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| Sunday, 15 September 2002 |
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As 'Beverly Hills 90210' returns to our small screens with a new season of love and friendship and hate and a showbiz lifestyle in a posh neighbourhood, we take a closer look at Jason Priestley, one of its original hunks, who suffered some recent set backs and is now recovering from a major accident after trying out his luck as a racing driver. The son of a Canadian actress, Jason Priestley began his acting career as a child actor in TV commercials. After dropping out of acting in his teens to concentrate on high-school sports, Priestley got back in the professional swim following graduation, accepting one-shot roles on such Canada-based TV series as 21 Jump Street. The young actor's first American TV assignment was the regular role of teen orphan Todd Mahaffey on the 1989 sitcom 'Sister Kate'. Producer Aaron Spelling's daughter Tori spotted Priestley on 'Sister Kate' and suggested that her father audition him for a role in the upcoming Fox series 'Beverly Hills 90210'. Priestley was cast as Brandon Walsh, twin brother of the estimable Brenda (Shannen Doherty). Like many of his young series co-stars, Priestley was intent on laying the groundwork for life after '90210'. Though his first major film role in Penny Marshall's 'Calendar Girl' (1993) came and went without fanfare, he enjoyed some success as a '90210' director. Priestley encountered further success and even critical vindication with his turn as Ronnie Bostock, the B-movie hunk who steals John Hurt's heart in 'Love and Death on Long Island' (1997). Critics warmed to Priestley's performance, noting that his days of idolatry had given him overly adequate preparation for his portrayal. Unlike other teen idols who rue the day when the fan mail will cease, Priestley once claimed he was happy that his idoldom seems to be on a downward slide: "It's like having a big cancerous lesion on your shoulder. Because people are fickle, man." On March 28, 2000, Priestley was undoubtedly happy that the limelight's glare had dimmed: Arrested for drunken driving after crashing his car into some trash cans, he was sentenced to five days in a Los Angeles jail. Racing future on hold Jason Priestley won't plot his car racing future until after he recovers from serious injuries he suffered in a crash last month. "I want to get healthy and see how my feet work before I decide," the actor said. Priestley is recovering at an Indianapolis rehabilitation hospital after crashing Aug. 11 during practice for an Infiniti Pro Series race at Kentucky Speedway. He broke both feet and the middle part of his back, and sustained fractures in and around his eyes and ears. "The frustration is (based on) not being in a race car right now," the 33-year-old reporters. "But other than that, it's not been that bad." "Rehab is way too hard, but you don't mind the work so much when you know it's going to pay you back tenfold," said Priestley, who spends up to six hours a day in rehabilitation. The former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star wears a chest brace to restrict movement of his back, which has a pin in it. He expected to have the casts on his feet replaced Friday to allow him to apply a small amount of weight on them. Priestley is expected to remain in Indianapolis at least 10 more days before returning home to Los Angeles. He remembers nothing about the accident or the days surrounding it, but his girlfriend, Naomi Lowde, said he has no long-term memory loss. Lowde said Priestley trained up to three hours a day before the crash. "He was serious about trying to become a great race car driver," she said of Priestley, a recovering alcoholic. "He gave up drinking six months ago and was in great shape. I think that's what saved him (from more serious injuries) and why he's three weeks ahead of schedule." |
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