Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Bridge and Tunnel’s Sam Vartholomeos

We’re only a month into 2021, but Sam Vartholomeos has emerged as one of the breakout stars of the year. He leads Ed Burns’ latest dramedy, Bridge and Tunnel, which follows a group of college graduates setting out to pursue their dreams while still clinging to the familiarities of their working-class Long Island hometown.

For actor Sam Vartholomeos that crossroad instantly drew him in as well as the fact that he’s always dreamed of filming a series in his home state.

Pop Culturalist caught up with Sam ahead of tonight’s premiere on Epix to chat about Bridge and Tunnel, collaborating with Ed Burns, and what he hopes audiences take away.

PC: Tell us about Bridge and Tunnel and your character in the series.
Sam: Bridge and Tunnel follows a group of six college graduates who all come home for the summer and are each trying to figure out the next steps in pursuing their dreams.

My character, Jimmy Farrell, is a photographer who gets his dream job shooting for National Geographic. His first assignment is taking him away to Alaska for six months…that is if he makes the decision to go or stay with the girl of his dreams.

PC: What was it about this particular project and script that stood out to you and made you want to be a part of it?
Sam: Definitely the writer-director, Mr. Ed Burns. A hundred percent. It was funny: the email I got for the initial audition said it was Edward F. Burns, and I didn’t put two and two together. I was like, “Wait a minute. It’s Ed Burns.” It wasn’t until my first take in the audition that I realized it. [laughs]

Being able to do a New York show with such a New York guy is so refreshing. He knows how to write for New Yorkers. Sometimes, you’ll watch a series or movie and it’s like they’re either too on the nose, where they’re trying too hard, or it doesn’t sound like how we are. This is an authentic look at a bunch of Long Island kids in the eighties.

PC: Like you were saying earlier, your character Jimmy returns home and finds himself at a crossroads in his life, which is a really universal message. Was there a particular moment in your own life that you drew on when embodying your character?
Sam: Jimmy and I have very similar family dynamics. We’re both very close to our family and focus on our careers, but I always had that pull to my family and being in New York. I love this city so much. I know that feeling of being at a crossroads, knowing what I want to do versus what I should do or what I feel pressured to do, either societal or familial.

Also, I mean how can you not fall in love with Caitlin Stasey when you see her? Caitlin plays Jill, Jimmy’s ex, and the girl of his dreams. It wasn’t hard to find the struggle between having to choose between Alaska or Jill.

PC: The series is set in 1980s Long Island, and you’re a Queens native, which isn’t too far from there. Growing up, did you spend a lot of time on the Island? What was it like filming in your home state? What research did you do on the decade itself?
Sam: Like you said, I’m from Queens. We have some family out on Long Island. My sister lives in the Albertson/Roslyn area, so I’m there whenever I want to see my niece and nephews. My brother is way out in Commack now. Growing up, we would spend almost every weekend out in Greenport, Long Island on the North Fork. We’d go fishing with my dad or swimming on the beaches. I’m definitely familiar with Long Island being a Queens boy.

If you asked me two or three years ago what my dream job was, I would have said, “I want to do a series in New York about New York because it’s so close to who I am. It is who I am.” It would be great to branch out and stretch the acting muscle, not to say that this didn’t, it just felt so comfortable, and getting to do it with someone like Ed—nothing tops that.

PC: Speaking of Ed, he not only wrote, produced, and directed the series, but he also plays your father. What was it like collaborating with him?
Sam: First of all, as you said, he wrote and directed it. It’s incredible to watch this man work. He would be talking with Jeff Muhlstock, our DP, talking with everyone, and getting the shot ready. He’d call over Aaron Lubin, his dear friend and executive producer, and be like, “Aaron, we got to run these lines.” I’d see him and be like, “Ed, do you want to run this with me.” He’d be like, “Yeah, come here.” We start drilling lines and it would work.

