Michael Shanks - diva or cool guy?

[Kirby]

Ever since I started watching Stargate I always assumed that Michael Shanks was a big time diva. Possibly because of the whole 6th season/Jonas thing, but I never really cared much about the actor so I never really took the time to pay attention to anything other than his character until today.
Gateworld has a new interview with him and I listened to it because I really had nothing better to do and I was amazed at how cool and funny Shanks is. He admits that he's just trying to get jobs and most people in Hollywood don't know him when he auditions, and he's cool with that. He seems like a really down-to-earth guy.
So, am I alone in thinking he was a whiny diva, or did anyone else get that feeling?

 

[Broccoli]

I don't think he is a diva.

From what I gather (and this is just my suspicion), he was getting tired of the Jackson role and wanted to go out and try a feature career. He went out for Schinzon in Nemesis and didn't get it. Part of me wonders if he completely banked on that and left SG-1 since filming for season 6 would have been the same time filming for Nemesis would have been.

When the feature career didn't work out, he came back to SG-1 and seemed to get a larger presence on the show and his character seemed to grow in importance.

I do wish they kept Jonas on as well.

 

[1001001]

We met him at a convention a couple of years ago. There was a breakfast with the stars on the Sunday of the convention. He sat at our table for a while.

He was hilarious. Very animated, friendly with everyone. He was great.

Based on what we saw that weekend, he is definitely not a diva.

 

[Verse]

I read that he took time off to be with his daughter more (who was around 3 at the time).

 

[SmoothieX]

I know he took time of in S10 to be with his new child.

In S6 I believe it was he didn't like the character's direction in S4 and 5, didn't feel like he was growing, and wanted to move on.

 

[Kross]

The whole diva thing always seemed like BS to me. I can understand if an actor wants to spread their wings and see what else is out there. Denise Crosby, Wil Wheaton, William Peterson and others have done it. RDA left to spend more time with his daughter, but no one called him a diva.

Rack it up to people who like drama behind their shows.