Nolan Funk is extremely down to earth. He playfully shrugs off any mention of his ever-growing female audience, and jokes that he refrains from paying attention to all that external noise. “I never really spent too much time thinking about what it means, all of this,” he tells us. “I just feel really grateful.”
Sincerity and a dedicated work ethic has gotten the actor far in just about everything that he’s tackled throughout his career. Prior to his breakthrough role of portraying Nikko Alexander in Nickelodeon’s TV movie Spectacular!, the Canadian native competed as a national gymnast and diver. It was in those days that Funk learned what it meant to climb out of his comfort zone and express himself in front of an audience. “I was an athlete first so that in itself was kind of a performance,” he explains. From there, his career took off, landing him the recurring role of Hunter Clarington on Glee, Collin Jennings in Awkward, and Luna, alongside Vin Diesel, in the Sci-Fi thriller, Riddick.
Funk, who jokes that his audience often sees him as “the villain,” is currently in the midst of promoting his latest cinematic endeavor, a coming-of-age adventure drama titled Wildlike where he stars opposite Ella Purnell.
He says that the role is one he hopes that fans pay extra close attention to as it pushed him out of his typical on-screen bad boy antics. “There is a sensitivity to Tommy,” says Funk. “I feel like I haven’t been able to play that yet. Being able to show a softer side is exciting for me because I don’t think people think of me in that way.”
