Travis Fimmel
| Travis Fimmel | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 July 1979 nr. Echuca, Victoria, Australia |
| Ethnicity | Australian |
| Occupation | Actor, former model |
Travis Fimmel (born 15 July 1979) is an Australian actor and former model who is currently based in the United States. He is best known for his high-profile Calvin Klein campaign and for co-starring with Patrick Swayze in TV series The Beast shortly before Swayze's death.
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[edit] Early years
Fimmel was raised as the youngest of three brothers by parents Chris and Jennie on their 5500-acre dairy farm in Lockington near the small country town of Echuca, between Melbourne and Sydney.[1]
He moved to Melbourne in his late teens to play professional AFL Football for the St Kilda Football Club, but a broken leg sidelined him before the season began.[2][3] He was accepted into Melbourne University to study commercial architecture and engineering but later deferred to travel abroad.[4][5]
[edit] Modelling career
His modelling career first began when he was spotted working out at a gym in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn by the flatmate of Matthew Anderson, a talent scout for the Chadwick Models agency.[6]
Fimmel was signed on the spot with agency LA Models in 2002 after walking into their office broke and barefoot.[7] He then became the first male in the world to secure a six-figure deal to model exclusively for Calvin Klein for a year.[8] He fronted CK’s Crave men’s fragrance campaign and modelled the brand’s famous underwear. It was reported that one of his London billboards had to be pulled down after complaints from an auto club of traffic congestion and accidents by ‘rubbernecking’ female drivers, but Fimmel insists the story started with a rumor spread on the internet.[9][10]
He was named one of the world’s sexiest bachelors by America's People magazine in 2002.[11] It has even been suggested by some journalists that Fimmel was the inspiration for Sex and the City heartthrob Smith Jerrod.[12]
Fimmel appeared on magazine covers including France's Numero Homme and America's TV Guide,[13] as well as on high-profile American TV talk shows including Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Sharon Osbourne Show and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee in 2003.[9] He also made a cameo appearance in the bar scene of a video clip for Janet Jackson’s "Someone to Call My Lover"[14] and played a hunk loading hay onto the back of a pick-up truck in Jennifer Lopez’s "I’m Real" (not to be confused with her song of the same name featuring rapper Ja Rule).[15]
Preferring to be known for his acting rather than his modelling, Fimmel turned down an offer from Australia’s Seven Network to be a guest judge on the TV series Make Me A Supermodel.[16]
[edit] Acting career
Fimmel studied under Hollywood acting coach Ivana Chubbuck, taking two years to pluck up the courage to audition for his first role, saying "half of acting is overcoming your fears [and] letting yourself be vulnerable in front of people".[5] He landed the title lead in Warner Bros. TV series Tarzan in 2003, described by CNN as one of the "five hottest things happening in entertainment right now”.[17][18] In addition, he appeared the studio’s pilot Rocky Point (with Lauren Holly) in 2005, the Fox movie Southern Comfort (with Madeleine Stowe) in 2006 and The Big Valley (with Richard Dreyfuss and Jessica Lange) in 2011.
Fimmel has played a diverse spectrum of characters on the small and big screens. In 2008, he portrayed a murderer in Restraint (with True Blood’s Stephen Moyer) and a party boy in Surfer, Dude (with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson).[9] In 2010, he portrayed a compassionate cowboy in Pure Country 2: The Gift; a forensic photographer in Australian horror movie Needle (with Packed to the Rafter’s Jessica Marais); and a gifted classical pianist in Ivory (with Martin Landau), produced by Academy Award recipient Gray Frederickson.[9]
It was his role as Helweg, a cheeky-but-brutish prison guard, that saw him star opposite Academy Award recipients Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker as well as the Twilight saga’s Cam Gigandet in the 2010 film release The Experiment.[9] It was reported that the role originally went to Elijah Wood, who pulled out of shooting for reasons unknown, so Fimmel instead took the job.[19][20]
Fimmel’s TV profile received a boost when he starred opposite Patrick Swayze in cable network A&E’s 2009 series, The Beast (screened in Australia on ABC2).[21] He played rookie undercover FBI agent Ellis Dove partnered with a hardened veteran cop, Swayze’s Charles Barker. Fimmel’s character relies on his wits to navigate a high-pressure environment, browbeaten by Barker and resisting attempts by Internal Affairs to force him to spy on his mentor.[3] Production ceased after 13 episodes due to Swayze’s death from pancreatic cancer”.[22]
