By Alison Jones
AT SIX foot four inches tall and weighing in at 220lbs, most of it muscle, Supernatural star Jared Padalecki is a formidable presence both on and off screen.

But the man who battles all kinds of paranormal nasties with fists, knives, guns and even the power of his mind, on the cult TV show, reveals he is soft as a marshmallow inside when it comes to animals – and even cried at Marley & Me.

He was persuaded to watch the hit movie about a family and their disobedient dog by co-star Jensen Ackles, whom he noticed was looking suspiciously red-eyed after seeing it while the pair were flying back from Australia.

“I’ll admit it,” says Jared. “It totally got to me. I’d read the book and it was fantastic. If you haven’t seen it and you want to cry…”

Jared, who was in Birmingham recently to attend fan convention Asylum 3, dedicated to the show he stars in, is devoted to his dogs Harley, a mastiff, and Sadie, a German Shepherd. During holidays he even insists on driving them all the way from Vancouver, where the series is filmed, to his native Texas, after a friend warned him about the number of pets that die during flights. Even though he has been working solidly as an actor since he was a teenager, Jared enjoys stopping at the most run down motels en route.

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By Jeanne Acton
If you missed the UIL Academic State Meet this year, you missed something special. If you asked the teenage girls, that something special was 27-year-old Jared Padalecki, star of Supernatural and former regular on Gilmore Girls. He was our feature speaker this year.
Rather than attempt to describe his looks in detail. After all, I am pushing 40 and don’t want you to think I’m a cougar, so I’ll simply state the facts. He is tall. He is lean and muscular, and he is tanned.

Not surprisingly, he’s been selected to two or three “sexiest celebrity” lists. The girls and several of the advisers and a couple of the judges went all jello over him. In fact, he was so intimidating that I wasn’t sure if any student was going to snap out of the star-struck state to ask a question. Luckily, Jared is an easy-going guy, and he quickly put the crowd at ease.

After a few moments of awkward silence, a girl raised her hand, asked a question, and Jared answered it in the most non-threatening, self-deprecating manner imaginable. And so another hand shot up, and then another, and soon, the students found their groove and lost their inhibitions and got around to the task at hand.

As impressed as I was with Jared, I was more impressed with something else that day. I don’t mean to belittle him, and I hope I don’t appear ungrateful. He did a fantastic job, and I am pretty sure he made the trip to Austin for the students — even those who didn’t place — well worthwhile. But what I found to be truly special was watching Jared’s mother during his interview.

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