Beyond the Final Frontier: An Interview with Up and Coming Star Trek actor Antonio Elias

The opening sequence of box office hit “Star Trek” depicts a starship under attack; and if you look carefully among the crew springing into action, you’ll see the face of Officer Pitts at the helm, confident and deep in concentration. The young actor who plays him, Antonio Elias, laughs as he states “They did edit my character down. The whole opening sequence is much longer and I had much more dialogue.”

All the more reason to be excited for the Star Trek DVD’s release, in this writer’s opinion.

Antonio is one of the many up and coming actors in the newest version of the Star Trek franchise. Tackling such a huge cultural phenomenon since the 1960s is no easy feat for any actor, but as Antonio believes, “in order to make something fresh and new, you gotta go for the people who are more unknown… you don’t have to be a fan of Star Trek to understand and appreciate how much cultural weight it has. I mean, the first interracial kiss was on Star Trek. You know how special it’s going to be and what’s riding on it.”

Antonio was born in New Jersey and raised in Boca Raton, Florida. A natural born entertainer, he had a knack for memorizing lines from his favorite movies, like Indiana Jones, and acting them out in front of friends and family. “I was fascinated watching films. I remember being in the playground in school and directing the scene in the movie, telling them what to say and where to stand and what would happen,” he reminisces. It seems only natural that his mother soon enrolled him in theater camp; his first starring role was Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie, and Antonio has been acting since. “It was very natural, that this was what I wanted to do. I never had to ask.”

After doing years of community theater and several commercials, Antonio decided to move to Los Angeles, all on his own. Without friends and a job, he forced himself to go out every day and get familiar with his new settings, and soon booked several TV appearances on shows like In Justice, Ghost Whisperer, Vanished, and Private Practice. Through a casting director who recognized his talent from past television work, Antonio scored an audition for Star Trek, and subsequently won the role of Officer Pitts for his first feature film role. He prepared by watching all the original Star Trek films. “I think it just helps to understand the universe, the vocabulary,” he explained. “If I’m talking about the Klingon neutral zone, I know what I’m talking about.”

To prevent the leaking of any info about the film, Antonio filmed three days without dialogue before he received his script. “My last two and a half weeks of filming, I have my pages; I didn’t get the rest of the script… that experience was just phenomenal. Just being on that set. My first feature film,” said Antonio.

Helping to make the production even more amazing, according to Antonio, was director J.J. Abrams, executive producer of TV hits Felicity, Alias, and Lost. “Our first day filming, he walked in and introduced himself to everybody, shook everybody’s hand… he had such positive energy on set, it was like watching a kid in the playground. He was just having fun making a movie,” Antonio recalls. “This is a reboot of the franchise and he had a lot riding on his shoulders, and I’m sure he did feel the pressure, absolutely, but he didn’t show it on set.”

Having explored the final frontier, Antonio recently transitioned to the independent film world for his first leading role in “Spoken Word,” a film by Sundance Film Festival winner Victor Nunez. The film, due out in 2010, is about a San Francisco spoken word artist, Cruz, returning to New Mexico to visit his dying father, only to be sucked back into the dysfunction of drugs he left behind. Antonio plays Cruz’s brother, Ramon, a family man who is the example of what Cruz should be doing with his life. “I think there’s certain elements, as far as the family relationship goes, that I think some people can relate to–not really saying how you feel, feeling pride or shame or guilt for things you might’ve done in your family,” says Antonio, “and I think it can touch home with certain people. I think it’s a really nice, touching film. There’s complexities there, and that’s what really helped me learn as an actor.”

So what’s next for this rising star? “Right now I’m really looking forward to the release of ‘Spoken Word’. But just being able to live as a working actor and able to be doing good work that I’m proud of and people enjoy,” he answers. And if Hollywood was doing a production of Guys and Dolls or Jekyll and Hyde, watch out, because vocally trained Antonio would still be first in line for a role in the next Hollywood musical.

In addition to acting, Antonio is also an avid supporter of several breast cancer charities. “My mom is a two time breast cancer survivor; my grandmother died of it. So this hits close to home,” he says. To find out ways that you can help make a difference, StarShine readers can visit: http://ww5.komen.org/

With lots to look forward to from the promising young actor, we hope he stays where his debut film took him- to the stars.

To see more on Antonio, check out his IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2185557/