Eddie really has gone on an intense journey of reckoning with himself and his trauma since we met him in season two.
Yeah, there’s an outdated idea of a “man” that I feel was pressed on a lot of men around my age. You know, growing up with the John Waynes, the alpha male individuals who showcase no emotion and are battle-hardened — never elaborating on the fact that we do need outlets and we do need a community of like-minded individuals around us to help understand what the hell is going on inside of our heads and our hearts. In truth, that actually makes us a lot stronger. There was an opportunity with this character to show that.
This show does get quite outlandish with its cases. Is it an interesting challenge to ground all of that absurdity?
Absolutely, because if you lean too far left or right, you’ll pull the audience out of what’s going on in that reality . . . Every character is going through their own obstacle in their personal life. They show up to work and they have to push that all to the side, but it’s still that little thing in the back of your head eating at you — and none of the other characters know, but the audience is in on it. It’s all of those textures that, I think, allow the audience to feel more connected to the character, rather than the absurdity.
Looking back on the whirlwind of Step Up and The Boy Next Door, what was it like handling stardom so young?
I always joke that I was handed the keys to the kingdom way too soon. I didn’t even know who I was, let alone what I was doing. I was just flying by the seat of my pants. Look, I came out to L.A. and nine months in, I booked Step Up [Revolution]. It’s the lead in this $33 million picture, and I’d never acted before, nor danced before. So, I was treading water the whole time [laughs], trying to make it seem like I’ve got it all under control . . . which was far from the case. The Boy Next Door — that kind of press, being thrown into the celebrity world that Jennifer Lopez lives in, I definitely wasn’t ready for that. It was a lot.
I always go back to one specific film that I wish I could redo. It’s a Richard Linklater film [Everybody Wants Some!!]. There was so much left on the table that I wasn’t able to show because of what was happening in my personal life. And again, going back to the idea of what a man “should be,” I didn’t let that out, I didn’t share that. I felt, if I do, I might lose the job. I don’t want to be the guy that’s always having issues. I want to get the job done. But there was so much that I could’ve done better. It kind of eats at me.
And yet, our weaknesses do tend to be inextricably tangled up with our strengths, and we do all have to fail first . . .
As you get older, you understand a little bit more the dichotomy of life. The act of balancing the imbalanced is what we’re really doing. That’s how you create movement in any direction. What I was doing, though, was just throwing my hands up and letting the wheel go in whatever direction rather than understanding I did have opportunity to turn it whichever way I wanted, had I just taken a moment to understand what I was given. But everything is a learning process. Luckily for me, I see myself doing this career for a very long time. I just read something about how some of the greatest individuals — whether it be Pablo Picasso or Michael Jordan — failed almost 90 per cent of the time. So, even if
I look back and say, “Ahh, that wasn’t what I feel could’ve been the best version of that character,” there’s so much to learn from it. It’s try, fail, learn, grow — and repeat.
9-1-1 airs Thursday, March 27 on Global & ABC
MEMORABLE ROLES:
A native of Abilene, Texas, Ryan Guzman got his start modelling for brands like Abercrombie & Fitch before scoring the lead in 2012’s Step Up Revolution, playing Miami flash-mob dancer Sean Asa (despite having no actual dance experience to speak of). In 2015, he steamed up the screen opposite Jennifer Lopez in erotic thriller The Boy Next Door, soon followed by a turn in director (and fellow Texan) Richard Linklater’s college dramedy Everybody Wants Some!!.
CURRENT GIG:
Since 2018, Guzman has played troubled war vet/single dad/L.A. fireman Eddie Diaz on Ryan Murphy’s delightfully bonkers first-responder drama 9-1-1.