Antonio EliasMany actors dream of having a feature film debut in a major blockbuster hit, but very few actually get that chance. One of those few actors is Antonio Elias. The up-and-coming actor plays Officer Pitts in the upcoming “Star Trek” movie and when we spoke, the film was one day from its highly anticipated release.

“I can tell you a little bit, only cause like I’m sworn to secrecy,” Elias says in a joking but serious way. “Man like I’m paranoid there’s people outside you know Paramount, outside my house at every moment till the movie comes out.”

Elias has a supporting role in the film. “I play a character named Officer Pitts. He’s a Starfleet officer, aboard Federation starShip,” says the 26-year-old. “I can’t tell you which one. All I can tell you that in the sequence that I’m in the film, it’s a really really cool part of the film.”

He guarantees his contribution to the movie features “high tension” moments, “really cool” character revelations and as he puts it, “some really cool stuff is going down.”

But Elias never imagined these really cool things would happen to him in his very first movie appearance. “I mean, never in my wildest dreams did I think that like you just said, my first feature film would be a blockbuster…for me it was such a surreal experience,” he says. “It definitely took a little while for that reality to set in.”

Although he admits to being more of a “Star Wars” fan, Elias says it was an honour to be part of the project and be able to work with director J.J. Abrams.

“He’s a genuinely nice guy,” says Elias of Abrams. “And he just looks like he’s having so much fun. And he works with a lot of the same crew from project to project, so the relationship that they all had together really set the tone for everyone else, like all the actors and any new crew.”

Elias is new to film, but he’s definitely not a first-timer when it comes to the small screen. He’s made many appearances on primetime television, including TV cedits in “In Justice,” “Vanished,” the “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff “Private Practice” among others, but he says his favourite TV role by far was Corporal Hector Sanchez in an episode of “Ghost Whisperer.”

“I got to play a soldier who dies in Iraq and that alone is an emotional thing… I learned a lot during that experience.” But he also says the experience on the set and “a battle scene reenactment” complete with learning how to “shoot blanks” made the part a fun and memorable one.

And before landing multiple parts on TV, Elias was involved with local theatre on both a community and professional level. Before that, he was an impersonator (well, at least for family and friends). “My mom saw how animated I was and she decided to enroll me in an acting summer camp when I was eight,” says Elias.” And from that point on I caught the acting bug.”

Elias, born in in New Jersey and raised in Miami, got his SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card by the young age of 11 and eventually moved to L.A. to focus on his acting career.

His next project to be released is an indie film directed by Sundance Film Festival Winner Victor Nunez called “Spoken Word.” The movie tells the story of a spoken word artist (played by Kuno Becker) and focuses on his troubled relationship with his brother and father (Rubén Blades).

“It was definitely a great experience also,” Elias says of making the movie. “It’s such a smaller film. I mean, I’m going from a 150 million dollar film like ‘Star Trek’ to a 4.5 million dollar independent film and a much much smaller, more intimate story.”

Elias lands his first leading role in a feature film playing Ramon in “Spoken Word.” “I play Kuno’s younger brother and the relationship the three men have in the family is very strained,” Elias reveals. “There’s a lot of pride and guilt between them and a little bit of shame in there, and it kind of keeps them from really expressing how they feel about each other.”

The movie is making the film festival circuit and will hopefully be released by the end of this year or in the beginning of 2010. In the meantime, Elias continues to do what he loves best: hang out with friends and family, play video games and of course, audition.

“I’m just still going after it man,” says Elias. “I’m still auditioning, still just trying to take advantage of every opportunity that I get.”

Let’s hope he’ll continue to “live long and prosper” in the movie business.






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