The Watcher

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The Watcher

The Watcher's Bio

Born a Watcher prodigy, Rupert Giles took over Buffy's Slayer training and mentoring when Buffy moved to Sunnydale after her former Watcher, Merrick, had been killed. After attending Oxford University, Giles dreamed of being a fighter pilot or a grocer. Unfortunately, he was forced into the family business of Slayer nurturing. Even after he tried to radically break away from his destiny by becoming the demon summoning Ripper, his intelligence (and the Watchers Council) eventually sent him down the straight road.

When he first moved to Sunnydale, Giles was the Sunnydale High Librarian whose sole purpose was to train and guide the recently relocated Buffy in the Slayer ways. His relationship with Buff eventually became a lot deeper then the typical teacher/student relationship between a Watcher and a Slayer. As a matter of fact, it could be insinuated that Giles is actually Buffy's stand-in father figure. You see, her real father lives in LA and she rarely sees him any more.

Regrettably, the Watchers Council canned Giles because he informed Buffy that he had to revoke her powers temporarily so that she could participate in her 18th birthday ritual. The Council, not amused, sent in a new Watcher named Wesley Wyndam-Price to take active Watcher duty for Buffy. However, Giles remains in Sunnydale and continues to aid our hero with his vast knowledge.

Not a man of many peers, Giles has dated only a few women in Sunnydale including Sunnydale High's computer teacher Jenny Calendar and his former girlfriend from England, Olivia.

After quite a long period of being unemployed, Giles took up singing at the Expresso Pump and then bought the Magic Box.

It seems as if the loss of Buffy has affected Giles in a way that it would if she was his real daughter. Shocking everyone in the gang, he is returning to England to work things out and handing over the Magic Box to Anya.

Actor's Bio

Anthony Stewart Head has enjoyed a successful acting career in his native England for many years, but before "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," it was a popular series of coffee commercials that brought him his greatest recognition in the United States. Head starred as the intriguing romantic lead in a dozen Taster's Choice commercials.

Head was a regular cast member on the sci-fi television series "VR.5." He also guest starred on the series "Highlander" and the Emmy-winning police drama "NYPD Blue." Additional credits include the Showtime movie "Royce" with Jim Belushi and the feature films "A Prayer for the Dying," "Devil's Hill" and "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

Most recently, Head starred in E! Entertainment Television's first original movie, "Best Actress," as well as the BBC original movie "Silent Witness."

He has performed in several BBC Productions, including "Secret Army," "Accident," "Bergerac," "The Grudge Fight," "Howard's Way," "Pulaski" and, most recently, "Manchild," described as a British version of "Sex and the City" from the male perspective. Head also starred in the British television productions "Enemy at the Door" and "Love in a Cold Climate."

Born in Camdentown, England, Head grew up in a "show business family" in Hampton, England. His mother is an actress and is best known for her role as Madame Maigret in the BBC series "Maigret." His father was a documentary producer who created the British production company known as Verity Films. Head attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and got his first show business break playing Jesus in "Godspell." He went on to star in a number of West End theater productions, including "The Rocky Horror Show," "Julius Caesar," "The Heiress," "Chess," "Rope" and Peter Shaffer's "Yonadab" at the Royal National Theater.

When not working or shuttling between his homes in Los Angeles and England, where he lives with his girlfriend and their two daughters, Head spends his time working on another one of his passions, co-writing an animated musical entitled "D'Ark Secrets."