Travis Kraft

Alum goes to Hollywood
Travis Kraft of EMU finds work as actor, model
By Chris Azzopardi / Entertainment Editor
MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2006

At first glance, Travis Kraft's chiseled body looks fierce. But under those rock-hard abs and thick, beefy legs he's a softie.

"I don't want to be a tough guy anymore; I'll just play one in the movies," says the model/actor who graduated from Eastern Michigan in 2003.

Armed with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications and film, Kraft, 26, left behind his five years in Ypsilanti, three of them in Pittman, for California. Although he made this decision in seventh grade, he was unprepared to adjust from small-city guy to Hollywood hopeful, even at 24.

"It was quite a transition going from Michigan to California," Kraft says. "It is a whole different culture."

The expensive and crowded Hollywood life isn't how Kraft pictured it.

"It's not the glamorous place most people think it is," he says. While he doesn't want to criticize EMU's film program, he doesn't believe any school could've prepared him for this.

"Unfortunately, I haven't been able to use too much of what I learned at EMU," he says. "I'm not trying to knock EMU or my teachers, but Hollywood is a different world and no film school can prepare you for the real world."

His suggestion to film majors is to move to L.A. and experience it first hand, enroll in top-notch acting classes and network with "important people."

Kraft's connections scored him roles in two Christian films and a horror flick called "Skeletons in the Closet." He'll also play a small role, alongside Pamela Anderson and Gary Busey, as a fighter in the martial arts-themed "No Rules," which doesn't have a release date as of yet.

As a child, Kraft admired macho action heroes who "came in and took care of business while delivering funny one-liners." Kraft shows off his ripped body, closely resembling those action figures, in fitness magazines and is currently in the Philippines doing several photo shoots, one for Asia's version of Cosmopolitan Magazine.

"That will be neat because it's such a widely circulated and mainstream magazine," he says. He's also currently on Asia's largest billboard for Rexona Deodorant and recently had a photo shoot for Jockey T-shirt billboards.

He's also been asked to pose for Playgirl but turned the opportunity down.

"I never gave it serious consideration," he says. "I don't want to horrify people."

With a budding modeling career, it's important for Kraft to keep his abs ripped and his arms and legs defined.

He lifts weights and jogs for about 45 minutes five days a week and he says, "It's pretty motivating to stay in shape when you make your living on how you look."

Still, it's not something he takes much pride in.

"I have never been and still am not particularly interested in modeling," he says. "It's just a profession to me."

For Kraft, staying in shape has always been part of the routine. He started wrestling at 9 years old and then retired from it after graduating from EMU because the sport became too physically demanding.

"I still have a lot of old injuries that bother me from time to time," he says. "These days I'm more of a lover than a fighter."