Theo Rossi is known for his great character acting work on hit projects like Sons of Anarchy and Emily the Criminal, but when it comes to embodying his captivating characters, the man from Staten Island, New York City, relishes the chance to switch-up his physique in order to add authenticity to his work. Now living on a ranch in Austin, Texas, Rossi sat down with M&F to talk about his evolving relationship with food and exercise, and the processes involved with both losing and gaining weight for his art.
Playing an obsessive Kevin Hart fan in the 2021 series, True Story, Rossi, who is 5’ 11”, dropped a significant amount of fat and weighed in at 140 pounds before shooting began. Deciding on the type of shadow that he wants to cut for a role is all part of the process, he says. So, for his role as Dr Julian Rush in the highly anticipated The Penguin, miniseries, Rossi went to another extreme by packing on pounds of muscle.
“Every character I play, I have to figure out where they’re at health wise,” he explains. “So, If I’m playing a blue-collar type guy, what is he eating? How’s he eating? By the way: if he’s working a certain amount of hours, how long does he have to work out? Because it all has to be realistic to the character.” The actor asked those same questions of Julian Rush. “This is a guy who has a lot of money,” he shares. “He’s a psychiatrist/psychologist, he’s obsessive, he does workout, he’s very healthy in the way he takes care of himself.”
His next movie, Come with Me, will see Rossi bulking up further in order to portray a character that is obsessed with working out. “I don’t usually workout with weights, I usually do body (weight) stuff, and I run,” he explains. “I’m a 7 day a week runner, I run 5-8 miles a day usually averaging about ten kilometers a day and it’s for my mental health as well as my physical health.“
But, while Rossi runs at an impressive 8-minute pace per mile, he understands the need to curtail his steps in order to keep the weight on. “I’ve had to cut down on the running and hit more weights for this one, to put on more muscle,” he shares.
When between projects, Rossi tries to stay within a medium weight range that will allow him to lose or gain weight as required by the script. While the actor appears to have a long and lean ectomorph body shape that could make it hard to gain muscle, the star says that this has not been his personal experience.
“When I was doing Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014), I existed much heavier,” shares the star. “I think it was season 3 where I was upwards of 213 pounds. It was kind of when CrossFit became a big thing and I was doing that, I was living in LA. It wasn’t until between seasons 3 and 4 that I adopted running and a lot more cardio, and running is specific because for me and my body type, I’m burning like 110 to 120 calories for every mile I run.”
Rossi says that he enjoyed throwing the weights around as a kid but only recently took it back up again and is finding that since he’s providing his body with an unfamiliar stimulus, he is growing quickly. The actor adds that for Come with Me, he’s been working out up to twice a day. “When I adopt the weights, when I’m doing multiple push ups, pullups, burpees, full body exercises, the muscle seems to come on easier.”
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Theo Rossi likes to know where his protein is coming from
Of course, whether he’s dropping fat or becoming more muscular, Rossi has also been on a journey with food and nutrition, “because you want to add the muscle, and not the bulk,” he explains, observing that how a physique might look on camera is totally different to how it may appear in the real world. Rossi notes that a gaunt figure that might look seriously sickly in person might just look “really thin” on screen. This means that more significant work is required in order to make a physique really register on the lens.
Rossi became a vegan in 1997 but after buying a ranch in Austin, TX, he found himself able to eat eggs because he knew exactly where they had come from, and how his animals are treated.
“I see the way, the mass production of the way that food is made to serve the population and I didn’t want to participate in that,” he explains. Rossi is reassured by the fact that he has a reciprocal relationship with his chickens, but says that he can’t bring himself to eat them. “I have a real distrust of the mercury levels in fish,” he says, noting that he’d have to catch them himself to feel OK with eating from the sea. “Unless it was me, out in the ocean,” he concludes.
A small amount of animal protein may help Theo Rossi
Still, after a health check and some detailed blood tests , Rossi was recently advised to eat animal protein. In an almost can’t win situation, the actor had to accept that his vegan diet had its issues too, noting that many plant-based products are overly processed and have their own drawbacks to consider.
“My first and foremost job, as a father to two boys 7 and 9, is my health,” he explains. “That’s the most important thing.”
Rossi says that everyone is different, but he understood the necessity to follow his doctors advice for his own health. The talented actor also says that he has other rancher friends who grass feed and butcher their meat.
“So, I introduced a small amount of bison into my diet,” he shares, noting that this allows him to know exactly where his protein is coming from. Rossi says that going back to traditional farming methods is also better for the environment because if he so desires, he can buy a full or half cow and eat from the same animal, reducing his carbon footprint. “As long as I know where, and how it’s being done, I can do it,” he notes.
Theo Rossi is not exclusively empathetic to animals and is known for giving up significant portions of his time as an ambassador to the Boot Campaign, supporting veterans and their families.
Fortunately, the good intentions that Theo Rossi puts out into the world around him is bringing hium good karma as of late. Having now voiced or acted roles in the Star Wars (in Tales of the Jedi) , Marvel (in Luke Cage) and DC (in The Penguin) universes, Rossi is living out the same childhood dream of millions around the globe. “It’s the only reason I take the jobs,” he jokes of fulfilling a fantasy. “I’m just checking the boxes. I think next, I need to jump into the Smurf’s franchise and then maybe some type of Flintstone, or He-Man, and then I’m good.”
The Penguin miniseries streams on HBO from September 19, 2024, Follow Theo Rossi on Instagram
