Checking In with Actor and Musician Thomas Dekker

Only in his early 30s, Thomas Dekker has more experience in the film industry than many entertainers will see in a lifetime.

Dabbling in the fields of acting, writing, directing, producing, and music—Dekker began his Hollywood career when he was 5 years old. After first being seen in The Young and the Restless, he went on to appear in Star Trek Generations and the 1995 film, Village of the Damned. With his fame rapidly climbing, Dekker had no plans to slow down. He played Jesse in the 2010 reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street, co-starred as Zach in NBC’s hit series Heroes, and was part of the main cast in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused tremendous hardships for many within the biz, Dekker says he has remained very busy, which he is lucky and grateful for. His latest film, Body Brokers, was released earlier this year, and he is gearing up to release his second full-length album, TASMA, in August.

Dekker took some time to answer a couple questions for OFM.

Your new film, Body Brokers, came out earlier this year. Without spoilers, can you tell us more about it?
It is a great film. It’s exposing the very corrupt and very real situation that is going on with how these detox centers and rehabilitation facilities deal with returning addicts and how everybody gets compensated through the health insurance loophole. It’s really interesting because the director, John Swab, has spoken very openly about addiction and the clash of that lifestyle. It is a pretty heavy film, but it is also fun. It is not a dreary drug movie in that sense. It is quite lively and thrilling.

Why did you want to be involved with this film?
I read the script and thought it was very smart. I have taken a bit of a step back from acting in general for a bit of time to work on other creative areas, but this movie just came around, and I thought, wow, this would be great to dive into, and I am very happy with it.

How has Body Brokers been received by audiences?
Critically, it has been received pretty well. So, I think it is doing well. (laughs)

You play Jacko. What was your favorite part about playing him, and how does he differ from any previous role?
He was a really fun role because he is, quote unquote, recovered. In his opinion of himself, he is a recovered addict, but he has sort of taken the mania that he may have had an outlet for with his addiction, and he has now kind of replaced with a hardcore business. Selling and making deals, so it was fun to play a businessman suit type mixed with an ex-junkie who is hanging by a thread.

What are some of these other projects that you have been working on?
My whole life, I have always been one to have my hand in as many fields as possible. So, I am working on music, I am always writing, I have a couple projects in development right now for directing, and I think one is going to start shooting imminently. So, I cannot say too much about it, but I am in all kinds of different fields. I released an album in 2018, and I have another one complete, which is set to release on Aug. 13. TASMA is the title.

Overall, what do you hope audiences take away from your work?
Oh, man. I think my approach to everything I do changed a lot after I came out and got married. Also, probably because I am getting older, you start to really realize that your time is very valuable and everything that you are going to put your name, likeness, and thought into needs to be something that you can stand by a little bit more.

In my youth, I have been an actor since I was 5 years old, so I do not have any memories without this as my occupation. It is more so about figuring out, and there have been so many times throughout my career where I have been very close to being like, ‘OK, I’m done. I am going to do something else entirely.’ Every time I have reached that point, someone kind of opens a door for me and it’s like, no, no. Here’s this, so it just keeps going.

I don’t know. That is a really good question. I don’t think anyone has ever asked me what I hope audiences take away from my work. I think I have a clearer answer for that as a writer and filmmaker than I necessarily do as an actor. As an actor, I have always been very much about not wanting to be known for being me. I never wanted to be a celebrity. I am much more interested in just sort of being kind of unrecognizable and different from one role to the next. Hopefully, be in something that is relatively poignant.

Like you said, you have been acting since you were 5 years old. Entertainment has always been your passion?
I can’t exactly speak to my thought process when I was 5, but I know that the reason I got into it at all was because I had very natural, crazy stage parents [laughs]. I fell into it because I enjoyed it. As a kid, I was very awkward and didn’t really know what to do with kids my own age. I was like, always on my own, and I liked being in a world of adults. I did, from the get-go.

It’s wild; I was texting one of my closest friends, who played my mom on the Disney show I did from, like, 9 to 12. Now, I am friends with all three of her daughters who are all actresses. At 33, it has been a long experience, but I am glad that this is in my life. I think you reach a point where you have to be like, ‘OK, this will always be what I do, to some degree. It is a part of me at this point.’

As a gay actor, you have played a couple LGBTQ roles. Would you like to play more LGBTQ roles and implement more LGBTQ themes into your work?
Yes. Even throughout the years when I was not sure of my identity, when I was working that out, when I was going through all that, which takes longer for some people than others, I still really wanted to play those kinds of roles and the roles I was not seeing that much of. When I did, for instance, Gregg Araki’s movie, Kaboom, we shot that back in 2009 and there weren’t too many party movies centered around a bisexual. Now, it is a little more common, thank God, with the amount of entertainment we have and the amount of doors that have opened as a culture, but it has always been important to me.

The show that I have coming out at some point, which I do not have much info for you, but the Swimming with Sharks show that I was shooting over COVID, I play a gay character, and I think what’s most exciting for me is finding specifically what is special about this gay character. I always want to find something that is a bit interesting on top of just being LGBTQ. I am all for representation of any kind, but for me specifically, I like to find LGBTQ roles that have something to them that I can really play with. Something that I can specifically excel at.

What more do you hope to accomplish with your platform?
Like I said, I am never really looking to be known necessarily for my personal self, but more for my work. As an actor, you get great opportunities and roles and products of all kinds, and I have to kind of always be weighing a million things about what’s good about it. Whereas with my own writing and directing, I do want to really bring what I have to say and what I have to offer to the table through that.

My experience growing up, there were certain things I got to experience and got to see at different ages that sort of informed me of A, who I was, and B, how to navigate the culture and community that I am a part of. If anything, that is what I definitely am about. Proposing things and reaching people through what I do, as opposed to necessarily divulging tons of my personal life. It’s just how I am wired. It has always been about reaching through the work.

Connect and stay up-to-date with Dekker by following him on Twitter and Instagram.

Photos Courtesy of Buddy Corona, Liam Joy, and Social Media