Josh Holloway, Hunk

Like a lot of romance novelists, some kind of visual inspiration really helps me along when it comes to creating my characters. Because of this, I spend a lot of time online searching for graphics, photos, videos, movies and music. I have dozens of photos on file and I'm always looking for more.

I had a really hard time finding a visual that was "just right" for my hero, Travis Santiago aka the notorious Santana in my historical western novel, Dangerous Desires. I'd been looking for months and months for someone to fit his profile.

Every now and then, I'd run across a photo of a model or an actor that I thought might work, but always there was something that just didn't click. So, you can imagine my joy when I ran across a YouTube video of the 38 year-old, 6' 1" hunk Josh Holloway, who's best known as the sexy, southern, bad-boy James "Sawyer"Ford in the ABC hit series LOST. I'm not a Lost fan, so I'd never heard of Josh Holloway. But when I saw him in the YouTube trailer, a light bulb went off. I'd finally found the visual inspiration I'd been looking for for all these months! He was a hunk, no doubt about it, but I didn't know anything about him. So, I decided to see what I could find.

I learned that Josh is quite popular. In 2006 he was voted the "HOTTEST HUNK ON TELEVISION" by In Touch Weekly magazine. In 2005 he was named one of People Magazine's 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE where he was listed along with superstars Brad Pitt, Angelina Jole, Orlando Bloom and Julia Robert. That's quite an accomplishment!

The former model was born in California but grew up in Georgia. He attended the University of Georgia, but after a year he left to pursue his modeling career. Eventually he ended up in Los Angeles where he landed a part in the comedy Doctor Benny. From there, he slowly began getting parts in well known TV series, such as CSI, Angel and Walker Texas Ranger.

He's been featured in magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, InStyle and Vanity Fair. He played a purse snatcher, along with Alicia Silverstone, in the 1994 Aerosmith video Cryin. This year, in addition to LOST, he will play Max Truemont in the upcoming supernatural thriller, Whisper , which is due to be released this November. AND he's the spokesperson for the mens fragrance COOL WATER by Davidoff. He's definitely got his plate full.

Impressive, huh? I'd say so. I'd say it's damn impressive.

For those of you who, like me, have never heard of Josh Holloway, I've listed a few links to some of his sites throughout this post. Also, for your viewing pleasure *grin*, below is the trailer I found on YouTube. It celebrates Josh Holloway's birthday and was put together by titacosta. I think he/she did a great job. I'm sure you'll think so, too.

Enjoy!

So, what inspires you when creating characters?