Profile of actor Paul Fahrenkopf
Profile of actor Paul Fahrenkopf
Profile of actor Paul Fahrenkopf
When thinking of the best city for launching an acting career, spots such as New York City, Los Angeles or Hollywood likely spring to mind—not Alexandria, Virginia.
However, actor Paul Fahrenkopf—star of the Alexandria Film Festival’s jury award-winning film “Nothing To Do”—would beg to differ.
A 29-year resident of the Kingstowne area, Fahrenkopf has appeared in at least 100 films, TV shows and commercials, all while maintaining a career working for the local U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Fahrenkopf says the acting bug first bit him as a child, growing up in the community theater scene near home in the New York/New Jersey area, but he admits he somewhat “chickened out” from giving it his all earlier in life.
Though he entered D.C.’s American University as an acting major, he had a change of heart about halfway through the program.
“I read an article in The New York Times that said something like only one out of every 150 actors are working at any one time. ... I started to think, 'Well, maybe I want to have a career and start a family instead.'”
Determined to stay in the industry, he decided to get a degree in TV production instead, at a time when TV was flourishing and networks like HBO and MTV were making a big splash. Eventually, though, he decided upon law school in Miami, and gave up his dream of acting for several years.
“In retrospect, though, I often think maybe I should have stuck with it, because some of my acting classmates did pretty well for themselves,” he says, recalling one who went on to work for the David Letterman show, and another who became the vice president of comedy at HBO.
Law degree in hand, Fahrenkopf landed a job with the federal government here in the D.C. area, settling into Kingstowne just as the neighborhood was forming.
Though acting was one of the furthest things from his mind at that point, he did still entertain his love of watching ballet.
He was given the opportunity to act as a non-dancing extra for the American Ballet Company of New York whenever they came through town for shows at the Kennedy Center. Fahrenkopf said a conversation with a fellow background actor one night had a big impact on him.
As the man was trying to encourage him to get back out there and go to some auditions, Fahrenkopf admitted that he thought his time had passed.
“’I’m too old now, it’s too late for me,’ I told him,” Fahrenkopf recalls. “But he said, ‘No—it’s never too late. They need people of all ages, all colors, all sizes,’ he told me.”
His new friend gave him the contact information for some casting agents, and as they say, the rest is history.
From there, Fahrenkopf’s acting career began to blossom. It began with a lot of work as an extra, he said, even appearing in the background of such films as Disney’s "National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets," Dreamworks Pictures’ "Flags of Our Fathers" and Warner Bros. Films’ "Syriana."
On TV, he appeared in several TV shows that often shoot locally, such as the famous political sagas “House of Cards” with Netflix, and several for HBO such as “Veep,” “The Wire” and “The West Wing.”
Through jobs such as those, Fahrenkopf managed to break into the world of what he calls “reenactments,” or “true crime” shows.
“I starred as the killer on an episode of ‘America’s Most Wanted’ for Fox, which was great because it was a speaking role, which I’d really been wanting,” he said. Other opportunities for such speaking roles came from locally based networks like Discovery Channel and National Geographic.
The experiences led him to a realization—that although working in big-budget, major motion pictures as a background actor or extra was exciting, it still couldn’t beat having a more substantial and challenging speaking role, he explains.
“I really wanted to get into more speaking roles," he explains. "So, I started to realize that independent films are probably where I needed to be."
As he started to look into the world of independent films, Fahrenkopf found that opportunities were actually pretty plentiful in the D.C. area.
Official Trailer: Nothing To Do
'Nothing To Do'
As a member of the Actors Center in Washington, D.C., Fahrenkopf got another break when his profile was noticed by independent filmmaker Mike Kravinsky (of Arlington), who wrote and directed “Nothing To Do.”
To date, Fahrenkopf calls “Nothing To Do” one of his favorite projects, and is one of the biggest roles he has played in his career.
“I play the son to Philip Lawton’s character, who basically has been very ill, and he hasn’t told me or our sister about it,” he explains. “He’s a DJ in Philly, and one day he gets called to come to the hospital.”
Fahrenkopf’s character, Kenny, soon learns that his father has been ill for some time and this is only the latest in a long line of hospital stays. Kenny leaves his radio career behind and takes on a new role, as his father’s hospice caregiver.
“However, when his sister finds out, she flips out, thinking they haven’t done enough.”
A conflict that will be relatable to many ensues, as Kenny wants to honor his father’s wishes and let him die on his own terms, and his sister wants her father to fight with any treatments possible.
Fahrenkopf says his role in “Nothing To Do” was a new level of acting for him, as he appears in 102 of the film’s 105 total scenes.
“It was a really wonderful experience. And with my father having passed away a number of years ago, I was really able to relate to it on a personal level a lot,” Fahrenkopf says.
After doing so well at the Alexandria Film Festival, Fahrenkopf says the film is on its way to other festivals in locales like Durango, Colorado and Beaufort, South Carolina.
On a personal level, as one area of his life nears its end, Fahrenkopf says another feels like it is nearing a new beginning.
Now in his 60s, Fahrenkopf says he is close to retiring from his long-standing career with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, adding that he will be eternally grateful for the flexible nature of the job, which has allowed him to work around his acting schedule for so many years.
“The Patent and Trademark Office is actually the leader in the federal government for being able to work from home,” he explains, saying that as long as he gets his work done, he is able to work around his acting schedule of auditions and filming.
I’d really like to keep doing this, and do more of it when I retire,” he says.
Does that mean he sees himself finally moving to New York or Hollywood?
“No, I definitely want to stay in this area,” he says.
And, as he has learned, Alexandria is not a bad place to be for a working actor.
“There’s a good community around here, and people seem to be really supportive. Even if they’re your competition, they’re excited for you when you get a part, even if that means they didn’t get it,” he says. “And they’re helpful, if you have questions and they perhaps have more experience in a certain area. Like that guy from the ballet company who told me it wasn’t too late for me. It’s really nice.”
