Jensen Ackles Praises Costar Eric Dane Amid His ALS Diagnosis: ‘Total Stud’

According to Jensen Ackles, Eric Dane has been a “total stud” while balancing his acting career and ALS diagnosis.

“He has such a command of scenes and the set just in his stillness and how just his quiet leadership, and it’s something that he brings from off set too,” Ackles told People of Dane’s Countdown performance at the show’s Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday, June 18. “I mean, he does that when the cameras aren’t rolling.”

Ackles added, “There’s just a quiet leadership to him that I truly learned from. So to get to mix it up with them on screen, I had to bring it.”

In the pair’s new Prime Video series, Ackles plays an LAPD detective recruited by Dane to help take down a dangerous threat. Wednesday’s premiere marked Dane’s first red carpet appearance since announcing his health status in April.

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“I have been diagnosed with ALS,” he said in a statement to People at the time. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”

Dane — who shares kids Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, with his wife, Rebecca Gayheart — added, “I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to [the] set of Euphoria next week. I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.” (Dane and Gayheart remain legally married, while he attended Wednesday’s Countdown premiere with his reported girlfriend, Janell Shirtcliff.)

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Prime Video

Ackles wasn’t the only Countdown cast member to praise Dane on the show’s premiere red carpet. “Oh, he’s a phenomenal man. Phenomenal man,” Violett Beane told People on Wednesday. “And I mean, we were blessed all the time with little nuggets of wisdom and just how he would show up on set and yeah, I’m so glad he’s here today and I can’t wait to hang out with him.”

The show’s creator, Derek Haas, called Dane a “leader” on set, adding, “He’s very intelligent. He also, when he walks into a room, every head turns his way. And when he speaks, you close your mouth and you listen.”

Dane’s natural leadership qualities, according to Haas, lent themselves to his portrayal of Special Agent in Charge Nathan Blythe. “That’s really what I was going for with Nathan Blythe,” he shared. “When you do a television show, as opposed to a limited series or a movie, you really start to merge the actor and their own personality with the character that you wrote.”

Countdown, Series Premiere (three episodes), Wednesday, June 25, Prime Video

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