Archer
Samuel Archer
archerprofile
Portrayed By Will Smith
Gender Male
Date of Birth March 17, 1970
Age 37
Zodiac Sign Pisces
Aliases Magnum, PI
Place of Birth Philadelphia, PA, USA
Current Location New York City, NY, USA
Occupation Private Detective
Known Relatives Joy Archer (daughter)
Significant Other None
Known Abilities None
First Appearance The Wink And The Gun

From Hollywood stunt man to Private Detective and Single Father, Samuel Archer is New York's answer to Magnum, PI. Officially licensed and everything, the great pimp detective spends his days with his daughter and his nights working case after case to see if he can't get a handle on this whole expensive lifestyle he wants to badly to live. More often than not, though, he tends to bite off more than he can chew.

History

It was a dark and stormy night. My father was doing whatever he did for a living. I'm pretty sure it wasn't legal. My mom was stuck at home with me, the last place she ever really wanted to be. To be honest, I can't even remember her spending any more time with me than was absolutely necessary to keep me alive. You'd think I was a total mistake or something.

I was.

West Philadelphia. Born and raised. On the streets is where I spent most of my days. I learned that from my mother. She never wanted to be at home, so I never stayed at home either. The day I was old enough to go out on my own… I did. I never even looked back. My parents don't exist to me anymore. If you wanna be real about it? I'm just like Oliver Twist or somebody. I'm an orphan and I'm damn proud of it.

So where could a kid, about nine or ten, go and not really look out of place? L.A. sounds about right. I made my way across the States, hitchhiking and stowing away on anything big enough to hide me in. Took me a few months but I finally got there and the only thing I could think about was surviving. I didn't know anybody. Had no clue what was going on. But I felt like I was gonna be okay. I felt like I was home. For me, home was never where the heart was. Home is where I was and Los Angeles was a good a place as any.

I fell in with a group of little bastards that ran around causing havoc in their wake. They called us a gang. They were right. I was with them for a few years until I found my other calling: acting. We decided to tag up one of the movie lots in Hollywood and those bastards left me hanging when security came. Instead of just arresting me like any good people would, they decided they wanted to teach me a lesson and make me work for them. I had to scrub the graffiti off every building on the studio lot and basically became the gopher for Epic Productions.

Best thing that ever happened to me, I'll tell you that.

I turned my life around on that studio lot. I moved up from gopher to extra and in a couple of years I was trying out for parts in low grade B Movies. I was going to be a star. It was the kind of life that any twenty something year old could ask for. I had money in my pocket, a roof over my head and more action and adventure than I could ever ask for. Reality didn't decide to smack me in the face until I found out that I couldn't act as well as I thought. I starred in a movie called: Fastlane, where I played a renegade cop trying to put a stop to a string of highway murders. It bombed at the box office. But if it wasn't for that movie I wouldn't have found my third calling.

Doing my own stunts.

I shifted the focus from acting to risking my life for people that could actually act. Turns out there was a steady paycheck in being a stuntman and that was always a good thing. I became Epic Productions key to the virtual city, really. What they lacked in good movies they made up for with awesome stunt sequences and explosions. It was a good time. And I became a Hollywood Household Name. Enough of one that I was invited to the big deal parties that seemed to help that side of the world go around.

That's where I met Allison. Most beautiful girl I'd ever laid eyes on. We met, we dated, we fell in love. She had a child and we were all set to get married. Everything was going to be perfect. Then she had to go and get herself killed. Leaving me with my baby girl to raise all by myself. Obviously, this meant I couldn't work as much anymore. The threat was too high. My daughter was too young to lose both parents. So I packed up, said my goodbyes and headed back to the other coast.

I've been here, in New York, for the past six years. Occasionally, I get to pull a stunt or two on the sets of films that come through the city, but that chapter of my life is pretty much closed. I've got a daughter to raise. But, the Hollywood cash isn't going to last forever. Royalty checks are coming fewer by the day. I'm going to need something to keep my head above water. Something to make sure Joy doesn't have a hard life like I did. And I think I know just the thing…

Samuel Archer. Private Detective.
"I'm On Your Case."

