Exclusive Interview: Neb Chupin Talks Transition from Engineering to Acting, Mindcage, and More

Neb Chupin is a critically-acclaimed triple threat who acts, produces, and does his own stunts. He’s best known for projects including Final Stop, Feel the Dead, and 411.

Currently, he can be seen in Mindcage. In this spellbinding thriller, detectives Jake Doyle (Martin Lawrence) and Mary Kelly (Melissa Roxburgh) seek the help of an incarcerated serial killer named The Artist (John Malkovich) when a copycat killer strikes. While Mary searches for clues in The Artist’s brilliant but twisted psyche, she and Jake are lured into a diabolical game of cat and mouse, racing against time to stay one step ahead of The Artist and his copycat.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Neb about Mindcage, his transition from engineering into acting, and more.

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling and the arts?
Neb: Back in Croatia when I was in school, I read lots of books and enjoyed literacy classes. Then I joined the local theater group where I spent some time on my craft. I was very happy. Later when I immigrated to the States in 1989, I put it on hold and forgot about it. I was working all kinds of jobs while in school (moving furniture, truck driving, washing dishes, being a security guard, planting flowers, painting jobs, etc.) and later started an engineering career. I was running from appointment to appointment and from city to city, building Nextel’s backbone network. I had to save my soul in some way, so I joined CP Casting (acting in film and TV) in Boston and experienced a huge offload after each three-hour acting class. I loved it. I could be anyone I wanted. All I had to do was get into the character and offload my soul. This was it. I knew I had an artsy side in me from my early days, and whenever I was telling stories and people enjoyed it, I enjoyed it too. That was my beginning.

PC: You started your career as an engineer. What has that transition been like going into modeling, acting, and producing?
Neb: When I retired from engineering in 2001, I moved to Miami. My food-importing business was making just enough money so that I could dedicate some time to myself. I started modeling and continued acting. I opened a restaurant, and I already had a different lifestyle. When I was cast in the film 411 by James Valentine, I was introduced to producing. We were a small crew with a small budget, and we wanted to do a big film…so we all did everything. The film wasn’t released until 2015 (it’s now on Amazon), but it still didn’t get proper distribution. I realized how tough it was…really tough. I entered the hardest industry of all!

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Neb: Mostly failure. I failed—we all failed on that project I mentioned—and then I got even more stubborn. In the meantime, I watched a lot of movies and always had my male role models. They changed as I grew. First, it was action heroes, and later when I got more seasoned, I was inspired by really good actors.

PC: Tell us about Mindcage, your character, and how you got involved in this project.
Neb: I already knew the director Mauro [Borrelli] and the producer Dan Grodnik from earlier films, and I asked for the audition. It was amazing when I got it, and then I started preparing. I already had a voice coach in LA who helped me tremendously with the delivery and with the accent using techniques from my early films like Final Stop and Obsession. His name is Patrick Muñoz. Highly recommended.

Mindcage is a detective story, and my character is Doctor Loesch who had a patient whom everyone called “The Artist,” an ex-serial killer. The doctor at first didn’t want to cooperate with police detectives as he was protecting his patient. Later, he himself becomes a victim of the Artist. It was a big production that lasted one month, and we had quite a bit of night work too. It was very hard because of COVID, which even shut us down for three to four days. I enjoyed working with Melissa Roxburgh and John Malkovich. Most of my scenes were with Melissa. She is an amazing actress and very professional. She truly carries the whole film.

PC: In addition to starring in the film, you also are an executive producer. When you’re wearing multiple hats for a project, how challenging is that?
Neb: I was helping on the ground with my producing experience and sometimes even financially. For instance, I knew that the director wanted to use the crane for a special shot and we couldn’t get the budget approved, so I paid out of my own pocket to get it done. And my eleven-year-old son was with me, and he got cast in a role in the film as well, so I was really happy about that.

PC: Have you found that the work that you’ve done behind the scenes has impacted the way that you approach your work on screen?
Neb: I know from experience how important quality is in a production. If the production is high quality, most likely all of the actors and all of the scenes will look very good.

PC: Besides Mindcage, what’s next for you?
Neb: I have been working on my own project called The Islander for about five years now. It is an apocalyptic fantasy film about a boy who can see pieces of the future because he was hit by lightning. Later on, he saves the world. It is very heavily loaded with special effects. We have over 1,000 CGI shots. It is really hard because it takes so long, but the product looks amazing so far. We are about to finish it mid-next year.

I am also at the end of filming The Last Redemption here in Italy. It’s a medieval film, where I think I found my true character and look as a medieval knight. It really suits me. I have learned how to ride horses and fight with swords. We already have distribution, and it will be released mid-next year!

To keep up with Neb, follow him on Instagram. Mindcage is out now in select theaters and wherever you stream movies.

Photo Credit: Hrvoje Serdar