Eric Balfour
Interview By: J.P. Mangalindan
JPMangalindan@TheCinemaSource.com
Chances are you've seen him around: the olive-skinned complexion and brooding facade, that athletic physique. Whether you're a native Los Angelean cruising the Viper Room and catching his band play or you accidentally tune into his handsome mug during an episode of NBC's Conviction, Eric Balfour secretly believes ' and rightly so ' that inevitably, you'll know his name.
Just give it time.
Balfour's career started early: when he was 15, a talent scout cast him as a on the variety show Kids Incorporated; years later, you'd catch a glimpse of him on Six Feet Under as the drug-addicted boyfriend of Lauren Ambrose, the eccentric resident tech geek in 24 or screeching his way through a graphic remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The 28-year-old actor's trajectory has been slow and steady. Rather than meteoric success, Balfour's ascent to fame has been a much more slow simmer, than a boil; his career choices indicate he understands an age-old lesson in Hollywood: slow and steady wins the race.
It's a shrewd choice for Balfour, who considers himself a dramatic actor. Contrary to his mom's less-than-subtle suggestions ("Why don't you do a movie like Cheaper by the Dozen'!"), the odds of viewers seeing him in a frothy romantic comedy or equally trivial vehicle, are slim-to-none. It's a shrewd move on his part, because just speaking to him, understanding his passion for acting, you instantly recognize this guy isn't so much in it for the fame as he is for his craft. His latest project is one he brags about. Currently, he plays assistant district attorney Brian Pelluso in Conviction, the latest drama from Law & Order maestro Dick Wolf airing Friday nights. In many ways, it's the highest profile project of Balfour's career yet, which is probably why he's more than a little anxious about its success.
"I didn't realize it would be so nerve-wracking at first, because it's harder being a part of something I really love," he comments thoughtfully. "I really wanted to find a series I could be a part of. I liked the long arc of being on a television show, doing something that's really great and so every year, I'd go through something and I'd read these scripts that would be great ' oh, this will be really interesting... The best example, last year, I read this script called Sex Club and Secrets and it was smart and edgy and took place in the Silver Lake, and it was funky cool. Then, all of a sudden, we start shooting and they're talking and using words like Melrose Place and I'm going, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa.' I was thinking of a little Indie, then we have these references to Melrose Place. I thought, 'But it's so smart. Why are you going to ruin it''
With Conviction, however, things were different. There's little guesswork with what to expect from Wolf, whose various Law & Order shows ' Trial By Jury aside ' have changed the public's perception of courtroom drama imperceptibly, yet permanently. What it means for its stars, aside from steady, long-term work, is something more: serious characters and serious acting, only with Conviction, there's a twist in the tried-and-true formula.
"You get that same Law & Order sense in that there's a case ' there's an open and close ' but it's less so about the actual case and much more about our lives. So as an actor, you get to do this great courtroom stuff. You think of Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men or Denzel Washington in Philadelphia. Getting to be a part of that lineage, especially in the Dick Wolf camp, is the best of both worlds because you're not locked in the procedural stuff every week. I have this, huge storyline with me and my ex-girlfriend and there's also this thing between me and Julianne Nicholson's character, who have sexual overtones to our friendship. I think it caught people in a really good way. It's never over the top. It's never out of the realm of possibility."
Viewers have cottoned to the larger human interest aspect in Conviction and the ratings are beginning to reflect this. While Balfour admits the series premiere wasn't exactly overwhelming, Conviction did strongly enough. Slight ratings dip was expected, but Conviction proved its mettle on St. Patrick's Day with its third episode.
"The third week came and we're like, 'we're fucked': there's the NCAA tournament on CBS; it's St. Patrick's-fucking-Day and all they [the network] want is the 18-49 demographic. That's all they care about! But the 18-49 demographic is going out on St. Patrick's Day, getting drunk, and watching the NCAA tournament, all at the same time. And NBC's going to us, 'No, it's OK. We know it might take a little hit this week. It's OK. We understand that.' We're going, uh huh, sure. And Saturday morning, my manager calls me and he's like, 'So listen, let's talk about that other thing.' And I don't want to listen. I'm just afraid to know. And we go up. We went up on the ratings!"
Balfour practically gushes at this last bit, proud of this latest success ' and he's not alone. Apparently, his mother couldn't be prouder.
"My mother is my biggest fan, but she's so weird sometimes!" he says with a chuckle. "She would drive me nuts. ... I'll be in the middle of shooting and she'll be like, 'Listen, I need you to come home this weekend, but I need you to come home on Thursday. I'm like, 'I'm shooting mom.' She's like, 'OK. Just ask Dick.' I'm like, 'Ask Dick'' 'Just ask Dick so you can get the day off,' she says. 'I need you to come to this luncheon thing.' But it doesn't work that way, I tell her. I can't do that! 'Why not'' I need you to come home. Do you want me to call him'' I'm like, 'No. you can't call Dick Wolf!'"
The combination of the strong down-earth base that his family obviously provides, his innate talent, sultry sexy good looks and his ability to wait for the right projects almost guarantees that Balfour is only at the beginning of a very long, very successful career. And like all of you out there, we can't wait to see what he does next!
