US actor Brian Krause certainly leads a charmed existence.
Brian will be heading to Australia next week for Supanova Comic Con And Gaming events in Melbourne and the Gold Coast, where he'll meet and greet with fans of television series 'Charmed' on which he portrayed 'whitelighter' Leo Wyatt.“I tell you, for me it's an emotionally wonderful experience when I can sit there and look a fan or someone in the eye and feel what they're feeling and share that moment with them, to see how excited people get and that it means so much to them,” Brian says.
“Usually you do a show, you walk away, you're done; there's no interaction, and that's the beauty of doing the convention.
“I've met so many people and I've heard their stories about life or what they've gone through, and they say meeting you or watching your show helped them get through this moment or that moment. I tell you, it pulls on your heartstrings.”
'Charmed' commands a devout, almost cult following; at one time it was the longest-running hour-long TV show featuring all-female leads and was also the second-most binge-watched show on streaming platforms.
As Leo, who also married second-eldest Halliwell sister Piper (played by Holly Marie Combs, who is also coming to Supanova), Brian courts his own fair share of public interest, leading to some fairly intense fan interactions.
“I was the healer on the show, so I've had some people, maybe they've had a few pints and they're like 'hey, heal this!' and that sort of thing,” he regales with a laugh.
“But I'd say the most intense is when I hear from somebody who grew up questioning their own identity or they had a hard time with their parents or ['Charmed'] was what they watched with their grandmother on her deathbed, and they sit there and they cry and they open up and they tell you how much that show meant to them and got them through a certain part of their life.
“I'm an actor – we're not doctors, we're not doing anything special; we're lucky to do it and to think that we do it and it really does affect people's lives, there's no greater feeling to think that I'm part of someone's healing.
“There's been some intense stories people have shared with me. . . and that's the greatest part of the experience to me.”
As streaming services proliferate and viewing choices expand exponentially, Brian expresses both amazement and gratitude that 'Charmed', which ended its original run in 2006, maintains its presence as a beloved show among viewers as well as in the canon of modern US television. “I don't even know how to explain it,” he begins.
“I grew up watching shows like 'M*A*S*H', which was off the air for 15 years before I started watching it, and that had an impact on my life. We grew up watching 'Happy Days' with Ron Howard in the '80s, and that show went off the air 20 years before that.
“So, I think shows carry on and I never imagined 'Charmed' would be that show, that here we are 22 years later after we aired that it's still finding new fans and people are attached to it, and that's kudos to the girls and the chemistry they had, and to our writers to write for them; they created that world and made it believable.”
