When A.J. Buckley walked into the casting room to audition for SEAL Team, the same casting director who had cast him in CSI: NY took one look at him and exclaimed, “Holy shit! What the fuck happened to you? You look like a completely different human being.”
He practically was. Five years ago, while starring on CSI: NY, the 5'9" Buckley tipped the scales at a mere 140 pounds. Then his father passed away, and he packed on weight, hovering at 200 pounds with 40% body fat. Eventually, the actor—who had always wanted to play a Navy SEAL—reached out to Hollywood physique expert Eric the Trainer and made a commitment to fitness. He is now walking around at a chiseled 185 pounds, with about 10% body fat.
“You only have one shot at this,” says Buckley of his opportunity on SEAL Team, which is now a hit series on CBS. “So you have to go hard.” On the show, Buckley plays Sonny, a weapons specialist. But the actor—who was born in Ireland and grew up in Canada—doesn’t have a military background or a long history with firearms. In fact, the first time he shot a gun was for SEAL Team.
But now, handling weapons (albeit the fake kind) has become part of his daily routine.
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“I get up at four in the morning and go to the gym, then go to work,” Buckley says. “I fly around in a Black Hawk helicopter, blow stuff up, go home, and drink a Bud Light and have a steak. It doesn’t get better.”
But Buckley didn’t just hit the gym to prepare for the role. His character suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), so Buckley researched traumatic brain injury (TBI) to learn more about the mental trauma that many SEALs deal with when they return from battle.
“There is a lack of help for them when they come home. They’re on their own,” says Buckley. “They’re training at such a high level to perform in the most intense circumstances and be cool, calm, and collected. Then they come home to normal situations that are sometimes more difficult than the battle. I know how strong I think I am, but I could never make it as a Navy SEAL. They’re on a different level.”
A.J. Buckley’s SEAL Team Workout
A.J. Buckley’s fellow cast members call him a nutjob for waking up at four in the morning to work out before shooting SEAL Team. But Buckley loves it. “There’s something spiritual about it,” he says. “You get in a hard workout and exhaust yourself in the gym. The sun is just coming up and you’ve already kicked some ass. It’s a different mindset. It feels good.”
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