My latest actor fixation

[bironic]

Hi friends! I appear to have developed a new celebrity crush, which I should talk about for the record and so there is a chance anyone will read the rare-fandom fics I've started writing for some of his characters.

<-- It is this guy, Zahn McClarnon, a.k.a. Mathias on Longmire ♥, a.k.a. Akecheta on Westworld and Hanzee Dent in the second season of Fargo, a.k.a. Grant Johnson (not Tonto) in the Jesse James episode of Timeless and a vampire (!) in one episode of Midnight, Texas, a.k.a. a side character in at least three Jason Momoa projects: Frontier, Braven and The Red Road. Plus the requisite host of Western frontier period pieces, none of which I've tried yet.

…This post keeps not getting finished because I go down half-hour tangents on Google Images and Pinterest.

Usually I like my actors tall and slim. Zahn is slight, but he's small—he's my height, 5'6"—and I'm enjoying that more than anticipated. He also joins a decades-long tradition of crushes I've had on men with long hair (*cough* Jon Campling), although I'm interrogating that more than usual here, given the history of white people fetishizing Native people's hair, at least in the United States. Zahn is Irish and Hunkpapa Lakota, of the Standing Rock Sioux.

So much of what I enjoy about watching him lies in the body language and delivery. Aside from that, I love the twinkle in his eye when he plays characters like police chief Mathias and vampire Zachariah. I love that his voice is fairly high-pitched and that his dialogue sometimes sounds like a croon. He has beautiful hands, and I love that he shows them off by doing things like this or driving with one wrist on the steering wheel. I love that he steals scenes, and conveys that there's much more to some of his characters than the scripts make explicit, and, you know, acts, shifting from sweet to menacing in a moment, portraying characters who are dry or slow or melodramatic or nasty or tormented or wide-eyed with wonder.

I enjoy that he hangs out with Taika Waititi and Gil Birmingham and Cliff Curtis and stuff and snuggles up to costars (see also) and photobombs Jason Momoa.

Can you believe it took three sittings to write this much? I want to do a series of reviews like with the Paul Bettany project of 2015, especially in preparation for these fics in progress, but I guess they will go in separate posts. (People were upset he didn't get nominated for an Emmy for his standout Westworld episode! Longmire turned out to be a wonderful six-season watch! Midnight, Texas a total hoot, with bonus threesome vibes!)

Thank you for listening. :)

ETA: You know, it's funny; when I was a kid, even through high school, having a crush on someone, whether an acquaintance or an actor, resulted in teasing, which pushed me to hide or deny or feel embarrassed. Now, thanks to fandom, I've grown more comfortable declaring things like this to the world. Past experience suggests there'll be others who either share the sentiment or empathize. No judgement.

Comments

[stardreamer]

He was Lemuel's sire on Midnight, right? Yeah, caught my eye too.

[bironic]

Yes! I am trying to write a story about Lem & him & the girlfriend.

[sixbeforelunch]

Oh I remember him from Longmire! You have good taste. ;)

[bironic]

Ha, thanks! I am happy to have found two fellow fans already.

[timespirt]

I remember seeing him in stuff. He was Cloud Dancing's son on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman for one.

[bironic]

Aw, when he was just a baby, not even 30. :) I confess I like him more in the 40-50 range, as is typical. My life has been a wait to grow into the age range I've always been attracted to!

[kass]

<3

[bironic]

<3 <3

[marginaliana]

I couldn't picture him when you were talking about him before, but with the image I'm like, "oh yeah, it's that guy!" I can definitely see the appeal. :)

[bironic]

You probably couldn't picture him because I never actually described him, LOL. Happy that he looks familiar to you and also appealing. It's nice to share these things.

[selki]

I hadn't seen him before, but agree he looks cute and cuddly.
Celebrity crushes are a little safer than in-person crushes (safer emotionally on me when crushing on others, anyway).

[bironic]

So true. Also way more common for me to be attracted to an actor than to someone I've met, so I enjoy these things while I can.

[anatsuno]

I love him, yes! Mathias is such a great character, and he played him so well! :)) What a nice crush :D

[bironic]

<3 <3

Zahn fans everywhere, it seems. This is great.

[ldthomps]

Aw, YAY for crushes, good communities with which to share your crush, and guys with good hands, acting skills, and twinkles in their eyes <3.

[bironic]

Indeed! Your comment makes me happy.

[gwyn]

I really like him a lot, I especially enjoyed the way he grew and change over the course of Longmire's run. Was he also in Wind River? I just watched that recently (Gil Birmingham was in it too).

[bironic]

Hm, dunno, IMDB suggests not? Come to think of it, someone on Twitter did mention it as a show similar to Longmire, although I wasn't sold on the presence of Jeremy Renner.

Yay, I am glad you are also a Mathias/Zahn fan. More friends watched the show than I knew!

(Also, hi, Pike!)

[isis]

I fell for him in Into the West. I have a serious weakness for cheekbones. I am excited to learn that he is in S2 of Westworld, as I haven't watched that yet!

[bironic]

He carries an entire episode, and it's lovely.

>>I fell for him in Into the West.

Nice! I'm happy I still have so much of his work to look forward to.

[monanotlisa]

Aw, I love it when people share their crushes!

And you know what, I think I may have seen Zahn McClarnon in either stills or in the background of shows. Nice choice! I don't care for long hair in most cases, but it definitely suits him. Very well. Indeed.

[bironic]

:D

[mific]

I loved Longmire. Have faltered a bit with Westworld but will have to persist with it if he’s in season 2! I love the pics of all the polynesian and oboriginal guys hanging out together.

[bironic]

TBH I almost quit Westworld a few episodes in to season 2, but the internet promised quality Zahn/Ghost Nation content in episode 8, and it was worth it.

[toft]

I'm so glad you feel comfortable declaring your crush! I enjoyed these pictures. He has a very striking face. He kind of reminds me of Alexander Siddig a bit?

[bironic]

Friend, there was a day a few weeks back when I thought, Oh, I might be getting over this whole thing, and then I saw this picture, and guess what other picture it instantly reminded me of?

[toft]

Ha! Yes!

[deelaundry]

And Queen of the South, which USA network loves to promote during Law&Order SVU.

He can recur on my show too, as a valued customer...

[bironic]

As soon as he has more than a couple of lines on Queen of the South, I will be more excited. :)

Update: Spoke too soon - he had several scenes in this week's episode! Still not a fan of the show, but at least worth fast-forwarding to his parts this time, as opposed to the episode where he first appeared.