Personality

Samuel Archer has had a hard life. As such, he's become something of a sarcastic cynic. His innate pessimism is weakened by the fact that he's raising his daughter Joy, but it still tends to come out on a regular basis. He's never really had a loving and caring relationship until he hooked up with his first and only love. She died and he lost all hope of ever being in love again. He's a worthless romantic, in this sense and since then become something of a womanizer. He doesn't look at things too clearly, but feels that it's better to never get hurt at all than to feel for someone and have your heart ripped out and stuffed in a meat grinder.

archerfist

One thing that's highly important to him, though, is family. He never had one and is hell bent on giving Joy what he never had. He's a good father, he likes to think, even if he ends up doing jobs that are less than noble. There are bigger things at stake here, in terms of taking care of his daughter and providing her with the lifestyle she deserves. He doesn't fit the bill of being the usual single father. He treats Joy like she's an adult (as much as he can with her being a child) and they share a relationship that allows for freedom and choice. His main thing is to 'Be There' for her. After that, anything goes.

Archer lives by a set of morals that don't make him good or bad. He's the middle man. The ultimate neutral. He's been on both sides of the law throughout his life and is hell bent on living for himself and his daughter. Wherever the money comes from, that's the set of morals that rise up to help him do his job. He's generally a good guy, though and may find himself in conflict with employers if something comes to his attention that shouldn't be. He's not a classic White Hat, by any means. He's killed before. And he'll do it again. If he feels guilt or anything, he's a master at hiding it.

Acting has become more of a skill at this point. He finds himself playing roles or getting into character to work on cases. To this end, his undeniable wit and snarky demeanor has give him a disposition that manages to get him into trouble with the NYPD, organized crime and anybody that tends to cross his path. He's not exactly the most liked person in the city, but when he takes pictures of political officials to break up marriages, things like this tend to happen. This is why he comes off as a bit of a jerk. Deep down, somewhere in there, is the heart of a man that's been a has-been his entire life and he's looking to change that. But has no idea how. Lost and confused, he searches for some semblance of sanity in his mind. It's not working out too well. He doesn't know himself and that's what scares him.

Working as a stuntman has given him a devil-may-care attitude. Archer couldn't care less if he lives or dies. There's something to be said for this kind of bravery: that it's stupid. The only thing holding him to this mortal coil, probably, is his daughter. Still, in the heat of the moment, Archer's capable of pulling off tremendous suicidal acts to give himself some sort of happiness. He loves the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He's almost addicted to it. The more wild, crazy and death-defying the act… the more he's going to want to do it.

Casefiles

May 2007

  • The Wink And The Gun - Archer tries to make an informant out of a bartending hottie with a body. Fails miserably.
  • Fatale Attraction - Archer's target is too hot to just hand over. This is him trying to help.

June 2007

  • The Magic Word - Archer turns his back on his only case to help out his fellow man… and his hot girlfriend.

Archer Investigations

More known through word of mouth than anything of actual substance, Archer Investigations is the place to go to if you need something done that can't be done with the law. For obvious reasons, the NYPD and Archer don't get along, so having them work together on a case would be like trying to pull the teeth of a Raptor, while its trying to eat Samuel L. Jackson. However, even though he lacks the training, skills, connections and general knowledge of an ex-cop, Archer still manages to get the job done. He's good at what he does and that's enough to get him through the day to day dealings of being a single parent in New York.

Rates & Pricing:
- Standard Hiring Fee: $250.00
- Investigation Hours: $75.00 per hour plus expenses.
- Electronic Surveillance (including video): $60.00 per hour.
- Mileage Reimbursement: $1.00 per mile.
- All prices are subject to change and negotiation. Especially for Femme Fatales.

Roster:
- Head Investigator: Samuel Archer
- Secretary: Joy Archer

Quotes

  • "It's a dirty job. Somebody's gotta pay me to do it."
  • "If I get myself killed for this dame, I'm gonna' be so pissed off."

Soundtrack

Trivia

car
Archer's '73 Caprice
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License