Ephraim Ellis – Life is a Beach

Q.  What are some of the recent projects that you’ve been working on?

A.  Interesting, well, I recently filmed a part in a film called Booky Makes Her Mark.  This was a feature film based on a fairly popular series of children’s novels.  It was a very fun film and it was set in the 1930s.  I got to wander around wearing a cool costume.  Before that “Falcon Beach” has been doing pretty well and I’m still in school as well.  I’ve been focused a lot on that these days.

Q.  For American viewers the show has just started airing.  What can you tell us about the premise and about your character?

A.  Well, the show “Falcon Beach” is a drama, if you’re talking about genres.  It’s a show set in a small town and it’s very much so about the relationships between the different characters.  There are some people from the city who come and disrupt the small town.  There is lots of drama and angst and fun stuff like that.  There is a lot of other cool stuff too.  There is a lot of wakeboarding action sequences and stuff like that.  The show is really fun and unique because it’s set in this really cool small town which has it’s own atmosphere.  It makes it very interesting!  The character I play is Danny Ellis who is the kind of romantic optimistic, idealistic guy.  He’s the happy-go-lucky counterpart to the big, tall blonde other male lead named Jason Tanner.  He’s the typical brooding type of guy and so my character is his best friend, a nice little counterpoint to his character. 

Q.  You had said in the past that Danny is a lot like you with his sarcasm and insecurities.  Do you feel the same still with the way he is in season two?

A.  That’s actually one of the things that makes the character so fun to play is the fact that he’s so similar to me.  The character is incredibly similar to me which is very, very fun to do.  It’s nice to get to discover things about yourself while playing a character as well.  Yeah, very much so.  In season two a lot of interesting things happen to the character which tests Danny’s optimism.  That’s one of the things that I find interesting about the character.  The arcs that he goes through, most of them are things that test the inherent joy, idealism and optimism that the character has.  It’s fun to see what pushes him to stop being so optimistic and see what it takes to pull him back.

Q.  What kind of changes in the show can we expect for season two?

A.  There will be your usual amount of incredible drama and there is a lot of big things that happened at the end of season one.  This will be continually resolved throughout season two.  Jason and Danny are very much good guys throughout the first season and the pilot.  They never let anything disrupt their moral fiber.  Jason and Danny get to be a bit badass in the second season a lot more.  They get to go to the dark side a little bit occasionally which is a nice, real fun change. The characters get to be played with a lot which is neat.

Q.  What originally made you want to be a part of the show?

A.  It’s a funny thing, as an actor you get these short scenes from the thing you’re going to be auditioning for before you go in.  I read the two parts that I had and one of the scenes was the karaoke scene from the pilot episode of the series.  I read that scene and I also listened to the music that was supposed to be playing in the background.  It was a karaoke scene and reading the scene I got a clear picture of what it was going to be about.  It was this wonderful speech where Danny opens up to Erin and tells her not to go.  It was one of those scenes which I could see people sitting on the edge of their seats saying, “Oh, yeah go Danny!”  It was one of those scenes that I really wanted to try and bring to life and it was one of those moments that I know as a viewer, I loved taking part in and watching.  So, it seemed like a really exciting project so I really wanted to be involved with and thankfully I did.

Q.  Do you have a most memorable moment from working on the show?

A.  Every day is incredibly member on the set of “Falcon Beach!”  One of the things I remember specially from the pilot that has continually effected me to this day, which I was just thinking to myself, right before I showed up I was hoping that the people I would get to work with and I’d get along with them.  If the series did get greenlit, then I’d have to work with them for a very long time.  I’m happy to say that I’ve made a ton of really good friends on the show and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to work with.  That’s something really special to find especially in series television.

Q.  What is it about the show that you think continues to grip viewers?

A.  I think what continues to grip viewers is the same thing that gripped me in the first scene that I read.  I always say that I find the major attraction to shows like this is the way that you get to know characters from week to week.  You want to find out what happens to these people, they become people that you care about.  You want to continue learning about them and seeing where their lives go.  It’s an exciting show, especially because the show has a unique setting.  Where the characters live is an incredibly beautiful and interesting place to set a series.  All of those things combined create a nice show that seems to be bringing people back every week, it’s quite nice for us.

Q.  What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

A.  We are currently filming in Winnipeg so usually there is at least one or two of the actors that aren’t working at the same time.  We kind of move as a flock.  There are a lot of us who are from out of town so we don’t really know much to do in the city.  We always hang out with each other.  When I’m by myself and there is no one else to hang out with I usually head to the downtown, there is a restaurant there that I really like.  So, I usually go around there and read a book and enjoy the scenery.  There are a bunch of pretty places in Winnipeg and there is a very old section of the town where the Jesse James film that’s coming out was shot.  There are lots of old buildings from that time period and sometimes I go there to wander around and check out the buildings. 

Q.  Do you have a latest obsession? Are you into any particular book, sport, music group or activity?

A.  I’ve been watching the first season of “Lost,” recently for the past couple of weeks.  I can’t stop watching the show, it’s absolutely incredible. 

Q.  What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A.  I would like to say thank you to everyone for watching the show and I hope that it continues to entertain you that it has been.  Because, it always brings me joy to know we’re doing a good job.  It’s nice to know that there are people out there that think that we do!