Jensen's Not a Hot Head--He just plays one on TV!

It's hard to imagine soap star Jensen Ackles losing his cool in real life, but it's a whole different story when it comes to his character Eric Brady on the NBC soap Days of our Lives. "Eric tends to be a little more angry at people, a little more hot-tempered," Jensen explains of his TV counterpart. "I'm a little more laid back, probably easy-going. You know, if I've got a problem or something I usually just let somebody know about it."

However, 20-year-old Jensen is quick to defend his character, because unlike him, Eric has underlying issue that make him a little cranky. "It's because he's had a rough childhood and his family's always been messed up," Jensen rationalizes. "Of course, that's pretty much the case on every soap opera."

When Jensen does his thing on-screen, he's so convincing that one might think that playing a character with a slight edge comes a little too easy for him. The sincere sweetie says that his key to looking natural while portraying a character that is so different from himself is his ability to learn his lines quickly. "I never had a problem with memorization," Jensen acknowledges. "I've always been able to memorize things quickly, so that really came in handy when I started on the show."

Another trick that Jensen uses to add realism to his character is improvisation. "I don't think that I've said exactly what's been written in the script in six months," Jensen muses. "I always paraphrase and just put things in my own words."

Obviously, Jensen has quite a knack for taking a character and making it come alive---which is why fans everywhere hang on to his every syllable whenever he graces their TV screen. :)