"Fairytales are only valuable if you see them as metaphor in your life and the world. Slay your own dragons..."
— Eion Bailey's Twitter
Eion Francis Hamilton Bailey (born June 8 1976 in Santa Monica, California) is an American actor and philanthropist. He made his acting debut in 1997, starring in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Pack". He appeared in bit parts in films such as Fight Club and Almost Famous, and TV shows like Dawson's Creek. A major career boost came in the form of Band of Brothers where he played Private David Kenyon Webster.
If you don't know him from that, other famous roles include Ben Mercer in Covert Affairs, Ray of Stalker (2014), Steve Knight on Ray Donovan and August W Booth/Pinocchio on Once Upon a Time. He's also responsible for the creation of Imagine This! TV - a documentary-reality web series.
Other roles:
- Without a Trace as Christopher Mayes (1 episode)
- ER as Jake Scanlon (10 episodes)
- CSI: NY as Dean Lessing (1 episode)
- NUMB3RS as Cam (1 episode)
- Cold Case as Patrick 'The Rifle' Lennox 1963 (1 episode)
- From as Jim Matthews (10 episodes)
Provides examples of:
- Acting in the Dark: He auditioned for August from Once Upon a Time pretty much knowing only what was in the script for his first appearance. He joked that the creators went to great lengths to hide the twist that he was really Pinocchio for as long as they could from him.
- The Ace: Plays one in the film Mindhunters.
- Carpet of Virility: Sports this whenever he has a Shirtless Scene.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Has said he often gets confused with Paul Rudd and Jason Patric.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tends to play this type of character a lot. In interviews he comes across as The Quiet One however.
- Demoted to Extra: He's a regular in the first seasons of Covert Affairs and Once Upon A Time - but only appears as a guest star in subsequent seasons.
- Guy on Guy Is Hot: An indie film he did early in his career Seven and a Match is known primarily for fangirls squeeing over August making out with Ben Wyatt.
- Happily Married: To Weyni Mengesha, a Canadian director.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: Invoked at a panel. He says that his parents played a joke on him at age eight, where they told him he wasn't a real boy and was actually a robot. Then he goes onto play a grown-up Pinocchio.
- I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Frequently jokes that he was a fan of N.W.A and dressed accordingly.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: They help to convey the 'heart of gold' part whenever he portrays a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: In the Band of Brothers interviews, he seems like the last person you'd expect to take part in various on-set pranks. Then he confesses to trashing Tom Hardy's hotel room as a joke (he took part in said prank anyway).
- Nice Guy: Imagine This! TV was his own idea and features him and a crew helping with projects in various communities around the world. He also frequently shares his friend's projects and attempts to get fans involved with charity work.
- Perma-Stubble: Tends to sport it in some of his roles. Lampshaded in a OUAT episode where Regina says of August "you never shaved."
- Promoted to Opening Titles: Midway through Season 1 of Once Upon a Time. Dropped from them in Season 2.
- Scenery Porn: He often travels to exotic locations and will share plenty of pictures showing off the scenery.* Troll: Confesses to being this in his youth. He tweeted that he was expelled from school for spray-painting "NWA" on a set of lockers.
