In today’s world of fashion, especially when it comes to
runway, advertising and editorial, there seems to be this ageism that surely
comes off as being rather discriminatory and ill-conceived as well as
self-defeating. In the men’s area, apparently stylists, editors, photographers,
casting directors and even designers flaunt these cookie cutter boys, not men,
BOYS, as the ideal customer or image for so many coveted and ubiquitous prestige
brands. Someone needs to explain to me how a 20 something who looks like he
hasn’t had his first shave yet can afford $3,000 bomber jackets or $1500 shoes.
Granted, so much of the clothing is geared to these absurdly young fashion
victims but the schism between the reality and fiction broadens every season. Enter
Tim Christian! He is here to signal a change in the winds.
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Tim possesses this sort of “bucking the trend” rocker image that
might be the antidote to what ails the industry. He is youthful without looking
foolish, he is debonair, when called upon to be, in this sort of Delon Euro way
and he is slim enough to carry off almost any look. Those in the seats of power
need to take note and not summarily dismiss the possibility that they are
sending out the wrong message to well-heeled consumers who can easily afford
what they sell. Do you think that a hedgie, a CEO or any man past his 20s
relates to prepubescent looking muscle boys with bow legs and greasy hair?
Think about who can afford and who can only aspire. Tim is of indeterminate age
like somewhere between 35 and death whereas the stepford boys can’t be more
than 25 and it doesn’t take a genius to see it; marinate that in your mind for
a bit.
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So, I took it upon myself to speak to Tim Christian and
listen to what he has to tell us about today’s world of being a male model and
not being in the 18 to 25 age bracket. You’ll find it interesting that he has
something or maybe even a lot to say about being Tim Christian.
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Jeffrey Felner: Can
you tell us some history about you and how you got to this “destination?”
Tim Christian: The
trajectory of my professional life has been something of an odyssey. As a young
man I never developed any particular vocational aspirations; I always thought
there was plenty of time for that. One thing led to another, one career
(more-or-less) lead to another. I had a few chapters and then it stopped.
Planning, learning, volunteering, networking and two college degrees came up
short a couple years ago. I woke up one morning and thought, “there must be
something more about me, and less about the work.” Not that I didn’t want to
work, I’d worked since I was 16, through high school and then it stopped. A
rude sort of awakening to getting out there and making something OF myself. So
I did my homework about head shots, posted one on a casting website, and in 48
hours had been contacted by three theatrical/commercial agents in Los Angeles. Model
managers and agents in the EU, UK, USA and Latin America came calling very soon
thereafter. Eight professional relationships developed between September 2015
and June 2016.
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JF: What made you
focus on being a model and wanting to buck the current trend of the ubiquitous
cookie cutter boys?
TC: Acting is
incredibly tough and requires an abundance of skills and training, none of which
I had when I started. The way I LOOK is with me every day so it is a biological
accident, but one that makes me extraordinarily lucky. I can have LOTS of model
agents (and functionally only one theatrical agent); so the more people asked –
serious, professional people (I did my due diligence), the more opportunities I
had to build a team of experts who are on my side. Try to find that in the
“regular job” world!
As for breaking some mold well, that’s partly circumstances
and partly design. I look the way I look, mostly and one thing I know well is
that I can’t make it work if I look like someone else. Most of the guys my age,
and lots of young guys, have classic good looks. In cities like LA, truly beautiful faces (and
physiques) are running wild on the streets so I tried to find my own niche;
which includes a full head of long hair. I’m naturally lean so I take care to
eat well (no point in eating bad food), and to exercise (another story
entirely). I’ve never been tattooed or pierced, despite four years of college
in the Eighties! I’m not a trend because I’ve not marked myself in any way that
is permanent and at a typical casting, I’m the guy who can show SKIN, not ink. The
day I change that is the day I blend in!
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JF: If you could
invite any 5 people to dinner who would they be and why?
TC: I have always
adored creative people. My mother has long held the belief that I am a
frustrated artist in search of a medium. Perhaps my medium is me. She’s always the
first on my list because she knows me far better than I can ever hope to know
myself. And after two glasses of wine, she can chat with ANYONE. A close friend
is a scientist and an artist and he has a wonderfully creative mind which is
always full of questions and opinions that cannot be found in the proverbial
box. People who work with their hands inspire serious admiration especially
finish carpenters … maybe it’s biblical. I’ve worked with a guy here in LA who
builds decks, fences and gates. He used to be a chef. And he’s Italian. Good
with his hands . . . My oldest friend lives here in LA; we finished college a
year apart, and both migrated into civilization at about the same time. We’re
both married now, working and life gets busy and so I’d love to have him to
dinner more often. Finally, there’s someone on my family tree I would love to
meet, assuming all the rules of physics can be broken for an evening. The first
woman in my family known to have been born in California, around 1880, was a
Native American. She fell in love with a less than loyal Caucasian man, and got
pregnant. He could ill afford to marry a Native American, let alone support a mixed-race
child but she fought for herself and her child, and went down a rabbit hole in
the courts to prove his paternity. There were death threats, armed guards, a
Winchester rifle remains, this woman must have been somebody special and had she
failed I wouldn’t be here. I’m betting she’d be a fantastic dinner companion.
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JF: Do you have a
constant inspiration, inner voice or mentor that drives you to achieving your
goals and who or what might they be?
TC: Lots of folks
have said that if you’re going to be something, whatever it is, be the best.
Performing just because someone wants me to has never been my style and having
had all kinds of jobs in this life, I know the value of WORK. It’s more and
more at the center of life for most adults. Even if it isn’t curing cancer or
sending a rocket to the moon, most people really strive to be GOOD at what they
do. Slow days, crazy days, tedium, thrills . . . Whatever life throws at me, if
I’m gonna do it, my aim is to do it well. I have lots of dull days, slow days
and times when I’m not being asked to do a lot. So it’s all the more important,
when I’ve succeeded in beating out countless other guys (most of whom look or
sound just like me on camera) to be the absolute best I can be and not just
because it’s expected, but because there’s no other point to it at the end of
the day.
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JF: If you could
rewrite the path of your life, what would you change or wouldn’t change and
why?
TC: I’m
suspicious of “shoulda/coulda/woulda”. For me it’s too close to regret… or
shame. I don’t always know why things happen, but I’m pretty confident that things
happen for a reason. The smallest changes in the past would have had
unimaginable effects on my life today. I like my life today. I have goals, and
opportunities, and support and love and family and friends … none of which I’d
care to lose. Whatever might have been doesn’t really matter, because it’s not
real. This adventure I’m living is as real as it gets!
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*** Special thanks to
Dietmar Kohl, Mark Bruce, Joey Carman & Tate Tullier for their expert
lensing of Tim!
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