Angus not at all like Jake

BY CATH BENNETT

IN Two and a Half Men Jake Harper is chubby, obnoxious and a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.

But away from the character he has played since he was 10, Angus T. Jones is a bit of nerd, who excels in maths and has high hopes of getting a degree.

“One of the toughest things about doing the show is that I don’t get to go to school that often – only a week out of a month,’’ the 16-year-old tells The Buzz.

“I kind of miss going to school, but I still have to study on set. Last year my highest grades were in geometry.

“I’d like to go to college but I’m not sure what I’m going to study yet.’’

Kiwi fans can’t get enough of Two and a Half Men, which is one of the top rating shows aired in New Zealand and currently has three different series running simultaneously on TV2.

Season five airs on Sundays, season four is on Wednesdays while Friday night viewers see season two.

Jones and co-stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer are currently filming series seven of the show, and three more have been commissioned – meaning the teen screen star will be 19 before the comedy finally wraps.

The actor, who was born in Texas but raised in California, doesn’t find it odd that he has gone through puberty in the glare of a regular TV show, saying “it’s just part of my job.’’

But having kept a copy of every episode of the award winning series to date, he does find it strange looking back at himself earlier in his career.

“What’s weird to me is watching shows that are old and seeing how little I am,’’ he says.

“I don’t ever remember being that little. I definitely think I look and sound different.’’

The laughs come thick and fast on the show – which is shot in front of a studio audience every Friday night in Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California.

It follows the antics of Charlie Harper (Sheen), an affluent playboy bachelor who makes pots of money for doing very little and has a plush house at the beach and a Mercedes in the garage. His hedonistic Malibu lifestyle was slightly cramped when his uptight, divorced, chiropractor brother Alan (Cryer) moved in, with son Jake in tow.

Just to add fire to the mix is the brothers’ narcissistic, self-centered mother, Evelyn, Alan’s neurotic ex-wife Judith and Charlie’s domineering, sharp-tongued housekeeper Berta.

Jones admits that even when the cameras aren’t rolling there is plenty of joking around between him and his screen relatives.

“We all hang out, Jon is kind of fatherly, but he’s actually more like a brother, we tease each other,’’ he says.

“I used to be the main practical joker on set but it’s probably Jon now.

“Season three I used to go around with clothes pegs and put them on the backs of people’s shirts – and they’d walk around all day not realising they were there.’’

It’s not all about larking around – the older cast members have some advice for their young co-star too.

“Charlie told me that when it comes to advice, don’t follow advice that uncle Charlie gives,’’ Jones laughs.

In the May 2008 issue of People magazine, Jones was named one of the World’s Richest Teens, with estimated earnings of NZ$1.6 million per season of Two and a Half Men.

But Jones seems very blasé about his fortune, with no extravagant spending sprees planned.

“I really don’t know much about it, I think my money helps pay for my school and it stays in an account until I’m 18,’’ he says sensibly.

“I’m pretty sure it just earns interest. I have no idea what I’ll buy with my money when I have access to it.’’

With his fame, fortune and the fact he is rapidly approaching manhood, Jones is becoming an increasing target for young, excited female fans.

But he finds it’s their parents who really want to chat to the actor.

“It can be weird people screaming at you – you don’t know whether to say thank you, to give them a wave or what,’’ he says.

“I’ve had quite a few dads come up to me and say their sons are exactly like Jake.

“I like my character Jake, I reckon he’d be a fun kid to hang out with.’’

 Two and a Half Men is on TV2 on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm.

- © Fairfax NZ News