When actor and Kilgore native Trevor Newlin moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, he was originally angling for gigs doing voiceover work. But with his 6-foot-7 frame, Newlin stood out above the rest – literally – and soon found a niche playing monsters.
“I was kind of told, ‘you have a similar build to Doug Jones,’ who’s done [movies] like ‘Shape of Water,’ ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ ‘Hellboy.’ You know, he’s the creature guy,” Newlin said.
Trevor Newlin on set. Courtesy photo
He met up with Jones, whose mentorship helped steer Newlin towards creature acting.
“He was so gracious with his time and gave me some pointers,” Newlin said. “I was still very young at that point. I hadn’t done anything. And then I started to get into doing stuff. I went to Halloween horror nights and I did some, you know, pop-out scare stuff there.”
His latest big-screen roles include thrillers “Smile 2” and “Alien: Romulus,” in which he plays the iconic Xenomorph. But he didn’t always play terrifying beasts.
“I did a couple of commercials, music videos, and then… the (role) that kind of got me my big break, as people would call it, I got a role on ‘Mandalorian’ season two in a Wookie suit. And then three years later, I get a phone call and it’s basically like, ‘Hey, we have this commercial shooting tomorrow. It’s a national commercial. Are you available?,'” Newlin said.
“And that ended up being a national commercial for Amazon, where I played a yeti in a full suit. And from that, that led to another commercial for the yeti, and then that led to ‘Alien: Romulus.’”
Newlin in the yeti costume for an Amazon commercial. Courtesy photo
Donning the monster suit was no small feat, which meant wearing a 12-pound head which obscured Newlin’s vision. But the cumbersome costume helped bring the character to life, rather than relying on CGI effects.
“Fede Álvarez, who directed the film, really went back to the practical effects of what ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens’ did,” Newlin said. “The suit was pretty comfortable for the most part. For the acting portion, it’s actually a very collaborative effort. I have an earpiece in my ear. The director’s communicating with me or my team is communicating with me like, ‘we want you to do more of this.’
Because in reality, most of the time, and for that one especially, you know, I can’t see anything. I really can’t hear anything because once I’m inside the head, all I’m hearing is a bunch of, you know, like all the motors and servos moving around because it’s an animatronic.”
Newlin said that embodying creatures takes a slightly different skillset from the theatre roles he grew up playing. But it has some advantages, too.
“You’re not really yourself. I feel like when you’re an actor, there’s always that feeling of stage fright, or a fear of messing up,” he said. “But when you turn into these different creatures and characters, it’s like, well, you’re not yourself anymore, right? People don’t see you, they don’t know who you are. So you really can kind of fully lay into that beast, or whatever it may be.”
I’ve continued to this point to play mostly creatures, but also I came from a theater background. I do love theater so I’m not opposed to playing roles that are showing my face and doing that type of stuff.
But I’ve found a world that’s really fun and I enjoy the people that I work with, so I’m just along for the ride and we’ll kind of see where everything takes me.”
