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Article IndexN.J. native believed he was meant to play the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient
BY LINDA MOSS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Actor Jon Seda, who grew up in New Jersey, felt a lot of pressure when he took the role of legendary World War II hero John Basilone in "The Pacific," HBO's $200 million miniseries.
Seda wanted to do right by Basilone, who was one of the bravest and most well-known soldiers of the war, a celebrity in his day. Basilone's fame was well-deserved: He won a Congressional Medal of Honor for repelling, despite being vastly outnumbered, a nighttime attack by the Japanese on Guadalcanal in 1942.
Basilone was sent back home and given the job of touring to sell war bonds. But he wouldn't settle for that cushy duty. He wanted to return to combat, and was killed during the invasion of Iwo Jima in 1945, just a few hours after landing on the island. He left behind his recent bride, Lena.Seda, best known for his roles in the TV show "Homicide: Life On The Street" and the Jennifer Lopez movie "Selena," was also well aware that Basilone was from New Jersey. The Marine sergeant hero was raised in Raritan Borough, one of 10 children of Italian immigrant parents, while Seda hailed from Clifton.
"I'm real proud to be able to portray a hometown hero," Seda, 39, said during a recent phone interview. "I felt even more of a responsibility, and wanted to get it right and do the best I could, especially for all the folks in Raritan, N.J."
The "Pacific" role caps Seda's unlikely career odyssey. He is a former boxer of Puerto Rican descent, trained in the gritty gyms of Paterson and Jersey City, who found success in another arena: Hollywood.
As it turns out, Seda's worries about doing justice to the memory of Basilone, who was also a boxer, were unwarranted. Residents of Raritan — which has a Basilone museum, a bronze life-sized Basilone statue and holds a parade in his honor every year in September — lauded Seda's performance in "The Pacific."
The day after the episode about Guadacanal aired, Seda e-mailed Hillsborough resident Michael Basilone, who is John Basilone's great nephew.
Seda asked, "What do you think?," Michael Basilone recalled. "I said, ‘You did a great job.'''
Seda himself was especially moved by the reaction of Charles Tatum, who actually served with Basilone and was on Iwo Jima with him. Tatum, who is portrayed in "The Pacific," visited the set of the miniseries when it was shooting in Los Angeles.
Seda said that Tatum shook his hand and said, "We're all in agreement: You're John."
The actor, a graduate of Clifton High School, was left speechless by Tatum's praise.
"He said he was absolutely riveted with what he saw in my portrayal of John, and that for me was confirmation enough," Seda, in California, said during a phone interview.
Some of Jersey's native sons can't wait to shake the dust of the state off their shoes. David Chase, creator of HBO's "The Sopranos," who grew up in Clifton and North Caldwell, and Clark's Kurt Sutter, creator of "Sons of Anarchy," are on the record saying they happily fled the creatively stifling Garden State.
But Seda couldn't be any prouder of his New Jersey roots.
"I love New Jersey," he said. "I've said it before: My heart is shaped like New Jersey. I never wanted to leave New Jersey."
In fact Seda up until a few years ago lived in Montclair, off Valley Road not far from the Alexus Steak House & Tavern, which is his favorite eatery in the area.
Seda's mother and father are still in Clifton, and he has brothers and sisters that remain in Jersey, in Clifton and Fort Lee.
But the actor was forced to move to the Left Coast because of his work.
"I'm in this business now going on about 20 years and I just recently, within the last couple of years, moved out to L.A.," Seda said. "I tried my hardest to have a successful career but stay in Jersey, because my family's there, my wife's family's there. I'm a Jersey guy. One of the hardest things for me was to leave."
Seda and his wife Lisa Gomez, who is from Passaic, have three children.
Seda's parents came to Manhattan, where Seda was born, from Puerto Rico. But then the family crossed the Hudson and came to Clifton, where Seda was raised.
"I grew up on Sylvan Avenue, literally," he said. "I don't know if The Herald-News is still there, but right where The Herald-News was. My first job was delivering papers for The Herald-News."
Seda still fondly remembers one of the popular local hangouts in town.
"My favorite place to eat was The Hot Grille, across from Nash Park," he said. "The Hot Grille was my favorite place to go grab some burgers and fries and hot dogs."
Seda didn't have any big plans after he graduated from Clifton High. He worked odds jobs, like being an usher at the Clifton Movie Theater and working at the now defunct Caldor chain.
But he met some men who were boxers, and Seda went to the gym with them one day, and fell in love with boxing.
"I started boxing in Lou Costello's gym in Paterson, N.J.," he said. "I ended up at Bufano's Gym in Jersey City. Dominick Bufano was my trainer (Bufano also trained Sonny Liston). My dad is a big fight fan. I grew up watching a lot of the fights with my dad."
As an amateur boxer Seda posted 21 wins, suffering his only loss when he was a runner-up in the New Jersey Golden Gloves.
"I thought I was good, and thought I had a shot at a career in boxing," he said.
But fate, and his mother, had other plans for Seda.
"She didn't want me to box, like any good mom," he said, "She wanted me to go with my sister and take these acting classes in New York."
He started attending the Weist-Barron Acting School to placate his mother. But his teacher there, actress Rita Lynn, encouraged him to pursue acting.
"She believed that she saw something natural in me, and she kept telling me, ‘You should really take this seriously, you have what it takes,'" Seda said. "She pushed me."
