We value the sharp, smart-mouthed supporting actor in Jake Busey, especially in Starship Troopers. His intensity suits genre films, though casting him simply to supply menace risks making his presence predictable.
Fi1m perspective
Private Ace Levy in Starship Troopers (1997) is a good place to meet Jake Busey: a smart-mouthed soldier in Paul Verhoeven's science-fiction satire. We enjoyed Ace's insolence because it gives Busey's intensity something comic to do. He is useful casting here, an abrasive presence who suits the film's shameless military publicity without needing to make himself likeable. The teenage romance drags, and not all the acting works, but his contribution is a reason to stay with it. This is the sort of supporting part we value him for.
Ace belongs to the mid-1990s run that raised his profile, alongside Johnny Bartlett in Peter Jackson's The Frighteners (1996) and Joseph in Contact (1997). Robert Zemeckis's film gives him a key supporting role in a thoughtful science-fiction drama. Jodie Foster provides its persuasive urgency, and the discovery is exciting enough to carry us through the repeated speeches about science and belief. We recommend it, though it is less useful than Starship Troopers as an introduction to Busey's appeal. Ace's smart mouth gives us a clearer reason to seek him out.
The risk is apparent in the repeated casting as menacing or off-kilter men. An actor who supplies intensity is useful to science fiction and horror, but a part built only around that quality can become thin. Busey is more interesting when the character is allowed to be obnoxious and funny, as Ace is, rather than being asked simply to unsettle us. His suitability for those threatening parts should not become the only thing a director notices.
The subsequent career has brought steady supporting work, including Robert Maine in James Mangold's ensemble thriller Identity (2003) and Sean Keyes in The Predator (2018). Television has included From Dusk till Dawn: The Series (2014–2016) and Bruce Lowe in the third series of Stranger Things (2019). Those credits suggest continuity rather than a sharp change of direction, with genre work remaining central. We would welcome another part that lets him be funny before asking him to be frightening.
Biography
Jake Busey is an American actor. He is sometimes credited as William Jacob Busey, Jacob Busey or William Busey. Born in Los Angeles, he made his screen debut as a child in the 1978 film Straight Time alongside his father, actor Gary Busey.
Busey is known for his role as Private Ace Levy in Starship Troopers (1997). Other credits include The Frighteners (1996), Contact (1997), Enemy of the State (1998), Identity (2003), The Predator (2018) and appearances in the television series Stranger Things (2019) and Mr. Robot (2015).
