James Marsden Celebrates 50th Birthday With Shirtless Pic Cake and ‘Jury Duty’ Co-Star Ronald Gladden

James Marsden was surrounded by love as he rang in his 50th birthday, celebrating the milestone with a handful of his close pals and co-stars! 

The Dead to Me actor shared a series of fun pictures from his party over the weekend, which was hosted by Casamigos and featured a guest list including Westworld‘s Aaron Paul and Tessa Thompson, Shock and Awe‘s Woody Harrelson, and Jury Duty‘s beloved breakout star Ronald Gladden. 

“What a fun 30th bday for James,” Gladden captioned an image on his Instagram Story, alongside Rel Beauty founder Arielle Vandenberg, adding a winking emoji. 

Among the highlights shared on Marsden’s account were photos of his epic birthday cake, which featured a shirtless black-and-white photo of the star in his younger years. Marsden’s pants are unbuttoned in the sexy shot, as he stares intensely into the camera. The sheet cake is trimmed with black piping and gold candles with the words “Happy 50th Birthday James!” inscribed.

In one pic from the event, Marsden appears delightfully amused by the sight of the cake and flashes a big grin as he laughs. 

Marsden’s longtime hairstylist, David Stanwell, also shared a video of the crowd singing “Happy Birthday” to the Notebook actor as he blew out his candles. 

Kiernan Shipka was also among the partygoers. The Mad Men alum posing in the photo booth with the birthday boy and producer David Bernad, who recently worked with each star on White House Plumbers and Jury Duty, respectively. 

Guests were treated to custom cocktails that included cucumber jalapeno margs, passion fruit margs, and casa ranch water, along with a late-night burger selection from Shake Shake. Marsden expressed his gratitude on his Instagram, writing, “A huge thank you to @casamigos and @rachelzalis for keeping the party going strong and the drinks flowing late!” 

The actor recently sat down with ET to look back at his career, from early TV roles on shows like The Nanny and Ally McBeal to feature parts that made him a household name like Hairspray and Enchanted.

So, what parts does he get recognized for in public? Marsden told ET that fans will most often stop him on the street to talk about playing Cyclops in Bryan Singer’s X-Men films, the rom-com 27 Dresses, and, of course, The Notebook. 

“I was sitting with Adam Shankman… meeting him for the role [in Hairspray] and were were at a cafe off Broadway, and I got a tap on my shoulder and Julia Roberts said, ‘Hey, I just didn’t mean to interrupt, but I wanted to let you know that you were in my favorite movie of all time, which was The Notebook,'” he recalled. “I was like, drooling, and she left, and then Adam said, ‘We were going to give you the role, but now that kind of sealed it.'”

“I think like in the ’50s, ’60s when people would say Casablanca is the most romantic movie, now a younger generation would, if you think of what’s the most romantic movie that comes to mind, most people would say The Notebook,“ he continued. “So I feel very proud to be a part of it — even if I am, you know, the other guy.”

The “other guy,” as Marsden describes it, did become something of a theme for the actor at one point in his career. After being jilted by Rachel McAdams in The Notebook, left in Andalasia by Amy Adams in Enchanted, and literally murdered by Famke Janssen in X-Men: The Last Stand, he made a “conscious decision” to seek out other types of roles.

“I never was consciously trying to do that,” Marsden said of playing unlucky in love. “It looked like I was only doing that role, ’cause those are the ones that hit — so I guess the public wanted to see me do the other guy.”

Marsden’s new thriller, Knox Goes Away, had a low-key world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last week amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes. In the film, directed by Michael Keaton, Marsden plays the son of Keaton’s titular hitman who is struggling with dementia. 

Before that, Marsden most recently lent his comedic talents to Amazon Freevee’s Jury Duty mockumentary earlier this year. Unsuspecting star Gladden thought he was participating in a documentary about what it is like to be on an American jury, only to learn at the end of his experience the entire thing was fake including his fellow jurors and even Marsden, who played a heightened version of himself.

“Once I realized who he was, I was like, ‘This is a famous superstar. Why would he be doing this? This is a low-budget, going straight-to-local cable [thing],'” Gladden recently told ET. 

In the end, Gladden was relieved to know Marsden’s antics during filming were nothing like what he’s like in real life. “There were days where I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I love James. We’re hanging out, we’re having a good time,'” he said. “But then there were days where he was just too Hollywood and I was like, ‘I literally do not want to be associated with him.’ Like, I would literally walk away from the guy. I was like, ‘I just can’t do this right now. Like, this is too much, you know.'” 

ET was with Marsden and Gladden for a sweet reunion after all was revealed. See the moment below. 

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