There’s a bit of a link between the male modelling industry and the world of acting. While you’re not doing the same thing, there are a lot of similarities between the two professions, and a lot of the skills are shared.
Being comfortable (or being able to look comfortable in front the camera) is a vital skill whether you’re working in the male modelling industry or as an actor. If you look awkward and nervous, your career will be going nowhere fast.
Lots of the best male actors about today started out their working lives in the modelling world. It’s a great place to start, and can easy you into the cult of celebrity slightly more easily than acting does. There’s only a very few models who you’re likely to know by name (unless you’re a big fan of fashion, or in the industry yourself), but you can probably name hundreds of actors, and probably know a fair bit about their personal life as well.
If you’re thinking about trying to break into the world of acting, male modelling can be a great, and fairly natural place to start. With both careers being relatively unstable until you become more experienced and in demand, it can be a good idea to try your hand at a few different things. Unless you’re getting really steady work you might want a second job as well.
So who used to be in the male modelling game? It’s not quite a case of you name them, they did it, but to be honest it’s not all that far off either. Without further ado, we’d like to present some actors who you probably didn’t know used to be models.
1. Ian Somerhalder
You may know him from: Lost
Ian Somerhalder played Boone in the long running series, as well as Damon in The Vampire Diaries. Just one look at the man’s cheek bones and we should have known that he was a Versace model in his teenage years. In his acting roles he seems to get all the pretty girls, and when he was a model he got to travel the globe. Not bad for a day job!
2. Josh Holloway
You may know him from: Lost as well
Attractive bunch that Lost crowd! After dropping out of university, Holloway turned to acting for a bit. Picking up work with Dolce & Gabbana and Donna Karen, Josh eventually got an on screen break and it all went from there. His acting and modelling careers overlapped somewhat, and he became the face of Davidoff’s Cool Water whilst still appearing on the hit TV series.
3. Channing Tatum
You may know him from: 21 Jump Street, Magic Mike
Modelling isn’t Channing Tatum’s most notorious former career, but it’s certainly put him in good stead for his later acting. Tatum is one of those chaps who worked as a few different things before finally settling on a career, and it’s not at all unusual to do so. If you’re not sure what you want to do, there’s nothing wrong with trying out a few options.
4. James Marsden
You may know him from: Anchorman 2
The best thing to describe James Marsden’s modelling career is this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLMiaSi4jsI. We thank you Ellen DeGeneres and your phenomenal research team.
5. Alex Pettyfer
You may know him from: Magic Mike, I Am Number Four
Before young Alex was tearing up a storm in action movies such as Stormbreaker, he worked as a child model for Ralph Lauren as well as a face of Burberry. Busy, busy Alex.
6 and 7. Pretty much all the Supermen
Tom Welling (Smallville’s Clark) used to be a model and Brandon Routh (one of our newer Supermen from 2006’s Superman Returns) was both a model and a bartender in a former life. I suppose it makes sense; Superman is an attractive alien chap so he should probably be played by some of the most attractive male modelling chaps around.
