Pop-Culturalist.com

Erik Fellows has made the successful transition from shooting hoops on the court to starring in hit films and TV shows on the screen. The former basketball player is the first to tell you that he never imagined he’d pursue a career in entertainment, but life doesn’t always go according to plan. With hard work and a newfound confidence, Erik is exactly where he wants to be in his life. Pop Culturalist caught up with Erik to learn more about his journey, his biggest influences, and the two exciting projects he has on the horizon.

PC: How did you get started in the industry?
Erik: It’s a funny story. I’m from Maryland. I never thought entertainment was a possibility. As a child, I was interested in movies and TV. I was always thrilled by the understanding of it. I actually looked into it a lot as a kid. But it was like, “What are you going to do: move to Hollywood to become a movie star?”

I was actually a basketball player. That was my main goal. I was playing guard in high school, and I got recruited to play in Italy. I’m half Italian. So I could’ve gotten citizenship over there to play professionally. I got hurt in my senior year and tore my ankle. That set me back. It was a weird thing because I spent my whole life doing that. All of a sudden, I didn’t know if it was for me. I’d never flown on a plane before, so I was scared. My mom is also scared of flying. She was like, “You’re not going to Italy.” I panicked and I gave up on my dream.

I didn’t know what I was going to do out of high school. I literally fell into this business. I was eighteen at the time and I was over at an ex-girlfriend’s house who was babysitting. The mom was picking up her child and she said, “Have you ever thought about modeling?” I was like, “Modeling what?” She was like, “Male modeling.” I told her that I hadn’t. She said her kid was a young model/actor. He did stuff for Tommy Hilfiger. She told me she could introduce me to his agents in DC and that her son goes to New York for a lot of shoots for these big campaigns and commercials.

I told her, “That’s not something I ever really thought about. I can’t tell my friends that I’m going to be a male model. I would get teased.” That was a running joke. She told me that they wouldn’t be laughing when I was on the big screen. I told her that when I was in drama class in high school, I literally walked out. She told me to at least let her make the introduction.

That’s how it all started. From there, I had a meeting and they signed me in Georgetown, DC. I did local modeling and stuff like that. Then I met this girl who’s become a good friend of mine, at a fashion show. She said she had modeled when she was younger and overseas. She told me that I needed to go to New York if I really wanted to do this.

So I went to New York and I met with one of the agencies. From there, I moved out to New York. The next thing I knew, I was going on casting. I signed with a big modeling agency about eight months into it. I ended up with Innovative Artists. I started taking acting classes. Then all of a sudden, I had a knack for it.

PC: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in the world of fashion that you’ve been able to apply to your acting career?
Erik: There are a lot of lessons. I think the first is that you have to let go of the fear of being constantly judged. On both sides of the industry, that’s one thing that doesn’t go away. You’re being judged every day by people anyway, but this one is more severe and in your face and constant. You’re living that life. For anyone, it’s very difficult to get past that at first. Modeling helped me get rid of a lot of my fear of being vulnerable in front of people.

PC: You’ve been really open that when you started auditioning, there were periods of time when you would get really close but not get the role. How did you continue to motivate yourself? Who or what instilled that fight in you?
Erik: I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been in this business for twenty years now. There were a lot of times where I wanted to walk away, and there were times where I did—not fully, but I had one foot out of this business. There have been a lot of different scenarios and people that I’ve met throughout my career who have led me to where I am now, which is the best position I’ve ever been in. But you need a lot of good support from friends and family to mentors.

I recently reconnected with Howard Fine, who was my acting coach about eleven years ago. We lost contact for a long time. We had lunch and we talked. He’s always looked at me like “This kid has a career in front of him. There’s steps that need to be taken in a certain way. He just needs guidance.” So we started working together again about a year ago. He’s really helped me understand what might need to change to get me to the point that I need to get. He’s always believed in me.

So it was a year ago, after all these years, I understood it differently. There was a confidence change that gave me the leverage that I feel I have at this point that I use in my mindset now. I don’t go into anything that I look at the way I did before and doubt the things. I look at it this way: they’re either going to accept it or not. I have the credentials and understanding to what led me here. I’m willing to prove it, but I’ve proven it to a point with how I got here, a lot of it on my own. I don’t look at them for acceptance anymore.

When you approach the business with that mindset, they want to know that you believe in yourself enough for them to believe in you. Once you have that confidence, you can’t mistake it. That’s what makes people successful. They want to look up to those people because they instill this confidence that makes people want to be like them.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success in your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Erik: There are many moments. The way that I look at it is when I started this business, I didn’t know anything about it or even think I would get to where I am. So when I’m looking at it, there have been so many pivotal moments that helped me transition to this point. I got to work with some cool people. Working with Val Kilmer was pretty awesome. The entire cast for American Cowslip was pretty amazing. Working with J.Lo and people on that level. It’s really about having actual conversations with people that I’ve looked up to and learning things about their life stories. It helped me realize the mindset that it takes to succeed in this business.

I’ve learned something from each of their success stories. It’s helped me say, “This is how I do it. This is how it can be done.” You have to understand how to circulate yourself through this business. You have to keep your head on straight and understand the situations you’re putting yourself in and what your worth is—how much you’re worth in this life. That’s where people fall off a bit because they start to question their worth and they lack that confidence. That’s where they fall apart. But there are a bunch of different paths.

PC: You have two films coming out soon. Tell us about Break Even and Starf*cker.
Erik: Break Even is awesome. It’s funny. I was just texting with the director a few minutes ago. He’s become a very good friend of mine. It’s directed by Shane Stanley. He did Gridiron Gang. He’s a very, very, very talented guy. He’s been in the business since he was young. So I came into it knowing a little bit of his work. That was really cool. I learned a lot from him as an actor, actually, and from the side of how hard you have to work. Man, we worked our asses off on the movie.

