Eric Guilmette is an American model turned actor from Massachusetts who has reached the milestone of gracing the covers of one hundred books. As an actor, he’s known for Jurassic Domination (in which he starred alongside Eric Roberts), about two military-made dinosaurs that attack a small mountain town. The actor will next star in the mystery thriller Cheer, Drama, Murder alongside Brittany Goodwin and Meyon Jacobs. 

 

A former bodybuilder, Guilmette has lent his chiseled face and body to the pages of fashion magazines as well as coffee table books. He now lives in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. We spoke via email about his new life in California.

What can you tell me about Cheer, Drama, Murder?

Cheer, Drama, Murder was a really fun project. My character’s name is Sasha. He is pretty much the head of cheer, aka the athletic director. He has some shades of me and shades that are absolutely nothing like me. To figure out what those shades are you’ll have to watch the movie and follow my Instagram (@etfitnesscoach) to spot the similarities and differences.

How did you get into modeling?

While I was finishing my degrees in mathematics & economics I became a bit obsessed with bodybuilding, and subsequently fell in love with all things fitness. Luckily, when you develop a great body, people want to photograph you. I began doing fitness modeling on a very small scale. Then, something amazingly ‘horrible’ happened: my girlfriend of over 4 years cheated on me.  When we split, I gained the freedom to live wherever I wanted and do whatever I wanted. I chose a place that would be uncomfortable for me. A place where I knew no one, had no ties to my old life, and where I would be forced to grow. That place was Long Beach, California, right outside of LA. In my second and fourth days here, I booked modeling shoots. I fell in love with being in front of the camera. It was an easy decision to make this my career.  About 3.5 years later, there’s no looking back. I have been writing new pages of my story every single day.

How did you segue into modeling for book covers?

The pandemic was very good to me. I happened to be in the right place at the right time. I saw an opportunity and I didn’t just take it – I mastered it. I was quarantined in Florida with my mum and my girlfriend. A book-cover photographer, Chris Correia (who is now one of my closest friends), reached out to see if I had an interest in shooting book covers. He would see how his group of authors responded. Well, the response was quite incredible. We sold a lot of covers from just one shoot and I began a new part of my career that I would have never imagined: a romance novel cover model.

What does the 100^th milestone of being on covers mean to you?

My 100th cover felt pretty great! An even crazier thing is I eclipsed 100 right at the end of October. It’s now February and I am up to 132 and counting. I really do love it, and that’s the best part. I have the look, the eyes, and the energy required to make the person who picks up that book wonder what’s behind that cover. And that’s what a book cover is, just like all of the covers that we see every single day. The visual on the outside will help you decide if you want to open it up or not, and learn more about the person, or the book. All-in-all, I love the romance novel industry. I smile so big whenever I see a beautiful new cover that an author decides to put me on to represent their words.

Was modeling a springboard to your acting career or did they happen simultaneously?

Modeling came before acting. Yes, it was a springboard. It wasn’t the springboard that you would imagine. The log-line you’d think of would be: “Successful model has a brilliant transition into the world of acting and takes it over by storm in a matter of months…” Not quite. It was more like: “Successful model is humbled when he learns he needs to take acting classes extensively because acting did not come naturally to him, and he has his work cut out for him…” At first, I sucked. I had a lot to learn, a lot of layer-peeling to do. I had to work at it, as I still do every day, to improve my craft. But I’ve grown so much over the last 2+ years. I feel very confident in my acting abilities now. My acting story, just like the rest of my story, is still being written every day.

What did you want to be when you were at school?

A hockey player. I played hockey until mid-way through college. When I knew I wasn’t going to be in the NHL, I shifted my focus to mathematics and finance. Then, I learned I didn’t love money enough to work in money. That’s when I really began to figure out who the heck I actually was. Opportunity is everything. Sometimes a door closing allows you to see a hundred open doors in front of you. It allows you to choose which room to walk into next.

What do you do to maintain your physique?

You brush your teeth when you wake up each morning and when you go to bed each night, right? Well that’s what fitness is. It’s habitual. I work out every single day, mostly. I make healthy eating choices most of the time. I try to get rest most nights. The keyword for all these things is ‘most’. Having a healthy body comes down to being consistent with the things you need to do to maintain it, and even improve upon it.

You’ve been described as a poet and a travel junkie – are you still writing poetry? Do you publish it or is it just for yourself?

I write almost every day. For the first 2 years of writing I didn’t let anyone see my work. Over the last year I’ve been sharing more and more, mostly on my Instagram stories. I want my audience to see a new side of me – a side that is much bigger than anyone would have anticipated, and even bigger than I allude to.

How did you get the travel bug and where is your favorite place to travel?

Halfway through college I studied abroad, in Australia. Boy, was I bit hard! Not by the deathly spiders of the land down under, but by the travel bug that made buying airplane tickets one of my favorite hobbies. I have a new favorite place every couple of months. A place I’m dying to go back to is New Zealand. I only spent 4 or 5 days there, last time. I’m eager to see more of the country. I believe it has some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the world.

You were in Jurassic Domination. What do you remember most about that experience?

Upon arriving on set I found out I would be driving a real-life, military-grade, Humvee. I did a lot of it that day. It was so much fun. Thank you to the man on set (I believe his name was Hank) who taught me how to drive that massive vehicle.

What do you have coming up?

I’m slated for a romantic LGBTQ+ film later this year. It’s a major supporting role but production has been delayed a few months. I’m also on hold for a few films that are nearing the end of their casting. So, yes, plenty of projects ahead. I also do commercial acting and recently shot a national commercial for Boost Infinite. It premiered on the German broadcast during the Super Bowl and it’s for a European-based workwear brand named Strauss.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Where no one else has seen me yet. It’s written down in a journal for me to manifest and make a reality of it. You’ll see it in 5 years or sooner. To whoever is reading this, I hope you are happy and continue to pursue your dreams no matter what! With consistency and dedication, dreams really do come true.