It is very rare in episodic television that an actor can successfully transition from series to series. It happens a lot with guest appearances and cameos, but hardly ever can a television performer break away from a role they thrived in and make a complete transition to a new character. In the case of David Boreanaz, this just isn’t true. As a star in three major series over the course of a lengthy career, Boreanaz has managed a successful transition from vampire cult icon, to television star and now into a completely new genre. Waste your weekend with David Boreanaz.

In the Beginning – Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997 – 1999)

Boreanaz should really thank Joss Whedon for kick-starting his career.

Back in the late nineties, Boreanaz was getting by with guest appearances on shows like Married With Children and uncredited work on some forgettable feature films. But when Whedon began casting his series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, he found his Angel in Boreanaz. What followed was a huge upswing in Boreanaz’s career as for the next decade he would be directly associated with one of television’s most memorable characters, Buffy Summers. The character development of Angel was taken head on by Boreanaz as he played the bruiting vampire with a sole. Although Angel began as a bit of a one-dimensional character the story line called for him to be painfully in love with the one person he could never be with. The potential of Boreanaz as a professional was then put to the test when Angel goes bad after achieving true happiness. Audiences and obviously Whedon saw so much potential with the range that Boreanaz showed during Buffy that they produced a hugely successful spin-off.

Coming Into His Own – Angel (1999 – 2003)

Although the character of Angel and Boreanaz himself were fan favorites of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Whedon made a bold choice and broke the character off into his own series. The Buffy mythology worked with the Angel spin-off because Angel The Series begins with Boreanaz’s character still pining over his true love. But Boreanaz was able to make Angel his own show and not just a Buffy spin-off by helping develop Angel into a complete character with an interesting back story and a more developed personality. Although Angel and Buffy would cross paths a few times before the series’s conclusion, by the end there was no doubt that Boreanaz was Angel and Angel wasn’t just a spin-off.

A New Genre – Bones (2005 – ???)

One of the potential problems with playing such a recognizable and iconic character as Angel is that Boreanaz would never be able to step away from the character. But he took it in stride and after taking a couple of years away from the small screen, he stormed back onto episodic television with Bones. Playing the emotionally conscious sniper-turned FBI agent, Boreanaz has taken the character Seeley Booth and completely redefined his place in television. It may have taken Boreanaz a couple of seasons to fully separate himself from Angel, but he’s done it successfully with the help of his new cast and a producer role on the show. Bones follows Seeley Booth and Dr. Temperance Brennan as they and a group of scientists solve crimes using anthropology. With Brennan being the robotic right-and-wrong-type character, Booth adds an emotional element to the show by always focusing on the gray areas. You can probably guess that the two play off of each other extremely well.