It’s in the vein of Fast and Furious meets Into the Blue. It’s about four friends that are on a sailing trip. At the beginning, there’s a newcomer to the group: the fourth guy, played by Brent Bailey. My character, Dash, is a down-on-his-luck character who can’t seem to find his path in life. He’s never really had much money.

His girlfriend, who is played by Alisa Reyes, is Rosie. She’s his backbone and his support. He’s down on his luck, so they come into this scenario where they’re in the middle of the ocean and they go for a dive. There’s a cage down there, and they open the cage to find fifty million in cash. It’s dirty money. They have to figure out how to clean it.

Throughout the film, there’s action and suspense. They’re being chased by the corrupt DEA and the drug lord. There’s fast boats, fast cars, hot chicks, dudes, everything. It’s the type of film that never slows down. It’s really entertaining from start to finish.

Tasya Teles from The 100 plays the lead girl. Joanna Pacula, James Callis, Ivan Sergei, Steve Guttenberg—it’s a really cool cast. I think it’ll do well. It was at Cannes a couple weeks ago. I know that they premiered it at Cannes, but we couldn’t be there. It was supposed to come out in May, but with everything going on, we’re just waiting for the date.

As far as Starf*cker, it’s directed by Mark David, who has also become one of my best friends. He’s actually the one who put me in American Cowslip with Val Kilmer, Peter Falk, and Cloris Leachman. I met Mark a long time ago. We’ve been working together for many years.

When I worked on that film, I initially was introduced through my manager, who had a tie with Val Kilmer. That’s how it all worked out. He tried to get me in the movie too. He said, “I’ll give you Val, if you give my client a line in your movie.” I was still green and building up. The director was like, “Isn’t he a male model? Can he even speak?” My manager was like, “Just have lunch with him.”

He sat down and met with me. He was like, “Oh. He’s funny and has personality,” which was great because it’s a dark comedy. Next thing I know, I get to set and we’re going through the first scene and he loved me. I went from a line in the movie to like forty or fifty. That’s how I started working with Mark David. We also did Texas Heart and Jonny’s Sweet Revenge together.

Right after we wrapped on Jonny’s Sweet Revenge, he said, “I have this series that I wrote ten years ago. It’s called Starf*cker.” I was like, “What?” He goes, “Listen, man. I’ve learned from working with you that you are Jimmy Starr.”

I told him I didn’t understand what he was saying. He was like, “Will you read the script?” It was an old pass that we didn’t end up shooting. But I was like, “Dude. There’s no way I’m playing this role. I’ll never work in Hollywood again.” He was like, “It’s a risk, but it’s worth it.” It’s a dark comedy. He started to realize that I had a knack for comedy at a certain level, and he thought I was the perfect fit. I ended up turning it down for a few years. I was like, “There’s no way.”

We started shooting it in the beginning of 2017. We had seventy-five percent of the film done, but we ran out of money and the Me Too movement happened. The movie is solely based on the underbelly of Hollywood and the realness and darkness of where this industry can go, what’s expected of you, or what could be expected of you to get to this point. Me Too happened and we shelved it.

Then about a year later, a friend of the director, Josh, came in and said, “I love what I see. I want to throw some money at this. Let’s raise the stakes. Let’s shoot bigger venues. Let’s just reshoot this and put this out there.” We basically reshot sixty percent of the film. We collaborated on what we had. We gave it a darker twist. We made the conflict more aggressive. We were pretty much done. They’re doing some CGI and the score, and we’re in the midst of selling it in the next couple of months.

Jimmy Starr is a quintessential actor with the similar story to a lot of actors that are in Hollywood and fall under that understanding of how do you get to that next point? What do you do? How do you finagle this? Who do you meet? There’s a turning point early in the movie where he goes from James Rupertson, his birth name, to Jimmy Starr. He transitions into this character, and you’re following him throughout the film. He makes the choices to manipulate and use his tactics to get to the top. There’s a period where he’s not a great guy. He takes advantage of people. He’s taking advantage of people that are taking advantage of him. There’s a character in the film based on Harvey Weinstein. There’s a good lesson to be learned through this dark comedy. But it’s also very sad. I hope it teaches people and shows the scenarios of what could happen. We showed that side of Hollywood which Hollywood is afraid to show. We didn’t hold back at all. But we kept that comedic twist to it.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Erik: I’ll say Upload, but that was really good.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Erik: I love all the films from the late ’80s and ’90s because I was an ’80s/’90s baby. My favorite movie of all time is Stand by Me. I also love Weekend at Bernie’s. I love Lost Boys. There are so many. Also, Mannequin, Home Alone, and Uncle Buck. I can watch these films on a cycle.

PC: Favorite book?
Erik: I’m still intrigued by basketball to this day. It motivates me. This is the thing that people don’t know about me. I had a Michael Jordan tattoo on my arm when I was fifteen. I actually had it lasered off when I was thirty-three, but that’s how much I love Michael Jordan. I’ve read so many books like Rare Air. I read a lot of sports books. But I’ll say Rare Air is the best book I’ve ever read.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Erik: I went to Aida years ago. My friend was in the show and I saw it multiple times when I was in New York. I’ll say Aida because it was my first.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Erik: My favorite band is Linkin Park. They have a song in Break Even. Unfortunately, Chester’s not alive anymore, but I have seen them so many times. I met Chester and the band. They’re super awesome. I don’t know if fans may know, but I like pop music. I sing pop songs and I oddly like Britney Spears. I’ll sing a bit of Taylor Swift.

To keep up with Erik, follow him on Instagram.