A Heroes Star's Secret Identity

You’ve been friends with Heroes writer Jesse Alexander for years. How did you feel about his sudden departure at the beginning of this season?

Both he and Jeph Loeb [who also left the writing staff] are two of my closest friends and it was a shock when that happened. The show needed to be invigorated; it needed change. Jesse’s pilot [Day One] just got picked up, and Jeph has a monster project that’s about to be announced, so I knew that they were going to be in a great place, but at the same time I love working with my friends. I don’t know if it was that or if it was budgetary reasons, if they needed to make room for Bryan Fuller to come back. It was bittersweet.

Any chance you’ll make an appearance on the post-apocalyptic Day One?

Oh, I’ll do anything Jesse asks. Anything. Just like for JJ [Abrams]—they ask me to do something and I’m there.

I heard you were going to be in JJ Abrams’ new Star Trek film.

I was shooting the new movie [Group Sex] that I co-wrote and produced, so I wasn’t able to do the role. I actually am in the movie but you have to look for me really carefully.

It’s going to be the best movie of the year in that genre. It’s terrific, so good. My kids are excited to see Uncle JJ’s movie. They saw the commercials and didn’t know anything about Star Trek before, but were excited to see it. That means it’s going to be a monster hit.

The new trailer seems fresh and able to capture an entirely new generation.

He’s really reinvigorated the franchise and with respect to the actors, characters, and people who originally created this incredible world. You cannot replace William Shatner—he’s absolutely incredible and commands the screen in TV shows and movies, as does Leonard Nimoy. But you leave the film saying. “Here’s our new team,” and you can’t wait for the next adventure.

You and JJ grew up together—did you always want to work together in the film industry?

We were making movies when we were 12. As an actor, you wait around for people to give you stuff [to film] and you hope that the best and most-talented people will hire you. I happened to grow up with one of the most-talented people in Hollywood, so I’m very lucky.

You’re quite the multitasker—your rock group Band from TV just had their first appearance on The Tonight Show.

I started this band for charity. Suddenly we were super in-demand and all these celebrities were calling and wanting to be a part of it. It’s like going to rock 'n' roll fantasy camp. The response has been really positive and we’ve raised almost $2 million in the last three years. I get to play music with a guy like Hugh Laurie, who is so sweet, so generous.The music is so much fun to play and we get to goof off and pretend to be rock stars and support our charities.

You also built an iPhone application…

Get Yowza came from an idea I had to save people money by using their iPhone through signing up a bunch of retailers and getting them offer discounts—10 percent off at Gap, 20 percent off at Barnes & Noble, free coffee at Starbucks—and offer it as a free application you use while in their stores. I almost never want to meet the guys who created it with me in person because this is the future of business. It’s crazy—we met on Twitter, are you kidding me?