Hollywood peers and fans rallied around Lukas Gage after the actor called out a director for commenting on his "tiny apartment" during a clip from a Zoom audition that went viral.
On Friday, the 25-year-old posted a video recording of a Zoom meeting he was on while auditioning for a role. Though he didn't name the director, he wrote, "PSA if youre a s--- talking director make sure to mute ur s--- on zoom mtgings." In the clip, an off-camera man can be heard saying, "These poor people live in these tiny apartments," thinking he was muted and couldn't be heard by Gage.
Gage, in the moment, joked back: "I know it's a s---ty apartment. Give me this job so I can get a better one." The director then said he was "mortified" over what had happened.
In a letter published by Deadline on Monday, director Tristram Shapeero issued an apology for making the remarks during the audition, which he said happened in August.
"As I say on the video, I'm mortified about what happened," Shapeero said. "While I can't put the proverbial toothpaste back in the tube, I move forward from this incident a more empathetic man; a more focused director and I promise, an even better partner to actors from the audition process to the final cut."
Read on to learn more about Gage, the young actor whose post about the interaction has everyone talking.
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He has previously opened up about tough auditions.
In a September interview — after the "tiny apartment" incident, but before he revealed it on social media — Gage told Pop-Culturalist that the entertainment business can be grueling and explained how he stays motivated.
"It's hard. I guess the next thing is like, 'Okay, if you don't want me and if I'm not the right fit, then it's next, next, next, next.' That's always what it is," he said at the time. "As soon as I'm done with an audition, as soon as I'm done with the role, I try to get it out of my mind and move on to something else. Another thing I've been doing lately is writing and getting my own material made — so just [I'm] taking stuff into my own hands and making my own stories that I want to tell and not just waiting for other people to cast me in theirs."
He's best known for his TV roles.
Gage has appeared in a number of popular television series, including in HBO's hit Euphoria. In the drama, the actor played Tyler, a college student who is brutally beaten and blackmailed by Jacob Elordi's character Nate Jacobs. Earlier this year, Gage also showed up in Hulu's high school rom-com Love, Victor, playing the boyfriend of the title character's crush.
His other TV credits range from Wireless to T@gged to American Vandal. The up-and-coming star also played a pivotal role in the twisty horror flick Midnight Kiss, which debuted on Hulu as part of the streaming platform's Into the Dark franchise.
A near-death assault prompted him to pursue an acting career.
At 18, Gage and a friend were assaulted at a party, prompting him to follow his dreams after having an epiphany in his hospital bed, he told V Magazine in March.
"I was at a party, and my friend got beat up for being gay. I jumped in to protect him, and I got beat up, [too]. I broke my orbitals, my nose, my jaw ... eight of my teeth got knocked out. I [had to get] my face put back together," he said. "I had this moment in the hospital where I thought, 'If I die, will I have done everything I wanted to do?'"
"I wasn’t happy in school and I always wanted to go back to acting, so I was, like, 'F--- it. I am going to do it,' " he continued, adding that playing a victim of violence in Euphoria "actually help[ed] me work through some s---."
He grew up in San Diego and started acting in commercials.
Gage, who attended high school in San Diego, told V Magazine that he got his start in television commercials and became known for wart-removal ads as a kid. He said he continued doing commercial gigs until he was 13.
"My first job was a wart commercial — I was a spokes-kid for wart removal. … That was my claim to fame!" he said. "It was cool to flex to your friends about [getting cast in] a commercial. But then I would do one, and be like, 'This isn't it.'"