Jeremy Jackson beat out a number of well-known faces to land his function as Hobie Buchannon on the hit present Baywatch — together with the one and solely Leonardo DiCaprio.
“I didn’t truly even know [about that until] a few years later,” Jackson, 43, solely advised Us Weekly on the premiere of After Baywatch: Second within the Solar on Monday, August 26. The actor famous that when he auditioned for the present, he, DiCaprio, Jonathan Brandis and extra little one stars have been usually competing for a similar roles.
“There’s a whole lot of child actors who’re about the identical age, who have been about that very same cute, sultry [style with a] little edge,” he defined. “It was all the time head-to-head. So, , it’s simply the one I received. It’s the luck of the draw.”
Jackson took over the function of Hobie from Brandon Name after season 1 of Baywatch in 1989 and remained within the function by 1999. (Baywatch ended its run after 11 seasons in 2001.)
“I used to be born to entertain, man. From 1 12 months previous, , I used to be doing impersonations, dancing and singing. It’s all I ever needed to do,” Jackson mentioned of his early profession days, noting that appearing by no means felt like a “job” to him. “Baywatch hit it huge, after which I went out and I used to be doing music touring and launched an album. So, it was like a dream come true for me.
Jackson’s time on Baywatch cemented him because the present’s second longest-running solid member, subsequent to his onscreen father, David Hasselhoff.
“I used to be a 10-year-old fatherless, hyperactive little one, so I most likely felt like a tick for David,” Jackson advised Us of working with Hasselhoff, who performed the enduring lifeguard Mitch Buchannon. “, he had lovely chicks clamoring after him, and he’s signing autographs, and he’s the large man on campus, and I’m like, tugging on his coattails, like, ‘Hey, do you need to play? Do you need to surf? Can I eat lunch in your trailer?’ [He was probably like] ‘Gosh, this child. I’m like a 30-year-old man making an attempt to be a famous person,’ so I most likely drove him nuts.”
Regardless of their early variations, Jackson mentioned Hasselhoff, 72, turned “like a giant brother to me” over time. “[There were] plenty of sensible jokes, plenty of play, plenty of enjoyable. However he actually reached out, prolonged a hand, , going over to his home and hanging out with him and stuff like that. And now later, it’s lovely,” he shared. “We’re each sober for some years, and we change day by day readings and supportive textual content messages and stuff like that.”
Jackson is one among many solid members opening up in regards to the highs and lows of their Baywatch expertise within the new Hulu docuseries After Baywatch: Second within the Solar.
“Consider it or not, it was an enormous group effort to do that,” he advised Us of the docuseries, through which he discusses his struggles with dependancy. “I imply, over 5 years, we went by COVID. We went by individuals getting most cancers. I nearly killed myself getting in form 5 years in the past for the shoot that by no means even occurred. As quickly as we simply type of went with the circulate, it fell collectively. It fell collectively in a method that was higher than actually anyone might have deliberate.”
He added: “I imply, from all of the at-home footage that we collected. Due to the time we truly had, it turned an actual mission piece, because of that point.”
After Baywatch: Second within the Solar is presently streaming on Hulu.
With reporting by Mariel Turner