He then played fugitive Mason Boyle in two episodes of NBC's 2010 action-adventure Chase (season 1, episodes 1 and 8), produced by Emmy Award winning Jerry Bruckheimer.[23][24] Fimmel depicted a dangerous man on the run after a murderous rampage, tracked down by a team of US marshals who later try to enlist his help in nabbing a serial killer.[25]
Fimmel will appear in FX’s TV pilot Outlaw Country in 2011 with Luke Grimes (from ABC drama Brothers and Sisters), described as a “modern drama set against the back drop of a southern organized crime family”.[26] According to Variety magazine, he plays a rugged, “hard-drinking gang member and the main character’s best friend”.[26] He has also signed to co-star with Billy Bob Thornton and Eva Longoria (from Desperate Housewives) in the redneck Southern comedy flick The Baytown Disco. He plays one of the three hapless Oodie brothers who bites off more than he can chew when he agrees to help a woman get her son back from his deadbeat father.[27]
Entertainment media reported that Fimmel has been cast with Meg Ryan (from When Harry Met Sally) in Long Time Gone, the movie adaptation of April Stevens’ book, Angel Angel about a dysfunctional family trying to heal after a cheating husband leaves. To be filmed in LA and directed by Sarah Siegel-Magness, who co-produced Oscar-nominated Precious, Fimmel will play an intelligent, pot-dealing Grateful Dead fan. [28]
[edit] Personal life
The actor’s favorite recreational activities include Australian rules football (AFL), camping, surfing, riding motorbikes and going to the beach.[10][29][30]
Fimmel also played a celebrity cricket match in the 2009 Australia vs England Hollywood Ashes with fellow Australian actors Jesse Spencer (from House) and Cameron Daddo (from Models Inc.), plus celebrity chef Curtis Stone, INXS bass guitarist Garry Gary Beers and fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz.[12][31] England’s VIPs included Monty Python comedian Eric Idle and So You Think You Can Dance judge Nigel Lythgoe.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Feature Films
- 2008: Restraint
- 2008: Surfer, Dude
- 2010: Ivory
- 2010: The Experiment
- 2010: Needle
- 2010: Pure Country 2: The Gift
- 2011: Supremacy (short film)
- 2011: The Big Valley
- 2012: Long Time Gone[32]
[edit] TV Series
- 2003: Tarzan (titular character, 9 episodes)
- 2005: Rocky Point (1 episode)
- 2006: Southern Comfort (TV movie)
- 2009: The Beast (main character, 13 episodes)
- 2010: Chase (2 episodes)
- 2011: Outlaw Country (post production)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ People Magazine official website, [1], 3 November 2003
- ^ Kee, William K.C. Talents from Down Under The Star, 14 June 2010
- ^ a b SPE Networks-Asia, Sony Entertainment official website, [2], Retrieved 25 March 2011
- ^ Official Website [3] Retrieved 5 May 2011
- ^ a b Lee, Luaine 'The Beast's' Travis Fimmel is Happy Down on the Farm The Denver Post, 28 January 2009
- ^ Lewis, Felicity Model Hunter, The Age Melbourne Magazine, 29 February 2008
- ^ Hello magazine,[4], Retrieved 26 March 2011
- ^ Epaminondas, George, Naked in New York, The Age, 27 January 2002
- ^ a b c d e Internet Movie Database official website [5], Retrieved 25 March 2011
- ^ a b Tai, Elizabeth Partners in Crime Drama 10 May 2009
- ^ People Magazine, 24 June 2002
- ^ a b The Daily Telegraph Travis Fimmel Shows Off His Body at Hollywood Ashes 11 May 2009
- ^ The Age, With Stars In Their Eyes 21 August 2003
- ^ Hello Magazine, [6] Retrieved 25 March 2011
- ^ ShareTV official site, [7] Retrieved 8 April 2011
- ^ The Daily Telegraph Don’t Make Me A Supermodel Judge: Travis Fimmel 6 July 2008
- ^ Hello! Magazine Profile: Travis Fimmel Retrieved 9 May 2011
- ^ CNN, Five of the Hottest Things Happening in Entertainment Right Now 18 September 2003
- ^ IMDB trivia The Experiment Retrieved 6 May 2011
- ^ Sony Lockdown on 'Experiment' The Hollywood Reporter, 4 August 2009
- ^ Salem, Rob Watching, Waiting and Hoping for Swayze, 12 January 2009
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald Patrick Swayze Dead 15 September 2009
- ^ TV Guide [8] Retrieved 29 April 2011
- ^ Access Hollywood NBC Announces Jerry Bruckheimer’s ‘Chase’ for Fall Lineup 10 May 2010
- ^ David, Greg Killer Conversation: An Old Face From Annie’s Past Resurfaces on ‘Chase’ TV Guide, 16 November 2010
- ^ a b Kroll, Justin Travis Fimmel to Star in FX’s 'Outlaw Country', 9 September 2010
- ^ McClintock, Pamela Billy Bob Thornton Redneck Comedy 'Baytown Disco' Adds Three New Stars Hollywood Reporter, 28 April 2011
- ^ Sneider, Jeff Thesps Sign Up for Long Time Gone, Variety, 26 August 2011
- ^ Official Website
- ^ Ellis, James Travis Fimmel Metro UK, Retrieved 2 May 2011
- ^ Aussies Defeat England in Hollywood Ashes 2009 14 May 2009
- ^ "Thesps sign up for 'Long Time Gone' " August 26, 2011, Vareity
[edit] External links
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Michael T. Weiss |
Actors to portray Tarzan 2003 |
Succeeded by Josh Strickland |
