Taylor Sheridan has proven that he's the master of bringing back the western with his hit series Yellowstone. His new Yellowstone prequel, 1883, just makes us love him even more. As much as we love the modern characters in Yellowstone, 1883 boasts some real cowboys that fully embody what it was like living out in the Wild West. One of our favorites to watch has been Wade, one of the cowboys hired by Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) to protect his wagon train on the road from Texas to Oregon. James Landry Hébert brings the gritty cowboy to life and the southerner seems to fit right into the world Sheridan has created.
If you couldn't tell from the accent, James Hébert hails from Lafayette, La. Orphaned at a young age, he was taken in by his aunt. He never would have thought it would have been possible to make a career as an actor until the summer his cousin landed a role as an extra in the Robert Duvall film The Apostle.
"As it turns out, he was just an extra in a dance scene, but that's when a seed was planted for me and that's when I realized that even a kid like me, essentially an orphan from the Bayou, could be in the movies," Hébert told Interview Magazine.
Read More: '1883': Who Plays Immigrant Leader Josef? Meet Marc Rissmann
Fast forward to when Hébert is studying at Louisiana State University. He lands his first big opportunity to audition to be Brad Pitt's stand-in on the set of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Technically, he booked the gig after the first choice was fired, but he ended up getting to work on the movie (for college credit too) and it launched his Hollywood career right there in his home state.
Hébert really got into the industry in New Orleans and spent years working in casting, seeing what worked and what didn't for actors auditioning. He went on to start appearing in various TV shows like Treme, Longmire, Battle Creek, The Night Shift and The Tomorrow People. He played Rem in the TV show Taken, Slim Miller in the first season of Westworld, Axel in Stranger Things season 2, Sasha Demidov in Agent Carter and Miles Hewitt in Mob City. He's also recognizable from his roles in numerous films — The Last Son, Skateland, Donnybrook, A Night in Old Mexico, The Pale Door, Two Step, Carnage Park, Get the Girl, Miss Meadows, Seven Psychopaths, Gangster Squad, Looper and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Photo by Greg Doherty/Getty Images for Wynn Las Vegas
Basically, he's one of those guys you've probably seen in multiple things and just didn't realize it was him. Though he's built a career playing mostly villain characters, he's definitely a good guy in 1883...at least for now. All those cowboys back then had to be a little bit good and a little bit bad, so Hébert is a perfect guy to bring someone like Wade to life.
"My family calls me "Jamie" and they're like, "Jamie! When are you going to play a good guy?" Hébert said in a 2014 interview. "'What's up with them casting you as these bad guys?' I think that's where the 'nicest bad guy you ever meet' came from. I am looking forward to just being able to be myself on camera, although it's really fun to play the bad guy."
