Who's That Ghai: Jilon Ghai Is Making a Name for Himself. by Owen Keehnen

Jilon Ghai is a very exotic name for a Southern California born actor will All-American good looks...but it is also a name you won't soon forget, especially if you have seen this young talented actor on screen. He's only been acting for 3 years or so but already has an impressive list of credits. On his horror resume he has done two scare flicks set in asylums 'Boo' (2005) with Dee Wallace Stone and 'Death Tunnel' (2005) in which he stars as Mason as well as the scarey movies 'Bad Blood' in which he plays Click alongside Piper Laurie and Conrad Janis (who is also directing) as well as Byron in the Phil Creager movie 'Death By Engagement' with Christa Campbell and PJ Soles. Additional credits include 'Alien Abduction', 'Malibu Spring Break', 'Miriam', 'Eternal Bliss', and 'Take Out'. He is being cast right and left and it seems only a matter of time before Jilon Ghai becomes a household name.


  Jilon, why not start the readers off with a visual and describe the room where you are answering these questions.

I sit at my desk... I have my Washington story Illuminated by my Lion Lamp, and Sunlight candle. Beneath my Cafe La Nuit Van Gogh. Behind me a large painting of an underwater City. Next to me is a bowl of delicious hot soup and a Samurai Sword.... Can ya fuckin believe it?

Jilon, I'm curious - your name is so unusual given your sort of All-American look. How did that happen?

Yeah, people are always curious about it. Whenever a new teacher paused while taking attendance I'd smile and say, "Here!" Girls I've dated tell their mothers and they ask, "Is he black?" But that's ok. Our primary ancestry is German, Dutch, & Hungaria. My parents were in love with French poetry... among other things. And so it goes with all my siblings... Guebri Jaigle, Jilon Ghai, Gaven Joniah, Jamel Gelkhan, Jerid James. Qweschunz?

Lots of people have a deep fear of places like mental institutions...and two horror films you made this year have been set in mental hospitals - 'Boo' (2005) with Dee Wallace Stone and 'Death Tunnel' (2005) ...Did the settings creep you out?

I think mental institutions are horribly fascinating because of the infinite mental possibilities. It's like a big zoo where doctors try new meds I mean are patients cured or just caged? Yes they did. The movie set is a movie set, but once you wander up the stairs... and down the hall... and it gets quiet.. and you hear things... Your imagination is what scares you the most.

So tell me how your role as Byron in 'Death By Engagement' (2005) with PJ Soles and Christa Campbell came about?

I actually read for Michael, Byron's buddy. The dialogue was loose and fun and it came off with great energy. A month or so later I got the call that they cast me as Byron. Phil said, "You're gonna thank me when you see who we cast as your girlfriend..." I said, "show me Phil..." Needless to say he showed me. Thank you Phil.

Do you have a favorite memory of the filming you would like to put in a timecapsule for posterity?

Hmmmmm... Keg stand was fun... Byron, Michael improv dance was cool... Picking at the spam loaf in the doorway was neato... Passing out in the Cheetos was comfy... But I'm gonna have to go with the "Love" scene.

I also must hear all about your newest horror flick 'Bad Blood' with Piper Laurie and Conrad Janis. Can you give me a synopsis that will make seeing it irresistable to the Racks and Razors readers?

Wet T-shirts, redneck brawls, Seeeexual tension, butcher knives, romance, Spike pits, humor, heroism, roasted Snickers at one hell of a barbeque! oh, and world famous cherry pie... Anyone hungry?

You've starred in several horror flicks to date and the genre is notorious for the gruesome and sometimes tough to deliver special FX - what has been the most challenging effect that you've been part of or witnessed in your horror career?

The effect in DBE that makes Christa look like she's not enjoying my love making. That was impressive. The effects done in Boo were pretty impressive. Most of them were done right in front of us. When Happys face starts to slide off.. Kevin Wasner is below him doing an upside down puppet show. And when I get knocked 30 feet down the hall at the end of the movie we had one shot at it. Last shot of the last day. We screw up and we lose the shot and get shut down. I leap back onto concrete covered in dust and five big volunteers pull me like a team of horses... and we got it. That was fun. I'm starting a new film this month called Marco Polo. This film will have some pretty challenging effects. I'll keep you posted on it.

What about the horror genre do you think has made it especially welcoming for you?

The horror... the horror... Horror films actually make up less than half of my resume, but horror films are everywhere, so there is definitely more opportunity for that work. Horror takes most characters through extreme circumstances. I guess I enjoy going to those dangerous places. I love to get down and dirty. Doing these films has taught me a tremendous amount about what to do and what not to do as an actor and a film maker. Horror films are great to cut you teeth on... Literally!

Since many of our readers also are keen on SciFi I want to hear a bit about your 2005 film 'Alien Abduction'.

Eric Forsberg wrote and directed Alien Abduction, and he and I worked on a film earlier that year called White Nights. It was based on Dostoyevskys novella, and Eric was a producer on it. Eric asked me to read Alien and said he had written a part with me in mind. It was Thomas, the part I liked. Thomas was a male nurse who falls in love with the heroine (the girl not the drug). He seemed like a real innocent kid which was something I hadn't really played. He needed the lovin.

Okay, we're pulling the car into the Jilon Ghai Drive In. What three horror flicks are going to be on the triple bill for tonight and what goodies are they going to be serving up at the concession stand?

I could go with The Exorcist, Bram Stokers Dracula, and perhaps Jaws. But why not go with So I Married an Axe Murderer, The Burbs, and House ll? Scary? Not really... but funny. And as for the concession stand? I'm a fan of the Sour Patch Kid infused Popcorn con Agua myself. But if I'm runnin a drive in... You want it you got it!

If you could select your dream role in any genre - what sort of part or role would be tailor made to show your acting talent to its fullest---and why?

I would play George Washington in the action adventure-drama about his life. I would play the entire man young and old. I was cast to do it two years ago, but it wasn't ready to manifest at the time, so the project fell apart. But the time draws near...

What scares you in real life?

My imagination... Global Warming... And back flips on trampelines that go horribly wrong.

What makes you go psycho in real life?

Obsession... by Jilon Ghai