Jason Priestly, who crashed his Porsche into a telegraph pole earlier this month, has been charged with causing injury while driving under the influence and driving while inebriated. The former star of Beverly Hills 90210 was unhurt in the accident, but his passenger suffered a broken arm.
Priestly has been granted $50,000 bail, but faces up to three years in the can if he's charged at his December 28 hearing. Though he's refused to comment about this latest turn of events, he did talk to reporters straight after the smash, explaining that he had swerved to avoid hitting a deer. Currently attempting to shake his teen image, Priestly was planning to do a stint on the British stage in the New Year, presumably angling for instant credibility points a la Nicole Kidman, who starred in David Hare's The Blue Room in London's West End last year. These plans will be history if things don't go well in court, but at least the actor has made some headway in his search for 'proper' roles - in 1997 he starred with John Hurt in Love and Death on Long Island, where he played...a movie teen favourite searching for credibility.