Fear The Walking Dead changed the career of Cliff Curtis
By Adam Carlson
Cliff Curtis has had his career and entire life change following his casting on AMC’s zombie survival companion drama series Fear The Walking Dead.
Before joining AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead, Cliff Curtis had a solid acting career. Performing in hit movies like Live Free And Die Hard, Training Day, and Three Kings or television shows like Gang Related and Trauma, Curtis was one of those actors who has likely been seen by millions of people, yet very few knew his name.
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Thankfully, AMC’s zombie survival drama companion series changed all that for Curtis. Now, with a season and a half of Fear The Walking Dead under his belt, his character of Travis Manawa has become one of the most popular and interesting on the program.
Cliff Curtis didn’t take too long to attach himself to AMC’s zombie program. In fact, the prestige associated with The Walking Dead‘s universe was greatly appealing to the New Zealand thespian according to Curtis’ appearance on Paul Henry as shared by Stuff.co.nx:
"“The numbers, and the association with the brand, with a franchise of that scale, that was clearly the strategy, to hook myself to that little train and see where it took me.”"
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Aside from the appeal of working in one of the most popular television universes on television, there was something else very appealing about being cast on Fear The Walking Dead.
In the past, Curtis has been typecast for roles as many different ethnicities except the one he actually represents. But, for Fear The Walking Dead, the program changed the character of Travis to be Maori, just like the actor himself.
"“I’ve played lots of things, Mexicans, Iraqis , Middle Eastern, Latinos, undetermined coloured people – in Howard Morrision’s terms, the beige entertainer, it varies through the seasons, different hues of beige,” Curtis said. “They offered to make the character Maori and changed its name to Travis Manawa, you know, which is a meaningful thing for me.”"
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For Cliff Curtis, it has to be fantastic to be working on Fear The Walking Dead. Not only is the show one of the most popular on television, but has made him a much more recognizable actor and let him be a character closer to who he actually is. And fans of the hit show have to love his work as Travis, as he continues to be one of the most dynamic characters on the series.