Damian Mavis talks Bangkok, Misha Collins and ‘Supernatural’

In the most recent episode of Supernatural, The Future, Damian Mavis plays Hozai – one of the angels that goes with Castiel and Kelvin to “deal with” Kelly Kline. Damian has also recently been in Supergirl, Arrow and Lucifer, plus numerous parts in Asia.

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Tell us about playing Hozai in Supernatural.

It was a dream come true, its just a small part, but I’ve been a huge fan of this show for over 10 years, and Castiel is my favourite character who I get to play alongside.  I meet up with Castiel and Kelvin outside a house that has Dagon inside, and we go inside to destroy her…. Needless to say it’s I who gets destroyed, hehe.

What was the funniest thing to happen on set?

There were actually a lot of funny moments!  Misha (Collins) is a total joker, teasing and cracking jokes, I love that guy.  Fun dude to just be around.  My very first take I walk up to the scene, going on the cue I was given but arrived too soon…. Misha is in the middle of his dialogue and just looks at me sideways and talking out the side of his mouth (as if the camera and everyone watching won’t notice) “you’re early! like really really early!” I just burst out laughing.  Any nerves I felt before that disappeared instantly.very first take I walk up to the scene, going on the cue I was given, but arrived too soon…. Misha is in the middle of his dialogue and just looks at me sideways and talking out the side of his mouth (as if the camera and everyone watching wont notice) “youre early! like really really early!” I just burst out laughing. very first take I walk up to the scene, going on the cue I was given, but arrived too soon…. Misha is in the middle of his dialogue and just looks at me sideways and talking out the side of his mouth (as if the camera and everyone watching wont notice) “youre early! like really really early!” I just burst out laughing.

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Photos: Damian Mavis Website

I understand that you started your acting career in Bangkok; tell us about filming there, and the differences between filming in North America.

I was based in Bangkok but was flown around southeast Asia, India and China for various productions.  China is a pretty terrible place to film, unless it’s a Jackie Chan production, at least in my experience.   India is a bit risky for food and payment but they treat you light years better than China and bollywood productions are close to Hollywood standards.  My friend had complete organ failure and almost died spending several weeks in ICU just from eating set food on a lower budget movie in India.   Thailand is the best place to film out of anywhere Ive been over there, but having said that its still not great.  Pay is low, no unions, no safety…. I do stunts as well and I came up in the industry doing pretty dangerous stuff for pennies compared to what we make in North America.  But I will always value and be grateful for my time in Asia getting skills and experience that helped me easily transition into the industry in Vancouver.  Working in Vancouver suddenly feels like the industry game just got switched to easy mode.

What did you enjoy most about playing Hozai?

I liked getting to interact with Castiel, that was just so thrilling.  Also working with Amanda Tapping, the director.  I’m a long time fan of Stargate so when I walked into the audition for Hozai and Colonel Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping)  was sitting there I just about died.  Had to overcome being star struck to get my lines right.  She’s super wonderful by the way, really nice and warm person.

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You’ve also played in many other Vancouver filming projects, such as Supergirl, Arrow and Lucifer; what were your experiences like for those shows?

Supergirl was pretty awesome too, played a prison guard that teases Lex Luthor’s sister before karma kicks my ass shortly after.  Arrow was a thrill from an action guys standpoint, I’ve been wanting to do fight action on that show for years when I was based in Asia.  We do a lot of action scenes in Asia because martial arts is a big part of films there, but I always liked Arrows action fight scenes and hoped I could work on that show one day, was another dream come true to work on ArrowLucifer and Legends of Tomorrow were straight action fight stunt jobs but were so much fun.   Got kicked in the throat by Damien Dark on Legends and thrown to the ground by Amenadiel on Lucifer.  Good times!

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Do you have any upcoming projects to share?

I’m not allowed to talk about my next role coming up shortly.  Its yet another dream come true because it’s a small part in a film franchise that I have loved since I was young.  Everything is pretty exciting to me because I’m a big fan of so many things, I have very nerdy geek tendencies that I’m not ashamed of one bit.   Film and tv have been major influences in my life; I work my dream job getting to be a part of the things I grew up loving.   I also have plans to make my own films, having worked in Asia I learned that you could make feature films on pretty small budgets, so that has always been an ultimate end goal, to create something of my own, would start that process in Asia just because I know the industry there so well and even with my limited budget its possible there.  But I’ll always be based in Vancouver.  After that…. Who knows!