Marty Lindsey has been a lot of different people.
The Arvada resident has been a doughnut deliveryman, a racing pit crewmember and, most recently, an infamous serial killer.
Lindsey’s mother, Josie Lindsey, couldn’t be prouder of her son’s latest role: a late 1960s California murderer in the crime drama movie, “The Zodiac.”
On Tuesday, Aug. 29, actor Marty Lindsey’s movie “The Zodiac” hit DVD and local movie rental stores for the first time after a limited theater run in 2005.
Playing the Zodiac Killer in the film was a major break for the 35-year-old actor, who is living his dream outside the big city for the tamer life of Arvada.
Lindsey returned to Arvada in 2005 after an eight-year residency in Los Angeles. He recently starred in several independent films and local commercials, including two currently on television for Fortune Valley Casino and Furniture Row.
Lindsey’s love of acting can be traced back to his early years.
Born in Utah, Lindsey and his family moved to Arvada in 1985.
“I knew from a young age that there was something about being someone else,” he said. “I was mesmerized by movies, but it was not the escape, it was the relationships between the actors I loved.”
The former Pomona High School student first focused on football instead of drama. After graduation from Pomona in 1989, Lindsey moved to Durango, initially to play football for Fort Lewis College. It didn’t take long before Lindsey realized his true calling was performance arts, not sports.
“I went to training camp and told my coach, ‘I don’t have a passion for football,’” Lindsey said. “Walking away from that talk, I walked into the college theater, sat down and watched this group rehearsing a play. I walked up to who would become my first stage director and asked about acting classes.”
Lindsey began studying acting at Fort Lewis College, and starred in several plays at the school.
He moved back to Arvada in 1991 to work for his father’s trucking company. But he wanted to act, and in 1994, he attended acting classes at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
He got an agent and started landing roles in local plays, independent films and commercials. Lindsey soon wanted to get more out of his career.
Films are his true passion, and he realized he would have to go to Hollywood if he wanted to get those deep character roles made for the big screen.
In February 1997, Lindsey moved to Los Angeles with $200 in his pocket and no connections. He was going to make it in the movie business, he decided, and would do whatever it took to become successful.
“He knew what he wanted, and I am not one to hold him back,” Josie Lindsey said. “I was nervous about him leaving, but I wanted to be supportive. Now, I am so proud of him.”
His first night in Hollywood, Lindsey went for a walk and ran into Alexander Bulkley, an old Colorado acquaintance.
The two started a friendship that paid off when Bulkley’s script for “The Zodiac” was developed by THINK Film into the movie released on DVD Tuesday.
But before landing the role of the Zodiac Killer, Lindsey fought the acting masses each day for roles in Hollywood.
“I became ‘The Auditioner,’” Lindsey said. “All I did was audition. I might go out 100 times before I got booked.”
Lindsey’s first feature lead came in 1998 with the indie-film “God Made Man,” where he played Lovester, a doughnut deliveryman.
He did several indie films and local plays, mostly working to build relationships with others in the industry.
“The Zodiac,” which he filmed in 2003, is his biggest role to date. He got to work with esteemed actor Phillip Baker Hall and had his own trailer on set.
But the day before he was due to report to “The Zodiac” set, an accident rocked Lindsey’s life.
On June 6, 2003, 15 minutes after Lindsey left his Hollywood apartment to get coffee, a single engine airplane crashed into his apartment complex. Five people were killed in the accident later attributed to pilot error, and Lindsey lost all his possessions.
Soon after the accident, Lindsey’s father suffered a stroke and heart attack in Arvada. Although his career was just starting to take off in Los Angeles, Lindsey decided he needed a break and returned to Arvada in 2005.
“I was pretty emotionally fed up, I needed some groundedness,” he said. “I needed to be around my family and build my relationship with my father.”
Since returning to Arvada, Lindsey has continued his acting career. He has an agent, picks up work in local films, commercials, and plays and is writing original scripts.
“It is feast or famine,” Lindsey said. “But when you are working you are on top of the world.
“Just because I don’t have a big bank account and drive a sports car doesn’t mean I am not happy,” he said. “I have not felt this good in a long time.”