Jonathan Murphy
Jonathan Murphy is known for his role on the breakout hit October Road, but fans will also recognize him from Wildfire.
The Star Scoop:
Let’s talk about October Road.
Jonathan Murphy:
October Road is the story of Nick Garrett, who is played by Bryan Greenberg. It’s set in a small town in Massachusetts, and he is leaving for, he says, six weeks, but it ends up being ten years. Where our story picks up is him kind of being gone for ten years and getting the opportunity to come back to his hometown after writing a best selling book, and it’s become a hit movie and everything like that. He is returning to teach at a college in town. The character I play is Ronnie Garrett, I play his younger brother, who missed his brother and he’s always been a supporter of his brother, even though everyone in town kind of badmouths him and everything. He’s unaffected by the bad feelings that everyone else has, and he’s always been kind of a champion for his brother, so he’s so excited for him to be home and be back and staying for a while.
The Star Scoop:
Have you seen a change in your daily life since the show premiered?
Murphy:
I have for sure seen a change. I actually am doing episodes of the ABC show Wildfire right now, and so when the show premiered and did great and everything, I had the stuff for Wildfire going on. I’ve started to receive fan letters, people sending me emails and things like that, saying how much they love the show and how much they love the character. One of the bigger things that’s happened now is that I was just offered a part in a movie, for the first time [I] didn’t have to read, [they] didn’t have to audition me, [they’d] just seen my work and thought I was right for the part. So I start filming that in a couple weeks. So it’s starting to creep open that door that gets a little bit of recognition for someone. The ultimate goal is to keep working. It’s definitely been a positive.
The Star Scoop:
You’ve had a lot of guest spots on big shows. Now this show gives you a recurring role. How does sticking with one show compare to doing lots of guest spots?
Murphy:
Of course it’s better, because you get to develop your character. Week after week you get to come back, you see how the story progresses, you see how their lives progress. The guest stars, it’s three days or a week in the life of this one character. The evolution of the character is one thing. It’s nice to be around the same people. You start to feel more comfortable, and they start writing for you. It becomes very specific for you and how you are, and your mannerisms are thrown into it. It’s so much better. It’s like being on a film where it’s living the life of these people for long extended periods of time, rather than just going in and doing that guest star. You still do all the same work, it’s just, you just get to do the work a little longer.
The Star Scoop:
Obviously, October Road has been going really well. Why do you think it has appealed so much to the viewers?
Murphy:
I think the biggest thing is that there are so many different characters. There’s a character for everyone. It’s so universal. I mean, everyone knows one of those people, whether they know a Ronnie Garret, or they know the Commander, or they know an Eddie, or they know an Aubrey. Everyone can say, oh, my sister’s like that, or my best friend is like that, or my dad is like that. So, it’s the universal appeal of it, and I think why people are responding to it so well is it’s relatable. I think it would do well in any time slot, but we’re so lucky to have that Grey’s Anatomy time slot because they kind of have the same universal appeal. Everyone loves a good love story, and a good scandal, and we kind of have a lot of those elements in our show as well.
The Star Scoop:
There was a time when people would be wary about ABC shows. Now one could say it is the network to be on.
Murphy:
It’s funny how one network can be on top one minute, and then they can drop and be in the fourth spot, and it just depends on the quality of their shows and the types of their shows that they’re putting out there. I think that ABC, all of them, have really stretched themselves with shows like Desperate Housewives, and Grey’s Anatomy, and Lost, and Ugly Betty, those kinds of shows. You’re tuning into ABC, and you’re saying, I like this how because, CBS doesn’t have a show like this, or NBC doesn’t have a show like this. I think that they are really kind of being supportive and saying, you know what, we’re gonna think outside the box, and we’re gonna do a little something different, and we’re gonna put shows on the air that we like and we think that people will enjoy. Our show is the little show that could. We didn’t get picked up originally for the new Fall shows when they announced it. They only ordered us for six episodes. Taking baby steps with us, it started to pay off for them. I think they saw something in our show that was similar to those hits that they have, and they gave us a chance and I think it’s paying off. I think the big difference between ABC and the rest of the networks is that they’re not sticking to a simple formula.
The Star Scoop:
As far as personal questions about yourself go, is there anything about yourself that you’d like to share with your fans?
Murphy:
I’ve actually heard a couple funny things. People who have met me, I’ve heard from them that their friends who have never met me are like, is he really like that in real life, is he like his character on the show? I am completely opposite of Ronnie on the show, which I think is very entertaining to me when people get sucked in and they say, I’m watching him and I want to know if that’s kind of how he is. That’s funny to me. People who are supportive, I’m so happy for them and I’m just looking at this as a success in terms of a career, longevity and this is just the beginning. My character on Wildfire is involved with something that I am very involved in. He’s an inventor of something] that is going to change the world’s energy consumption, which is something that I practice and preach as much as I can; the fight against global warming, the problems that are going on with that are an issue that I’m involved with now. Calvin, the character I play on Wildfire, is really involved with that with his invention, and I think that it’s a positive message that’s going out there.