The Bay
Season 1 SABC3 (*193) 19:30 Drama
Flashy drama The Bay (2010-now), set in a quiet seaside town, has so many famous TV faces that it’s like the who’s who of soapieland. But there’s one character whose face will get you saying, “I know him… but from where?” Bad guy Lee Nelson is portrayed by Joe Lando, who ’90s TV viewers might remember as Byron Sully in drama series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-1998). “It’s odd because I’ve been working non-stop and people always ask, ‘What have you been doing since Dr Quinn ended?’” says the 59-year-old actor bemusingly.
Joe loves talent shows because he 1 got his acting career on one – he was a contestant on a 1985 episode of Star Search (1983-2004). “I had so much fun that I decided it (performing) was what I wanted to do,” says the star. He got his first role as “Shore 2 Patrolman” a year later in sci-fi movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and has had a TV, film or theatre role every year since.
There are only two aspects of playing 3 Sully that Joe wasn’t a fan of: running on a moving train and having to grow his hair. “The stunts were hairraising for someone who isn’t a stuntman. The hair was horrid. I much prefer my shorter cropped look,” he says. He didn’t have to learn to use an 4 axe as wildman Sully – he grew up in the village of Lincoln-shire, Illinois which has “a lot of trees for a naughty boy to cut down,” says the actor.
Joe says that his faith has strengthened 5 his marriage to non-celebrity wife Kristen (they married in 1987) and the bond with their children: Jack (22), Chris (19), Kate (18) and Will (13).