Life on the Ridge: Five Questions for Dylan Bruno

Life on the Ridge: Five Questions for Dylan Bruno


Dylan Bruno is everywhere. Not only is he a versatile actor known for playing a wide array of characters, his most ubiquitous role to date is that of the voice of Chevy. If you watch any TV at any time, chances are you've heard his distinctly raspy voice telling you about low 1.9% financing. For well-qualified lessees, this message is particularly soothing.  
 
What you may not know is this devoted husband and father of two is much more than an actor and masterful voiceover-ist. He's also an entrepreneur, environmentalist and ridiculous athlete. When we hang out with Dylan, it's almost always during some crazy outdoor adventure involving water, snow, the woods or fire - or all of the above.  
    
We're still in utter shock and disbelief we were able to pin him down long enough to answer some questions for us, but we did. Behold, the first in a series of interviews for a feature we call, "Life on the Ridge: 5 Questions" – a platform to highlight outdoor enthusiasts and make the rest of us feel like total lazy bums. Enjoy!  

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1. RM: Throughout your career, you've played a many roles including an FBI agent, a deadbeat dad, a solider and most recently a total scumbag on the Netflix series, Narcos. What has been yourCopyright Netflix favorite character to play and why? DB: I honestly have never played a character that hasn't been a favorite for one reason or another, and I don't know if that is luck of the draw, or simply a mindset that an actor has to carry into his work. I guess when I accept a role, and I begin preparing for it, I find something about it that excites me and makes it feel like a favorite. One role might be a favorite because it is complex and emotionally compelling and therefore a daunting challenge to rise to... and another might be a favorite because it is simple and I feel utterly confident in playing it. Some roles become favorites because of the experience playing it lends. The Barry Seal role in Narcos for instance was small, but he was a critical component in the case against (Pablo) Escobar. Learning the history of the US involvement in Colombia through preparing for that role made that one a recent favorite. Plus, it was probably my favorite character name, "McPickle!” 

   

2. RM: Many people don’t know this but you have a degree in Environmental Engineering from MIT. If you weren’t acting, what do you think you’d be doing? DB: I think that is actually less of a hypothetical than your question implies... I am currently working on my second tech startup company. We are a group of engineers and business development guys who met in my last tech company and we are developing a wireless monitoring system for large industrial steam heating systems. It is a weird niche, but we saw that there was a problem there, and we developed a solution that recovers between 20 and 40% of lost energy in the system. It is a pretty compelling product because much of it is paid for by government incentives and the payback period is often less than a year. So in between acting gigs, I am pretty involved with that. 

   

3. RM: What do you like to do for fun? DB: In my free time I am a surfer, skier and spearfisherman. I love the ocean, so as much as I can be in it, the happier I am. I began freediving to explore the kelp forest in front of my house, and quickly transitioned into spearfishing. I love that I can live in Los Angeles and provide healthy, wild caught fish for my family to eat. My kids are now getting old enough that they are starting to dive with me, which is awesome. They are also developing into great little skiers, and that is something that we can do together as a family. We have a place near Mammoth Mountain and get up there as often as possible.

   

4. RM: You’ve been involved with several environmental organizations for some time now. Can you tell us a little more? DB: I've been active in helping raise money for different environmental charities, and have been doing a charity ski race for Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s Waterkeeper Alliance for almost 10 years. Through the course of the 10 years, my wife Emmeli and I have become more involved. We are now on the board and try to do as much as we can to evangelize their mission. They are a large group of activists and lawyers in over 250 countries that patrol and protect clean water, and bring suits to stop polluters of public watersheds. Because of my love of the ocean, it is a cause that is very intimate to me.

   

5. RM: What’s next? DB: As far as what's next, part of the actor's life is never really knowing. I am actively looking for my next acting role and have no idea what may be around the corner. I also developed a reality show and sold it to a network, and we just finished shooting our pilot. So I am waiting to hear whether we get picked up for series or not. I never imagined I would do a reality series, but it kind of made sense. It is with a high school friend of mine, Bun Lai, an amazing chef. He's become very well known as one of the leading experts on invasive species and how to cook them to make them delicious and healthy. The World Health Organization puts invasive species as a top five global problem because of their impact on local environments and ecosystems. In this show, we travel the world hunting for invasive species, cook them and serve them to local people in an effort to change mindsets so people will consider eating them as a means of reducing their populations. It is an important mission, and we have had great experiences with it so far. 

 

Follow the adventures of Dylan on Twitter @DylanBruno12

 
 
Have an awesome outdoor enthusiast you'd like to see featured on our Blog? Drop us an email with the subject "Five questions" and let us know.

1 comment

  • Sorina Opris on

    This is very interesting and honest – that’s why I’m a huge fan of Dylan Bruno, and not only because his acting is great! I love his passion for environmental causes and his amazing sense of humor. I’d have liked it to be a video interview, or at least an audio one. Anyway, I learned new things about my favorite actor so, thank you, Ridge Merino for this great article!

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