Like his character on ABC’s crime hit Castle — NYPD detective Kevin Ryan —Seamus Dever is nothing if not industrious.
He spends his early mornings working out in the home gym he built with his carpentering skills. “I’m fighting Father Time,” he says. “You got to get a little fire in ya.”
If so, Dever is a walking furnace.
Born in Flint, Michigan, and raised in quiet Bullhead City, Arizona, he has long been antsy. He decided on acting at age six and, at twelve, had the lead role in the local high school production of Oliver!
His Auntie Mame through it all: actress-cousin Jeanne Arnold (Guiding Light). “She was always encouraging me.”
After Dever studied drama at Northern Arizona University, his mentor nudged him toward a master’s at Carnegie Mellon. The graduate curriculum included a semester in Russia — land of Stanislavski — at the Moscow art Theatre. “I even studied ballet with a Bolshoi ballerina.”
Next, he moved to L.A., where a family friend helped land him an agent. Still, he drove a limo, slogged at Kinko’s and taught acting before nabbing his SAG card via a bit part on Pensacola: Wings of Gold.
Showier guest parts (like a long-haired junkie on Without a Trace) and a memorable turn as a detective in the 2006 feature Hollywoodland helped him graduate to simultaneous earnest-doctor roles on General Hospital and Army Wives in 2008.
How committed is Dever? In his downtime, he and some former grad-school buddies run a book-of-the-month club focused on acting tomes. And at his Arizona alma mater, he helmed his own class on acting for the camera.
Dever’s actress-wife, Juliana, could have assisted: she’s appeared occasionally on Castle as his character’s missus, Jenny. One recent scene together left him proud — and fired up. “She was so much better than I was! I was like, ‘I want to do my coverage again!’”
Dever balances that drive with an easy sense of humor — and passions for wine and travel. He and Juliana have sipped through Burgundy, Australia, Napa.... Next stop: Argentina.
Speaking of vintage, he also loves restoring their Spanish-style home in West Hollywood to its circa-1925 glory. “I’m trying to get it right.”
