James Wesley Marsters (born August 20, 1962) is an American actor, musician, singer, comic book writer, and audiobook narrator.

He also voiced the roles of Lex Luthor in the film Superman: Doomsday and the video game DC Universe Online, Sergei in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Mister Fantastic in The Super Hero Squad Show, Korvac in Ultimate Spider-Man, Captain Faro Argyus in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Louis 'Match' Morris in Real Heroes: Firefighter, Nosferatu in DuckTales and Various voices in Scooby-Doo!

After graduation in 1980, Marsters studied at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California.

Marsters attracted the general public's attention for his appearance as villain, and later anti-hero, Spike on season 2 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

For the role, Marsters spoke with a London accent, for which he received informal coaching from British co-star Anthony Head.

"He made it very clear he did not want the show to be taken over by another romantic vampire," Marsters told 411Mania, adding "to Joss, vampires were supposed to be ugly, evil, and quick to be killed... when I was cast Joss did not imagine me to be popular; Spike was supposed to be dirty and evil, punk rock, and then dead."

[5] Surprisingly, Spike would become a romantic partner for Buffy, and Marsters a main cast member until the very end of the show.

After the conclusion of Buffy, Marsters carried Spike over to its spinoff, Angel, as a series regular in its fifth and final season.

[5] In April 2004, following the end of Angel, Marsters had Spike's trademark bleached hair shaved off for charity live on television during an episode of On Air with Ryan Seacrest.

[9] After Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel ended, Marsters became active with the canonical comic book series of both shows, particularly with stories centering around his character.

A canonical graphic novel set during the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike: Into the Light, written by Marsters himself, was released by Dark Horse Comics on July 16, 2014.

On March 24, 2015, Jim Butcher announced that a new version of the Ghost Story audiobook was to be released on April 21, 2015, with Marsters returning as the narrator in response to fan demands.

Late that year, Marsters appeared on the television series Smallville playing Dr. Milton Fine—the popular Superman villain Brainiac—in eight episodes throughout the show's fifth season.

In September 2006, Marsters' interpretation of Godber's Teechers was performed on the Queen Mary with two other actors in Los Angeles.

[13] Released in September 2007, Marsters starred in the direct-to-DVD animated film, Superman: Doomsday, providing the voice of iconic villain Lex Luthor.

He portrayed "Piccolo Daimao" in the live-action film adaptation of the popular Dragon Ball manga and anime,[16] directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow, which was released worldwide on April 10, 2009 and performed poorly both critically and financially.

[citation needed] He has appeared on Supernatural in the episode "Shut Up, Dr. Phil", which aired October 21, 2011, alongside fellow Buffyverse co-star Charisma Carpenter.

For these solo gigs he mainly performed covers of classic folk and rock musicians such as Tom Waits, Neil Young, James Taylor, and Bruce Springsteen.

He sang in "Once More, with Feeling", a musical episode of Buffy: solo parts in "Walk Through the Fire" and "Something To Sing About", and "Rest in Peace" completely on his own.

[citation needed] During his September 2006 convention, James Marsters & Friends,[24] he debuted several new songs including "The Truth Is Heavy", "Fall of Night", "Jealous Man", and "Not A Millionaire".

These songs as well as some of his previously unrecorded work were released on Marsters' second solo album, formally launched in Los Angeles and Cardiff in October and November 2007 respectively.

[citation needed] Like a Waterfall was produced by Ryan Shore and features several other musicians including Blair Sinta, who has drummed for Alanis Morissette, and Five for Fighting bass player Curt Schneider.

[28] In 2010 James' music career continued when the band Ghost of the Robot reformed: they have since released the album B-Sider which is available on iTunes.

It includes the song "Don't Worry Son," which Marsters wrote while he was working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.