Jason Mewes, top, and Kevin Smith have been lifelong pals. The monkey remains unidentified.

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All those years of playing a stoner in director Kevin Smith’s movies have left actor Jason Mewes’ career in a bit of a haze.

“If someone says, ‘Hey, let’s get Jason Mewes to play a cop in this movie,’ somebody else will say, ‘But, hey, isn’t he that stoner dude from the Kevin Smith films?’ So, yeah, it definitely makes (casting agents) second guess me,” says the actor, who’ll appear at the Adventure Con collectibles and pop-culture show on Saturday and Sunday in Pigeon Forge.

To add to his image dilemma, Mewes, 35, says he has been clean and sober for six years — but hard-core fans are always expecting him to party with them. He says he doesn’t smoke marijuana or take any other drug, legal or illegal. He also stopped drinking years ago.

However, in a strange twist of fate, his wife has just opened a medical marijuana shop in Los Angeles, which is doing boffo business. “Kind of ironic, isn’t it?” Mewes deadpans.

To be fair to his fans, Mewes, who battled addictions to OxyContin for years, earned this image through his years on screen. He is best known for his recurring role as “Jay,” a thin, long-haired New Jersey pothead, in the comedies “Clerks,” “Clerks 2” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”

Mewes has been in all of Smith’s films except “Jersey Girl.” Smith and Mewes have been buddies since childhood and live near each other in Hollywood.

Looking at Mewes today, he’s made quite a physical transformation. He’s no longer painfully thin and has cut off his long locks. He’s traded his trademark skull cap for a baseball cap.

And the work is coming along. This year, he has eight films in pre- or post-production, including the comedy “The Science of Cool” with Mischa Barton and Jeremy Sumpter; and “Silent But Deadly,” a slasher flick.

Mewes appeared in the 2008 box office hit “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.” Two of his upcoming film comedies — “Shoot The Hero” and “Repo” — might help change his image a bit, he says, since his roles in those have greater range.

“A lot of the offers I get aren’t only stoners. They’re the (smart aleck) best friend or the wise (guy),” he says. “I have done other (roles), but it’s been independent stuff, so it hasn’t made it to the big (audiences).”

Originally from New Jersey, Mewes has a dark past for someone who has made a living in comedy. His mother, who was a heroin addict, died of AIDS in 2002. He never met his father. Mewes started using heroin in his early 20s, and kept up using for nearly a decade. He was in and out of rehab for years.

Finally, though, he came to terms with his issues and was able to break his habit of drinking and drugging. He says he’s still tempted to do both. He attends support group meetings every week.

Mewes no longer talks to his sister, who he says is battling her own demons.

“It’s sad,” he says of their estrangement. “I wish I could help my sister. I wish I could have spent more time with my mom.

“I can’t dwell on that too much, you know, or I’d be in the worst way. I just try to focus on what’s going on in my life now, and I’m pretty happy.”

Terry Morrow may be reached at morrowt@knoxville.com or 865-342-6445. His blog can be found at http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/telebuddy/. He contributes to “Live At Five At Four” on WBIR, Channel 10, and “The Marc & Kim & Frank Show” on WWST-FM, 102.1.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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