Actor Eric Ladin chatted about his experiences in “Ozark” on Netflix and the movie “Where the Crawdads Sing.”
Ladin is a streaming and cable TV commodity. He transitioned from the final season of Netflix’s “Ozark” as celebrity chef Kerry Stone into Sony’s anticipated feature “Where the Crawdads Sing,” available on July 15, which is based on the New York Times best-selling novel.
‘Ozark on Netflix’
On being a part of “Ozark,” Ladin said, “‘Ozark’ was incredible. First of all, I am a fan of the show so when the opportunity came, I jumped all over it. I’ve read for the show a few times so I was thrilled with the opportunity to be a part of it, especially since this was the last season. It was so great, and it was a pleasure to be a part of it.”
“If you haven’t finished ‘Ozark,’ you need to finish it immediately. I think they really did a great job wrapping it up,” he said.
‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ film
Ladin opened up about being a part of the forthcoming film “Where the Crawdads Sing.” “I was thrilled to do the project even though it was challenging,” he admitted. “Before it was a movie, it was a book, and I fell in love with the book when I read it several years ago. The role was as advertised. He could be looked at as the antagonist as he is trying to put our lead away for murder but he certainly has the right intentions. I had fun with it.”
“Go read the book, you have about six weeks before the movie comes out. The film is going to be really fantastic. I am excited for people to see it and I’m excited for people to see it in the theater,” he foreshadowed.
His breakout role in HBO’s “Generation Kill” mini-series lead to memorable arcs on the likes of AMC’s “Mad Men,” HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and “Big Love,” Amazon’s “Bosch,” and AppleTV+’s “For All Man Kind” which he has juggled amongst series regular roles on HBO’s “The Brink” with Tim Robbins and Jack Black, History Channel’s “Six,” Disney+’s “The Right Stuff,” and perhaps most notably the antagonist in AMC’s “The Killing.”
“The Killing” was a crime drama in which everyone was a suspect and in the end, he was revealed as the killer. “This show really helped cement AMC at the time. ‘The Killing’ was one of the first and one of my favorite jobs I’ve worked on. I worked with an incredible writing staff and Veena Sud was phenomenal. Patty Jenkins did a great job directing it.”
The digital age
On being an actor in the digital age, Ladin said, “The digital age is a necessary evil for me. It can be extremely overwhelming, especially with social media. It is important to have a big digital presence, but at the same time, that can have its challenges, especially for a person that wants to be private in their day-to-day life.”
“The digital age is not going anywhere and it is going to become more and more prevalent,” he added.
In addition to his role as Navy Seal James Case in Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” with Bradley Cooper, Ladin’s feature film credits include Detective Clarkin both of New Line’s horror hits “Annabelle” and “Wolves at the Door,” which was based on the Manson Family murders.
Behind the microphone, Ladin has lent his voice to a variety of roles in hit video games including leads in the very popular “Call of the Duty,” “Infamous 2,” and “Left 4 Dead 2.” He also narrated the History Channel’s “Mud Cats” and has voiced characters in many cartoons such as “Fish Hooks,” “Pickle and Peanut” and “Avengers Assemble.”
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Ladin responded, “Fatherhood.”
Ladin was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and moved to Los Angeles to study theatre at The University of Southern California where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. He currently resides in Southern California with his wife and two sons (a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old boy). “I am trying to shape them into fine young men hopefully,” he said.
For young and aspiring actors, he said jokingly, “Run.” “Make sure that you can find your discipline. As an artist and as an actor, nobody is going to make you work on your craft each day so that is something that you have to do for yourself. That’s why you need to be very passionate about it,” he said.
Success
Ladin defined success as “consistency.” “Success is not about how much you make but its consistently working and even more importantly, being happy with the world that you are doing. This industry is incredibly difficult so if you are not creatively fulfilled with the work that you are doing, then I wouldn’t look at it as a successful career,” he said.
To learn more about actor Eric Ladin, follow him on Instagram and check out his IMDb page.
