We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elias Toufexis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Elias thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Everyone has crazy stuff happen to them, but often small business owners and creatives, artists and others who are doing something off the beaten path are often hit with things (positive or negative) that are so out there, so unpredictable and unexpected. Can you share a crazy story from your journey?

When I was 21, I had graduated from theatre school in Montreal and I was working at a comic book store for about 5.50 an hour. I was doing a play I co-wrote at the Montreal Fringe Festival. I was broke, but it was a lot of fun. Someone saw the play and offered us a theatre Off Off Broadway in New York to do the play there. They wouldn’t pay us anything, but hey I’d get to do a play in Manhattan so of course I jumped at the opportunity.

So there I was, living in New York with no money, not making any money, but doing something I loved.
The romance didn’t last. After a few weeks of rehearsal, reality reared its ugly head. I was living in a basement apartment with no windows, sleeping on a mattress on the floor. The place was full of cockroaches and rats. Every dollar I did have went to rent and transportation. Food was the last thing I could afford.

The play went well enough, but it didn’t pay anything or expand any aspect of my career. The life of the starving artist started to really weigh on me. I became depressed, and gained a bunch of weight (even though I had no money. The only food I could afford was terrible for me). It was months and months of thinking that I had chosen the wrong career. Eventually, I ran out of money and patience and I moved back to Montreal. I had to move into my grandmother’s house.

Now we cut to a full twenty years later. I have worked extremely hard to build a career in the arts. Last year I found myself back in New York. This time I was shooting an episode of a TV show that I was the major guest star on. Coincidentally, we were shooting under a big billboard which was for another show that I had starred in. And as a further coincidence; we were shooting just down the road from the basement apartment I used to live in.

Here I am. Now making a good living as an actor. Shooting a major role on a major TV show, under a billboard for another TV show I star in, and all of this fewer than 50 yards away from the basement apartment I lived in with no money and a bunch of cockroaches. It was quite a moment.

If that’s not a “work hard and believe in your dreams” moment, I don’t know what is.

Elias, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I break my career into four categories.

– On-camera acting.
I have worked as a major character on shows like The Expanse, FBI Most Wanted, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, and my largest role as the antagonist L’ak in the final season of Star Trek Discovery.

– Voice-over and Performance Capture acting.
I am one of the busiest voice actors and performance capture actors in the world. Major characters on animated series like Netflix’s Blood Of Zeus or Adult Swim’s Blade Runner. Leading characters in games like Starfield, Deus Ex, Assassin’s Creed, Gotham Knights, Far Cry, Call Of Duty, Genshin Impact, and many many more. Forbes called me a “videogame acting heavyweight”. For my performance capture work in games and live-action, Variety called me “The Canadian Andy Serkis”

– Voice-over and Performance Capture directing.
I have been directing actors in video games and animation for years. Both in sound booths and on performance capture stages. AAA projects like Fallout 76, Forza Motorsports, Call Of Duty, Callisto Protocol, and Fortnite to only name a few. I work well with actors because of my own experience. I am definitely an “actor’s director”. Actors love working with me, and I get great performances out of them because of it.

– Animated Series Producer and writer.
While I am still under NDA for this specific project, it is a new and exciting venture for my career. I have recently co-written and sold an animated series to a Network. I am Co-Exec producing, writing, acting and voice directing. We are now in production.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

When the work is good, it touches people. There is nothing better as an actor than to have someone come up to me at a convention or on the street and tell me that a character I played or a project I’m in inspired them or moved them or helped them. No better feeling.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Most people don’t understand what it’s like being a working actor. If the reaction to the WGA and SAG strikes proves anything it’s that public perception of actors is that they are all rich and out of touch.

The truth is we work contract to contract and we fight for solid pay for each one. We have to make each paycheck last until the next one. Most actors have to live in a major city like New York or Los Angeles and the cost of living is monumental. So now we have the stretch one contract paycheck to the next in a city where our monthly bills are in the thousands. It’s not easy and I’ve been doing it for 15 years now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eliastoufexis.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realeliastoufexis/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elias.toufexis.1/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/eliastoufexis