However, unlike many of his New York City counterparts, Matthew never really explored any of the well-known acting schools, instead he went straight to the top. "No, none of that. I did Lee Strasberg." [ Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan.] These factors have molded Matt into a discernable "East Coast actor." Due to their accessibility to the demands of the theatre, actors who come from the East Coast tend to stretch a bit more. "Well you're constantly working on something, you're doing it everyday. It's good either way," he comments casually.

As a child Matt always had a keen eye on the entertainment industry which in turn sparked his interest in acting: "Probably from just watching a lot of movies when I was a kid. My father taking me to movies, and I just loved it," he reminisces. However, despite his love for movies, he was never able to pick just one influential source. "As a kid growing up, I think I loved everything. There wasn't one movie that made me want to become an actor. [It was] just something to do," he jokes. A bit later in his life his interest began to bloom into a career choice. "I guess it kind of hit me back in high school. I did [Drama classes] for a goof, I can't really remember back that far," he says with a laugh. "I think that's where I started to try and at least get serious about it, after high school. I think I was just always watching something, movies and TV."

Becoming Merl required Matt to undergo a rather extensive make-up session. Still, he looks back on the experience very fondly, despite some obvious discomforts. "Oh dude, it's so wonderful. There's nothing like it in the world, having your skin peeled off at the end of a long day," he jokes sarcastically. "It's actually not that bad. [First] they put your face in that plaster for like 10 minutes to make a mold. It's pretty cool though, I think Rob [Hall] still has it actually. It's takes about two and a half to three hours on a good day, so you're sitting in the chair for three hours. Now if I'm doing it with Rob it seems like it goes quicker because we just crank some heavy metal for the kids and rock out," he says with a laugh. "It could go longer sometimes, and it's an hour and a half to two hours to get off. And when they take it off it just rips your skin, your skin's all red. It's fun though; I enjoyed it." Yet every experience has a downside. Those marvelous eyes of Merls did not come without hardship either. "The worst thing was probably the contacts. They weren't that bad, just a little uncomfortable at first. It takes, like the makeup, just getting use to it. I just don't wear contacts so it's a new thing for me. It's just weird looking at yourself in the mirror, that's the scary thing because you forget you have it on and people are looking at you like you're a wacko and you go, 'Oh yeah, I'm in my makeup." Upon the first completion of Merl, Matt was shocked to say the least, "Oh it just looked like me on a bad day anyway so it wasn't that much of . . . no, it was scary. It's scary looking at yourself like that, it's a whole different -- it's pretty frightening, I still have nightmares to this day. I can't sleep at night," he chuckles.

"There's nothing like it in the world, having your skin peeled off at the end of a long day"

The writers on Angel, especially Mere Smith, who wrote the majority of Merl's dialogue did an exquisite job characterizing Merl. "Right, she's done excellent work," Matt agrees. Coupled with Matt's ability to become Merl through his voice and mannerisms, Mere felt that writing him was a total blast and not at all an effort, which we were happy to convey to Matt. "Really? See I don't get to hear any of this stuff," Matt says laughingly. "Nobody tells me anything. It [the dialogue] was fun. It was some good stuff I thought." Along with the dialogue and acting came some rather extensive physical demands. "Well, you know that's how I demand all my stuff, physically demanding. You understand I need to be physical in my scenes. That's right, I feel like I'm earning it," he interjected wryly. The man does not have an off-switch when it comes to humor! One of the more memorable Merl scenes was where Angel repeatedly dunked him upside down beneath the streets of L.A. in sewer water in the episode, Redefinition. Make no mistake, there were no stunt doubles there. "Oh that was me! Oh that was me!" Luckily not many takes were needed to perfect the drenching fiasco, "About 4 or 5 takes. It wasn't too bad. I just had to remember to close my eyes so the contacts didn't fall out in the water. Everybody was cool, that was actually very cool. That was real Hollywood stuff," he says.

As the day actually turned out to be rather exciting and fun for Matt, he recalls for us that, "It wasn't as bad as you would think it might be, getting dunked. It was actually kind of cool. I liked it. I was into it; one day was good. If it went on for another few hours it probably would have started to suck," he pauses to laugh. "They did it well enough, I think it was pretty fun. One of my fondest memories of Merl." Yet as we all know, Merl came to his untimely end early in That Old Gang of Mine of this, the third season. When asked if he was sorry about Merl's departure from the show, Matt responded with a burst of laughter, "Of course! Was I sorry? Of course, he's dead! What do you mean am I sorry?" But this is the Joss-verse and he was quick to add, "Anything can happen but it's not looking good for Merl I think. I got splattered pretty bad in that." The repercussions of Merl's demise can still be felt throughout the world as Angel fans mourn the loss of their favorite snitch. "Really? Oh well rightfully so, they should be. It was a sad, sad day. I remember it like it was . . . a few months ago," he adds.