You’d see him in the director’s chair with the headphones and you’d be like, “Oh yeah, that’s our director,” but you’d also be like, “This is my dad.” It was really cool to see him go through the same struggle as us, trying to remember lines. He did each job so well. That’s the dream, man: he’s working with all his buddies who are all fantastic in their fields. This is the first time that Jeff Muhlstock has been a DP. He was a camera operator and Ed called him up and gave him a shot. He did such a fantastic job. That’s the dream: doing what you love with the people you love.

PC: This series does a fantastic job striking a balance between comedy and drama. For you as an actor, is one more challenging than the other?
Sam: It’s really hard to make people feel good as they’re watching a series. I hope we accomplished that because I know that’s what Eddie wanted in this comedy and drama. I just watched 101 and 102, and Brian Mueller is hilarious. You have all these great characters who bring out the comedy and make room for the heavier stuff between me and Caitlin.

PC: There’s great chemistry that comes off the screen between the entire cast. How were you all able to build that bond so quickly?
Sam: COVID hasn’t been a great time for everyone, but I will say, I feel like it was the catalyst for this cast to come together. We quarantined at a Hampton Ill in Rockville Center, Long Island for five/six weeks. We saw no one but each other. A few of us are New York-based, and Rockville Center is about a thirty-minute drive from me. I could have gone to see my family, but I almost didn’t want to because it felt like college.

It was like dorming. We’d all go into Gigi [Zumbado]’s room. We would hang out before shooting, run lines, and relax with each other. We’d forget everything else that was going on. That helped us. COVID wasn’t good for a lot of people, but it definitely helped us come together and become this group of kids who were supposed to have known each other for their entire lives.

PC: This is a breakout television role for you. Did anything surprise you about the experience? What was the biggest takeaway?
Sam: It’s definitely not something I took lightly. I talked with a good friend of mine who has been in this industry for a while. He’s been in my shoes, so I asked him, “What is expected of me? What is expected, as I’ve never seen number one and my name on the same line on the call sheet?” He told me, “It’s the same thing as if you were number twelve or number twenty-two. Just do your job. Come to set prepared.”

I walked onto set telling myself that my job is to make everyone’s life easier because the buck stops at you as an actor. That’s not to say there’s no room for error. I wanted to make the director’s job easier. I wanted to make the writer’s job easier. I wanted to make my co-stars’ jobs easier. I wanted to make the editor’s job easier. It can be a little overwhelming to think about all that, but yeah, it was a true blessing. I’ve worked really hard for this. I can’t stress the importance of basics. Keep to the basics—they got you to where you’re at.

PC: There are a lot of really interesting dynamics between all of the different characters. With Jimmy being at the heart of the story, which of his relationships was your favorite to explore and why?
Sam: I’m always going to say Cait. I fell in love with that girl. She’s become such an important part of my life. I can’t imagine anyone else filling those shoes. I can’t imagine doing this job with anyone else.

Cait aside, I really loved working with Ed. I’ve been such a fan for years. Saving Private Ryan was my first introduction to Ed Burns. I was like, “I fricking like this guy, man.” I used to have a very thick New York accent; it’s something I’ve worked on my entire career. But, Ed has always been this North Star saying that you can keep your culture. You can be who you are and you can still succeed. You can still branch out from that. He hasn’t always been the New York guy, but it’s really refreshing to see that he’s come this far being who he is. He’s such a great human being. He’s someone you want to give everything to.

PC: With the series premiering this today, what do you hope audiences take away?
Sam: I hope for at least twenty-seven minutes on your TV screen, you can laugh, cry, smile, and really care for these kids. I hope it helps them drown out a bit of the noise. The way we hit the mute button on Zoom and on FaceTime calls, just hit the mute button on life. Sometimes you need a little bit of that to make life a little easier.

To keep up with Sam, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Catch the premiere of Bridge and Tunnel tonight at 9/8c on Epix.

Photo Credit: Myles Aronowitz/Epix