Jason AKA Levi Holley Encounter

      For this edition of  noteworthy celebs, I want to Focus on an actor I 'met' via another great actor on Manu Bennett's,  Instagram page. 'Jonathan' aka Manu Bennett is an amazing New Zealand actor who is best known (at the time of writing this) for portraying Crixus in the TV series Spartacus, Allanon in The Shannara Chronicles,  Colonel Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in Arrow, and Azog the Defiler in the Hobbit film trilogy. In September 2019 I happened to chance upon Manu's  IG page where he posted a note to his fans to please show some love to his former Sparticus' co-star's,  Levi Holley who played Leviticus, IG page. 

Levi's Tattoo

    'Jason' aka Levi Holley  is a stunt choreographer, actor, model, martial artist from Auckland, New Zealand. This past summer 2019, Levi was diagnosed with an 'inoperable' brain tumor. He is currently in a Cancer treatment hospital in New Zealand where they are looking into all options available to help him. So, I went to a brief message meant to lift his Levi's Instagram page and left him spirits. I wrote the following:"Hey! Best of luck to you! Was reading Manu's post about you, your fight, & his admiration for you so just wanted to stop by and send your page some love and luck". 

   Levi happened to be on IG at that moment, saw my message and we ended up chatting for over 15 minutes. We talked about our birthdays (he was born on November 22nd and I on November 23rd). He posted a picture of his giant archery bow tattoo located on his upper back and its symbolism; I told him about my current nine tattoos and what they meant. Levi said he "got his bow and arrow tattoo because it symbolizes getting rid of the past, getting rid of pain, moving forward, and getting rid of unwanted arrows". I feel like we all need to get rid of the past, but sometimes we just can't seem to let go. 

   I then went on to tell Levi a funny story that happened while Spartacus was still on the air. My friends and I were headed to the movies (if I remember correctly) and it was going to start soon. I was completely serious and spoke with authority when I told my friends "the movie's about to start, we should set foot to purpose then." My friends and I all started cracking up and I told Levi it was at that point I knew I needed to take a break from watching the Spartacus if I was starting to quote the show. Levi cracked up after hearing my story and I was glad I was able to get his mind off of things for a bit. 

   I see Levi's posts / hear from him very infrequently since that day we chatted. I try to reach out to his best friend and publicist, Hannah, just to make sure he's doing alright and that he's still.... himself when I don't see activity from him but I haven't heard back from her yet. Unfortunately, with the type of cancer he has, if it progresses the way he mentioned, he will not remember anything from his past, lose the ability to speak and function hence why Manu reached out to his fan base to get us to send Levi messages while he is still able to understand and respond. Levi also reached out to Manu and his own fan base to connect with everyone while he feels he still can. Levi is very brave, completely open and honest about his condition and posts about it as much as he can.  Last I heard anything from Levi was around  December 2019 when Levi had another brain biopsy done to see if some of the new treatments he tried was working.

Regardless, it was an absolute pleasure chatting with him. Our brief interactions were informative, witty and insightful. He's even given me some new tattoo ideas as I had wanted to pay homage to my Sagittarius and Scorpio sides. I wish him the best, I hope his new treatments will work for him and we can chat again soon!