Spencer Garrett rented a home one block away from Paramount Studios in Los Angeles in hopes that he would land a role on a long-running TV series and have an easy commute to work.
"I thought it would work out great," Garrett tells Headlines & Global News in an exclusive interview. "I'd get on a series for seven years and skateboard across Melrose to work but it hasn't worked out that way yet."
Instead, the 51-year-old actor is crisscrossing the country to play recurring roles in five different TV shows. He currently stars on the NBC drama "Aquarius" as one of Charles Manson's attorneys and as a sociopathic psychiatrist on the new season of "Murder in the First" on TNT.
Later this summer, Garrett will return to USA Network's "Satisfaction" as Neil's boss, Victor, and then join the second season of "Survivor's Remorse" for a few episodes on Starz. He also will start production on the first season of ABC's "Blood & Oil" in Utah.
Very little time has elapsed between his projects. He started last summer in Los Angeles, shooting the complete first season of "Aquarius" and then "Murder in the First." Garrett then traveled to Salt Lake City to shoot the pilot for "Blood & Oil" and is now in Atlanta filming "Satisfaction" and "Survivor's Remorse."
"I think I just need to get rid of my house and set up shot in different hotels," he jokes. "I'm bopping all over the country and I'm exhausted but I couldn't be happier about it."
Garrett is the son of actress Kathleen Nolan and talent agent Richard Heckenkamp. If Garrett's name still doesn't ring a bell, despite his more than 150 acting credits, you probably know him as "that guy from that thing," a title he gave himself.
"I'm going to put that on my tombstone. It's going to say, 'Follow me @1SpencerGarrett, that guy from that thing,'" he says, plugging his Twitter handle.
Garrett, who still writes handwritten letters to people, joined the social media network in 2012 but is still trying to figure out how to add more followers. He even asked his "Aquarius" co-star David Duchovny, who's gained a bit stronger Twitter following
"I said, 'How do you get followers on Twitter without being a Manson or a Kardashian?'" he says. "The X-Files" star said he was "the wrong guy to ask," but Garrett has seen his number of followers start to creep up with the premiere of "Aquarius" and has exchanged tweets with fans as far away as Brazil and Germany.
"Aquarius" takes place in 1967, two years before Charles Manson orchestrated the Tate-Labianca murders. Garrett and his co-star Brían O'Byrne play Manson's fictional lawyers Hal Banyin and Ken Karn, whose daughter ran off with Manson and his girls at a party.
"Ken and I have been partners for a long time and we've both been intimately involved with Charlie and his legal maneuverings over the years," Garrett says about their two characters. "We've both gone down a long rabbit hole with Charlie in our own ways with our own personal demons."
He describes the two California attorneys as Republicans who support Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon at the polls and advocate for traditional family values, but that all changes when they retire for the day.
"When we take our Brooks Brothers suits off and unpin our little American flags, we are the dark under belly," Garrett says.
While Karn pursues his political aspirations, Banyin has put his on the backburner, understanding that their relationship with Manson could ruin both of their reputations. Still, Banyin believes he's impervious to Manson's evil ways.
"Banyin feels like he's got a bit of legal Teflon around him," Garrett says. "You'll find in a couple episodes that doesn't prove to be the case. Charlie always seems to have the upper hand."
That cockiness is a trait also found in Garrett's character Victor O'Connell on "Satisfaction," which he will reprise in season two on USA this summer. Although viewers saw a somewhat softer side from Neil's boss in last year's season finale, he'll quickly turn back to the dark side, which is not good news for his new puppy, Little S---.
"If I told you what becomes of the dog in season 2... it's ridiculous," Garrett teases. "This season has taken such a dark and twisted turn. I think that fans are really in for a hell of a ride."
He then added this ominous note, "It's gotten very interesting and shall we say, there are lots of shades and there may be 50 of them."
After finishing up "Satisfaction," Garrett will head west to start filming the first season of "Blood & Oil," which stars Don Johnson and Chace Crawford. The ABC series reunited him with one of his "Aquarius" directors, Jonas Pate, who created the new "Dallas"-like show with his brother Josh.
Garrett plays Myron Stipple, the Oil and Gas Commissioner of North Dakota who has aspirations to become governor. He describes the politician as a "moral, straight-forward, church-fearing Mormon who ends up getting swayed by the feminine wiles" of Amber Valletta's character Darla Briggs, the wife of Johnson's oil baron.
"I'm curious to see where that character goes. I had a blast shooting the pilot," he says.
"Blood & Oil" will premiere this fall on ABC.
In the meantime, you can catch Garrett on "Aquarius" on Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC and on "Murder in the First" on Mondays at 10 p.m. on TNT. "Survivor's Remorse" premieres on Saturday, Aug. 22 on Starz.
