"Vampire Diaries" actor Michael Trevino stopped by to do an exclusive photo shoot and interview with us at Breakoutmagazine.com. Michael plays series regular "Tyler Lockwood" the mayor's son, on the hit CW television show which has already been picked up for a second season. There's a strong fascination with Vampires in the last few years. We've had Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, & True Blood that have all had enormous success. I asked him what he attributes this to. "I think Vampires in general, for both males and females, are just sexy", Michael says. "There's something really dark about it , so people are intrigued and turned on". Michael's character is not a vampire but he definitely has a super power that has been on a slow burn for most of season 1, but the little hints that the writers are throwing at us in regards to Tylers development, has us anticipating season 2.
"It's frustrating", (waiting for his storyline to develop) Michael says. "You have to be patient, but then you understand that we have huge ensemble cast, we have to tell a story. There's a lot that's gonna happen in Season 2, there's a lot of surprises coming up, there's gonna be a lot more Tyler Lockwood coming around". In the Season 1 finale, Tyler is affected by the same device that was meant to weed out the vampires in the town and in doing so, we get a glimpse of what's to come for Tyler.
Michael arrived at our downtown Los Angeles studio for his photo shoot looking like he just stepped off the set of "Vampire Diaries". A well mannered, charming individual with a huge smile and if I was a betting man, "a mischievous side as well". He's definitely a guys guy, who women would love to date and guys would love to just hang out with and grab a beer. Below are excerpts from our conversation.
In playing the role of Tyler Lockwood, what have you learned about yourself? Ar
e you using parts of any experience that you've gone through?
Well I can't say that I've ever hooked up with anyone of my best friends mothers, like Tyler did.
Damn! I was hoping for an exclusive...BUT would you?
(laughs) No! No!
What if she was like, really Hot?
(big smile) Ahh, you just can't do that.
What if she was like Kelly Hu, hot?
(stops! and his eyes get big) Aw man! alright, I might. How close are you with the boy? Are you really homies or are you just acquaintances? (pauses) uh!.wait...what were we talking about?
What have you found in yourself and if there's any experiences.
You know I play a lot of evil characters, I play a lot of bullies which I don't get cause I used to get picked on a lot in high school.
REALLY
Yea, maybe it's my inner rage, but I'm always playing these boy next door characters that are really evil and have this dark past or something. So for me to be honest, it's very easy to tap into Tyler and it's also fun! It's always fun to be the really evil villian guy, always startin fights.
Now you say you were bullied in school? You're not to far out of school, were you a lot skinnier there, or shorter?
No, it was wierd, like...I was the jock, I played football all four years of high school but, for some reason I always got picked on. I don't know what it was man, maybe I was yapping my mouth too much or maybe people were threatned, I don't know what it is.
So how does a kid like you grow up to wanna be an actor, what was your first taste of getting into this business?
I did this commercial for Old Navy, that got me my SAG(Screen Actors Guild) card. If you've ever seen, during the winter time, those Old Navy performance fleece commercials. It was only in the winter time, everybody's dancing. I booked that first, but it was only for the spanish market, so no one ever saw it...mainly all my friends, no one ever saw it cause I never told them.
Michael decided that after a 1 year stint at a Junior college, he was gonna take a year off and try the acting thing because he didn't want to look back and say to himself "What if?" "You always gotta try, cause if not, it's always gonna linger in the back of your head." Michael says. So he went to a store and bought a book called "How To Be a Working Actor". He studied that book and it worked.
Now, as I told you earlier, I scoured the internet trying to do my research on you.
Trying to dig up dirt!
Trying to dig up something, so that I can surprise you and be like...What about that! But I couldn't find anything! So I'm trying to let the fans know a little bit about you. So are you single, dating?
Single
Single? Is that the Hollywood answer "single?"
Whoah, what does that mean, the Hollywood answer?
You know, they like to make you appear single, so that they all come for you.
No, no, I'm single....and I'll leave it at that! (with a sligh grin on his face)
Ok, what type of girl is gonna tie you down.
Aw man...somebody who's got personality, somebody who's gonna roll with me, who's spontaneous, who can laugh at my jokes, who can also be strong, and not let me walk all over them. I need somebody to slap me around, that kind of turns me on!
Ha ha ha!!!
Not in a sexual way, but I'm just saying
Cause that's how it sounded lol!
I didn't mean it like that, A girl that can take care of herself, who's very independent.
Oh! so you want Beyonce, an independent woman.
After a brief talk about his hobby as a photographer, I asked Michael a more serious question about his biggest fear. At first he admitted he was terrified of spiders and cockroaches, but after really thinking about the question, he said his biggest fear was loosing his parents. "At this point in my life, where I'm at right now, my biggest fear would be losing one of them suddenly" he said. "I don't think I'ma be ready for that".
