David James Elliott isn't the kind of guy who you'll usually find perched on a political soapbox peddling his ideology to spur change.  If he's known for being anything at all, it's as a steady-as-a-rock family man with a wife he adores and a couple of kids to whom he devotes most of his free time.

This is the TV star who isn't; a gentleman who logged 10 years on the successful prime time drama, JAG, yet who acts like a regular dude who doesn't think he's anything special.  Instead of enlisting layers of publicity and management people to insulate him from the press and public, Elliott gives out his cell phone number to schedule an interview – and says to call anytime.

This is not how it works with George Clooney or Jennifer Aniston.

"Hey, I just figure what's the big deal, you know?" Elliott reasons.  "We're just people.  You call me, we have a chat.  Isn't that how it works?"

The answer: Not always.

And yet this guy who lives anywhere but an ivory tower is on the phone talking about how that coming Friday, he's going to be traveling with his family to a tiny remote village on the Amazon region of Ecuador to live in a hut with members of a warrior culture known as the Achuar.

Why is the Elliott family going to this place to live with these people?  Because this generally non-political animal has determined that the Achuar need his help as they continue to fend off attempts from U.S.-based oil companies to displace them and drill for oil on their land.  Think of it as the plot of AVATAR come to life. Or perhaps an episode of JAG.

"I have a friend who called my attention to this, and we wound up getting invited down through the organization Amazon Watch," Elliott says.  "I don't have all of the facts, but I know there's been a horrible mess left down in this part of the world and these people have managed to fight off the oil companies for more than 10 years in the courts.

"We just leaped at the opportunity to do this, to go for a few weeks and experience this culture.  It's difficult to imagine a worthier cause than this."

It's also true that after spending a decade (1995-2005) and 225 episodes presiding over JAG, Elliott was looking for new challenges.  He has been able to pick and choose his projects after the intensity of anchoring an hour-long network series for so many years.  He's recently been on a couple of series (THE GUARD; SCOUNDRELS) and worked in a couple of indie features and TV movies & miniseries (KNIGHTS OF BLOODSTEEL; IMPACT; THE STORM).

Now, just as summer gets rolling, he can enjoy the premiere of a new TV movie, DAD'S HOME, on Saturday, June 19 (9pm ET/PT).  The film finds him starring as a workaholic widower who suddenly has to raise his kids (ages 12 and eight) on his own after losing his job and firing the help.

"I'll tell you what was so great about doing this movie," Elliott points out.  "I got to work with Bradford May, who directed not only this film but a lot of our JAG hours, too.  And he made working in this movie like a free-form jam session.  Almost every scene was rewritten in the moment.  The scenes were in this constant state of flux, and we just amended and improvised as we went."

The storyline of DAD'S HOME also connected for Elliott. While he's still very much happily married (for 18 years to actress Nanci Chambers) and hardly a widower, he has children of similar age to the two in the film.

"The crew was also very young, and they loved to learn on the fly," he adds.  "They cared as much as I did about making this movie great.  That's exactly how it felt being on JAG all of those years, which was like raising and nurturing a child in itself.  At times I loathed the show, of course, but on the whole it was just the most exhilarating experience imaginable."

About the only negative on the DAD'S HOME set, Elliott jokes, surrounded his taste for cigars.  He liked to smoke them on set, which resulted in his "being put in a chair in the far corner as the leper.  You do what you have to do to survive."

Indeed, Elliott, 49, is very much a survivor.  Of course, the jungles of show business are one thing; those of the Amazon are quite another.

"Everything in the Amazon can kill you," he maintains.  "You look on the Internet and it'll scare you to death.  There are these things called kissing bugs that bite you on the lip, and it's only 20 years later that an amoeba has started eating your brain.  There are tiny fish that can swim up your urethra and into your body. The only way to get them out is to cut into your groin.

"Then I saw pictures on this one website of a spider web with a monkey caught inside it, and the monkey had been really messed up.  They have spiders big enough to eat monkeys down there.  You've got to get a lot of shots and take a lot of pills before you can go, because they have creatures and diseases down there that we can't even imagine."

Oh, and then there's the food.  Yum.

"What you eat with the Achuar is monkey and tapir, which I imagine tastes like chicken," Elliott jokes.  "They also have a ceremonial drink in this village that's basically fermented saliva.  And the villagers are insulted if you don't try it.  Let me tell you, this is no tourist junket."

That would seem to be a significant understatement.  And mind you, Elliott once contracted the sometimes-deadly Dengue fever while traveling in Guatemala.

"It's the chance of a lifetime, and my wife and kids are excited as hell about it," he stresses.  "It's all about experiencing everything before you leave this life.  I want to make sure I get to do everything before I'm out of here."

If Elliott doesn't, it won't be for lack of trying.  He's already done pretty well for a guy born in the rural town of Milton, Ontario in Canada who was raised by his folks to be humble.  It's why he can't abide those who lay down star trips or try to pull rank while working on an acting set.

"I don't understand that part of somebody who suddenly thinks they're better than somebody else simply because of the job they happen to be doing," Elliott says.  "Some of the most successful people I know also are the most humble.  I think there's a great lesson in that."

To get ready for the premiere of DAD'S HOME on Saturday, June 19 at 9pm ET/PT, check out this on-location and behind the-scenes video: