{}CARPET TOWN

I was born in Chester, England but the majority of my childhood and teenage years were spent growing up in a little town called Kidderminster in Worcestershire, England. In the 1800's and early 1900's it was known as one of the major carpet towns of England but these days it is a very small and quaint place to live in.

I spend my time in England working near Birmingham, living in Kidderminsterand visiting London very often.

ABDOMINAL FLEX

I think my first test shoot was back in 2007. It was an apartment shoot in London, England and I was actually kind of nervous. It was also a little more difficult than I thought – the ability to flex your abdominals and other muscles whilst you are holding a facial pose that looks natural and with good eye connect..

POPULAR ON INTERNET

I had been popular on the internet since around 2004-2005 on bodybuilding forums (I was a bigger guy back in the day) and then became even more popular with my motivational fitness videos on the video upload site youtube in 2006.

It was kind of strange to transcend and progress from bodybuilding and move into fitness and some more commercial modeling. With that said, sacrifices so far have mostly been of a physical nature with myself. I dropped bodyfat to move into fitness but then had to drop BOTH muscle and fat to move into more commercial/fashion type modeling.

I was never really 'discovered'. Being from a small town, it's kind of hard to be noticed. I got most of my exposure as I stated above – on the internet. I was lucky to get some a huge response to my pictures and videos and had people interested without even seeing any professional work of mine.

SHARING MOMENT AT EIGHT!

Well.. My greatest dream would be to find that young, beautiful girl with the dark blonde hair and bluish/green eyes at Disneyland, Florida in frontier land near the haunted house attraction when I was 6-8 years old.  It's funny how you remember certain minor details about your life. The connection was there - we shared a moment.

Haha.. Anyway…. Back to the question! I think things happen for a reason and my dreams have changed and taken shape without me really having too much control on them.

Fitness has always been a big part of my life and I am still hoping to open my website this year that will cater for fans and as a source of motivation and personal training to those trying to shape up. I am still so amazed how many people emailed me and visited my bodyspace profile to tell me how motivated they were by my videos.

I had people with illnesses, family problems, school problems, weight problems, etc. telling me their life was changing for the better and that my videos played some part in that happening – how great is that?

PUSH THE ENVELOPE

However, I am hoping to try and push the envelope with my modeling. I am hoping to finally start getting covers or campaigns, etc. And put my own spin on them and develop myself and work. There are some pretty weak ones out right now. ARTISTIC SIDE

As some people know, I have a very artistic side and I love cinematography, directing, acting and music. I am hoping that once I get more work with modeling I will get noticed more and I can try my hand at acting and hope it gets kissed and not chewed on.

It has nothing to do with the celebrity status side of things or the big city lights.. It is all to do with the creativity side of things and a sense of changing who I am and becoming someone else.

OUT OF FASHION

I wouldn't say I'm a fashion guy.. Hell no. I could never keep up with the latest fashion trends. I know a few gay people and I will purchase something (sale or not) and they will tell me it's out of fashion.

I would put it like this; I don't exactly go out of my way to purchase things fashionable or wear this seasons clothing, but I do buy clothes from stores I like.

I wear polo's from Ralph, t-shirts from Abercrombie, Hollister, guess, etc. But only because I like the fit and the material. It's not the name that I buy it for. It's hard to buy nice/cheap fitted clothes with my waist.

I guess sometimes I like to wear baggy, cheap clothing and other times, especially in the evening, I prefer to wear my nicer clothes. One of my favourite shirts is still my Manchester United jersey J

SCALING ROCKS

Let me see. I am still new to all of this but I have already had a few interesting moments. During my shoot with Bill Comstock earlier this year, I had to scale some pretty rough looking rocks during the beach segment of my shoot.

Our friend was using the reflector with me and was also having to struggle along these rocks. Anyway, he slipped on one of these rocks and landed flat on his back. Although that was funny, it wasn't the funny moment I'm thinking of.

FUNNY MOMENT

The funny moment was that this 'quiet' beach was the beach choice of the rowing club! There were a team of girl rowers whistling and pointing as I was posing in posing briefs on those rocks!

The whole shoot was from 7am to 5.30pm and when you're not used to all that sun and you are out there with oil on you all that time.. It's not pretty – especially if it was a wild night previous (no comment). You want an egg over easy with some bacon in some kind of unique human cooking method? That was the day to try it.. Burn, baby.

By the end of the day, walking along Venice beach in boxer shorts was just the norm to me.. And reflecting on that now seems crazy.

I guess another funny moment would be when I was working with Ronald N Tan.  I think he has used it before.. But I had quite a laugh when he brought out some 'pam' to use as posing oil.

BOTTOM OF FEET

Favourite bodypart? I think most people would say abs and arms. I would say it's the bottoms of my feet. I like to go shoeless as much as possible!

BALANCE IN INNER SELF

I'm level headed. I'm not overly optimistic yet I'm also not a pessimist.  Society you live in is as good as you make of it, I guess. I can only look at myself in the mirror and try to find any ugly cracks and fix them up. I think of myself as very open and not narrow minded.

We would complain if the world was too perfect and we would voice our anger if it was far from perfect. The only balance you have is your inner self – Trust it and be a happier man/woman!

VERY EXPRESSIVE

I'm a very expressive person with my feelings, and my friends and family know this.. But I am always hesitant to let flow over the internet. That said, I will keep it short:

Life: Finding love, family – the growing love, motivating others, being a good friend, strong will and determination.

KEEPING IT HUMBLE

Current projects? Try to find photographers I want to work with and one's that can help me get out there more and into the public eye. I'm trying to get some sort of representation in modeling or acting so that I can move to America on a work visa and be able to progress with my goals that way. I have so many ideas in my head.. Music, film, photography, etc. And this is the place for it.

I guess I am a level headed, mature and friendly and funny person to be around the majority of the time. I am easy to work with and have never had any bad words said about me by the people I have worked with.

Give me a pint of beer, or a glass of patron/goose, a little village in England or big city LA.. Either way, I'm humble and feed off the situations I'm in to better myself and continue to mature.

WHAT'S IMPORTANT

Your main motto: Having regrets makes you a very negative person. When you move, make sure it's ahead and towards the clear blue skies, sea and sand. Don't turn back and get caught in thunder storm behind you.

An unforgetable moment: Taking the plunge and moving out to California on my own and trying to make this work. I have friends to thank along the way for helping me get here but it's got to be me making it click.

Also, my first marriage to a redheaded girl named Victoria at the age of 8.. Divorced two days later.

Info contact:
 www.bodyspace.com/jamerjay
 www.modelmayhem.com/jjayspage,
 www.jamesdawsonmartin.com