High Plains to Hollywood
West Texans pave many roads, sometimes all the way to Hollywood: Mitchell Hurwitz (Arrested Development, The Ellen Show), Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams), Ron Ely (Tarzan)... and now Andy Fernuik.
LOS ANGELES, CA - May 6, 2016: “Not long after production, I learned they were going to cut the part just days before my audition,” confesses Andy Fernuik, who plays Thaniel in Rob Reiner’s Being Charlie. “Apparently they didn’t expect to find anyone who could pull off the character.” Being Charlie hits box offices nationwide today.
Fernuik’s character is a wash-up British indie rocker with musical distaste for economic politics who ends up in rehab with Charlie Mills, played by Nick Robinson (Jurassic World). “Everyone thought I was from the South Coast, UK—even the great London-born actor Cary Elwes! No one believed I was born and bred in the West-Texas Panhandle,” recalls Fernuik.
In fact, few ever believe the actor, filmmaker, singer/songwriter, author, model was born in Amarillo and raised in Pampa. In March, Fernuik emceed Carnevale Long Beach at Aquarium of the Pacific. Dot Cannon of Two Maverix Multimedia acclaimed Fernuik’s “resonant tenor, wide musical range, and passionate performance... with a Neapolitan dialect so believable that his Texan background came as a surprise!” Fernuik admits, “Answering where I’m from is like insisting the sky is orange.” He is often cast for his uncanny Commonwealth dialects, fluency in Italian, native-like European accents, mellifluous singing voice, and experience in professional alpine skiing.
Only weeks ago, Fernuik was invited to a callback audition by legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. “It was a stand-alone dream-come-true when he sang along with me in Italian. I learned from him that his father wrote Neapolitan folksong and even wrote a song about Amarillo. Maestro Coppola told me about driving through Amarillo with his father and then sang a few phrases of the song!” Fernuik says he cherished most these personal, behind-the-scenes ties he shares with his colleagues both great and small.
Andy Fernuik has worked alongside world-renowned filmmakers such as Rob Reiner, Andrew Douglas, Greg Nicotero, Michael Winnick, Kevin Sorbo, Katie Holmes, Daniel Petrie, Jr., and has appeared in numerous international campaigns for brands such as Corbis Images (a Bill Gates co.), Otterbox, Franklin Covey, Chobani, Samsung, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Exxon Mobil to name just a few.
Last week, Andy Fernuik released his breakthrough short film on current gender polemic One God One Gender, available at https://youtu.be/mKWs5jeMTyE. In June, Fernuik is scheduled to perform for worldwide live web-cast of the 2016 Community of Christ World Conference. His EP There’s an Old, Old Path (Live) and his published memoirs Dear Mr. Stephens: Letters of Love and of Hope (200 pp.) are available at andyfernuik.com. For more information, please contact Andy through the contact page on this site.
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