Brandon Walsh might have been
strictly by the book, but Jason
Priestley was a wild child. Growing up
in Vancouver, the actor was always the
first to seek out danger. “It seemed like
once a week I broke something or got
cut,” the onetime rugby enthusiast
told People in 1991. “I gave my mother
many early heart attacks.” In high
school his style was a world away from
Brandon’s jeans and button-downs. “‘I
jumped on the tail end of the punk
movement,” he said. “Chains, black
jeans, combat boots.”
Fortunately his mother knew just
how to channel all that anarchic
energy. She signed her boy up with
an agent at the age of 5, and he
began appearing in Canadian
commercials and TV. Priestley made
the move to Los Angeles in 1987,
landing guest spots on series
including 21 Jump Street, MacGyver
and Quantum Leap. At one point he
shared a ramshackle apartment with
another promising up-and-comer
named Brad Pitt.
“I never once thought I should give
up and go to college,” Priestley said.
That confidence helped him land the
role of Brandon, which brought him a
level of fame he’d never imagined—
even Drew Barrymore confessed she
was a fan. “It was just exhilarating and
at the same time absolutely
terrifying,” he told People.
Priestley parlayed his 90210
celebrity into new opportunities,
appearing in a video for Roy
Orbison’s “I Drove All Night,”
onstage and in the film Calendar Girl,
about three friends searching for
Marilyn Monroe in the 1960s.
Offscreen he carried on a five-year
romance with actress Christine Elise,
who played Brandon’s emotionally
damaged girlfriend Emily Valentine.
Finally, in 1999 Priestley bid farewell
to Beverly Hills, leaving 90210 during
the show’s ninth season.
In 2002 the actor, then 32, nearly
lost his life in a terrifying head-on
race-car collision during a practice
run at the Kentucky Speedway in
Sparta, Ky., sustaining facial injuries
and broken bones in his back and
both feet. Six months later, though,
he was showing signs of a remarkable
recovery when he greeted well-
wishers at the Sundance Film Festival.
“I’m not going to be skiing this year,
unfortunately,” he said at the time.
“But I’m doing much better.”
Since then he’s remained busy
working on series and films such as
Call Me Fitz, Cas & Dylan and Private
Eyes. In 2005 he wed British makeup
artist Naomi Lowde, with whom he
has two children. “She’s the closest
thing to perfection I’ve found,” the
actor said. Leave it to love to tame
even the wildest heart.
A LIFE IN THE
FAST LANE
A TASTE FOR SPEED
NEARLY ENDED IN
TRAGEDY FOR BUSY
AC TOR JASON PRIESTLEY
MEET THE CLASS OF 1993
21
ON THE TOWN
Priestley (with wife
Naomi Lowde-Priestley
and children Dashiell
and Ava) in L.A. in 2015.
