By Moonah Ellison
Photos by Cécile BOKO
Midwesterner Michael Evans Behling is charismatic. He is best known for his role in The CW’s hit drama series, All American—currently in the seventh season—and I happened to catch him after a late night of production work looking rather refreshed. And humbled. When I first asked him how he got the coveted role of Jordan Baker, the first thing he did was thank others for getting him to where he is now. “I just have to give a lot of praise and thanks to my team, my manager and my agent, Tanya, who have worked incredibly hard to give me this role in the first place. But how did it start? Let me go back in time real quick with you.”
Raised in Columbus, Indiana, 50 miles south of Indianapolis, Evans Behling has an affinity for the outdoors, a passion developed while growing up tending to livestock, mowing grass, and caring for multiple dogs. He is an athlete, earning an athletic scholarship to run track in the 4×4 relay and hurdles at Indiana State University. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and mother, Evans Behling enrolled at Indiana State University, where he majored in pre-med while discovering his true passion: acting. He withdrew from college after two years to pursue an acting career and enrolled in intensive acting classes in New York for Upright Citizen’s Brigade CB improv group, an intensive course. Sprinkle in a few courses with various coaches down in Kentucky in 2017, it was pretty much learning on the go. That small amount of training led to a booking on Fox’s Empire starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson before leaving for California in 2018.
“In that time [2018], I was really just looking to get my feet wet in California in any kind of experience, the market,” says Evans Behling. “I had worked pretty consistently in the modeling world in the Midwest area: Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Chicago. My manager wanted me to come out [to California]. So I came out and less than a month later, I’m auditioning for Jordan Baker [on All American], and it truly is a mixture of people believing in you. And being in the right place at the right time.”
For Evans Behling, it was a typical audition. You get a call back. Studio test, network test. Just a few days after his birthday in March, he was shooting the pilot. “I was rather beside myself and very nervous because this was my second role. And I’m working with actors who have decades of experience and so the biggest thing that I wanted was just to be a sponge, be the biggest sponge I can be. Just watching them work and staying after my scenes were done and just seeing how they handled certain situations. I think just to be able to give this character the respect that he deserves and do my best to just carry on this authenticity.”
And at the end of the day, he’s just looking for the ability to continue to learn and grow. This is his second acting job. Which is mind boggling because he does it so effortlessly, he looks like a vet on screen. He’s gotten auditions before and looked at the material and thought, this is a little bit outside of the norm. But at the same time, this is what he wants, the opportunity to show people what he could do.
Seven seasons. A lifetime for a show in the present day. With so many options for viewing content, longevity for any show is a rarity. I had interviewed Bryan Cranston a few years back and he had said one of the things young actors forget these days is that if they were just themselves, then that carries through, which is what producers and directors are looking for.
And so far, Evans Behling has obviously done that very, very successfully.
Evans Behling’s working on a few different projects while continuing to act on All American. He and a buddy of his have been fleshing it out a 30-minute sitcom and the other one is more of an hour-long drama. Evans Behling likes the flow of television, the structure of television. Smooth with an order to it. I’ve listened to a number of his interviews, and while talking to him for this piece, I found it funny because I was thinking how do I get him to talk about something outside of just playing very mellow and easy. He’s just that smooth. “I may have been a little bit too media trained back then, and now,” he laughs. “I’m doing my best to open up a little bit more now.”
Opening up is something Evans Behling is trying to do with his fans on social media. He enjoys engaging with fans but sees a side of it where people want to catch you in something. “Gotcha! Not journalism, but gotcha. Like commenting on situations, and so that makes me a little bit more hesitant to be as active as I used to be, for sure. But, I still love it. I still enjoy it. I think it’s a great way for people to connect. I learned so many recipes on TikTok. I don’t know about you, and it’s amazing.
“I want to do my best for whoever’s watching my personal pages, because I can’t help what the writers write for me on a TV or film, right? But if it’s my personal content, I want you to see it and maybe laugh, or crack a smile, or maybe think. But it’s usually the first two because life is too short.”
Having modeled in several campaigns for Armani Beauty, American Eagle, Isotoner, Nike, Finish Line, Jordan Brand, True Religion, Reiss, Kitson, and Microsoft, among many others, it was no shocker to learn that he had a fashion line called DesignedAt5AM, a brand that was around for around five years. It was a clothing line of athleisure wear, “just to kind of inspire people that, like, the mornings aren’t that bad. I’m a morning person, so I don’t mind getting up early and starting my day, whether it’s in the gym or, early call time, whatever it may be. We had a successful five years, five and a half years. And we all decided, as we all started to get busier and busier in our lives, that it was time to set that bird free.”
For now Evans Behling is just happy to be here, happy to be working in an industry he so desired to be a part of. He remains committed to animal welfare programs and is an advocate for mental health awareness while also being actively involved in youth programs with The Boys & Girls Club of America and St. Judes Children’s Hospital. But Los Angeles has become home for him, having bought a house two years ago. His family’s back in Indiana and siblings are all over the country, but once he booked the show, he was going to stay in LA. “I’m so very, incredibly fortunate and thankful for everybody who’s helped me get to this point. Everybody’s always been in my corner, no matter what has been going on in life and rooting for me. And I’ve always appreciated that.”
Photographer: Cécile BOKO
Stylist: Patrick Lynere
Groomer: Peter De Oliveira