Ed Quinn is in South Africa having the adventure of a lifetime.
The Hollywood model and actor, who has been in the industry for over two decades, planted his feet in film and television.
Currently, in Tyler Perry’s long-running drama series, “The Oval”, where he plays President Hunter Franklin, Quinn is also known for his roles in “Mistresses” and “2 Broke Girls”.
The actor, who is also a musician, has been in Mzansi since last week.
He said: “Oh my goodness, I’ve spent my whole life travelling and I’ve been on many adventures but the last week has honestly been the most unbelievable experience of my entire life.
“I was here in South Africa 22 years ago to shoot a pilot for NBC Universal, an American TV show; I thought that I would be moving to South Africa but the show did not go on. I’ve always wanted to come back.”
Quinn is currently in the country for the Cine FX Kneeboard Surfing World Titles 2024 in Jeffreys Bay, which runs from August 17 to 24.
In the country with friends, he also went to Namibia’s Skeleton Bay, famous for its hard wave.
When we chatted on Tuesday, he had just returned from Hermanus and was making his way to Jeffreys Bay.
He sang the praises of Char’d Grill & Wine Bar.
“I would go out on a limb and say the steak and wine pairing was one of the best I’ve had in the world. And, the opposite of that, is that I was on the ‘Expresso Morning Show’ and tried to cook live on television yesterday. I did South African cuisine no favours at all,” he laughed.
On what’s been keeping him busy of late, Quinn revealed: “I’ve been playing a lot of music. You can find it all on edquinn.com or anywhere you stream music worldwide. In the United States, we focus on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music.
“I love writing so I’ve been working hard on screenplays. It’s wonderful being on a television show (‘The Oval’) that’s gone for so long because I’m not desperate to work. I’m not desperate to act.
“So I don’t need to take any and every job. But a good movie comes along every year.
“And I did a wonderful one, it’s a big actioner called ‘Shadow Force’. It’s directed by Joe Carnahan and the leads in the movie are Omar Sy from Senegal and Kerry Washington, the lead in ‘Scandal’ (aka ‘The Fixer’) Omar lives in Paris and he’s the lead in ‘Lupin’.
“I’ve worked with Kerry on a TV pilot for ABC once. It was another one of these TV pilots that didn’t happen. So it’s my second time working with her. It was wonderful working with Omar and Mark Strong.
“So keep your eye out for ‘Shadow Force’ in 2025. We are going to be filming on Columbia.”
Expanding on the roles that pique his interest these days, he said: “Honestly, it depends on the project. The main thing is, do I think I will be very good?
“One of my favourite things is comedy. It’s why I try to make ‘The Oval’ funny. In almost every episode, I say something so ridiculous and everybody laughs and it trends on Twitter (now X).
“People make gifs and memes and stuff of it. Before ‘The Oval’, I was in ‘One Day at a Time. Before that, it was ‘2 Broke Girls’. It was one of my favourite comedies. It was such a big show worldwide.”
Quinn continued: “It was also a crazy show and so funny. I’ve always loved doing comedy. One, because it is fun to shoot because you laugh all day. Two, because it is hard. And three, I’m pretty lucky at being pretty good at it, which is always nice.”
Having witnessed the transformation in the industry, especially with the proliferation of streaming platforms, he shared his perspective on the shift.
“I’m not going to lie, I think it is a very scary time for the industry. And the streaming that you brought up is the number one thing.
“The internet has created all of these companies that are disruptors. Like Uber disrupted the taxi service. Well, streaming disrupted a lot of revenue streams. It disrupted the network TV model and the cable TV model.
“It obliterated the DVD/ VHS rental market and all of those revenue streams created money for future productions.
“Now we are 10 years into the evolution of streaming. I think everybody is sort of whistling by the graveyard now because you are right, the audience has become very discerning because they have so much power to choose what they want to view.
“They don’t have to just go to the video store and there's two movies that are new that you can rent. Or they don’t have to sit in front of the television and watch what’s on. They choose what they want.”
He added: “I think that’s what Tyler Perry, my boss on ‘The Oval’ has done so well. He knows his audience. He makes his shows for his audience. I’ve been so blessed to be on this show because I’ve been in the industry for almost 30 years and I’ve never seen the kind of change we are dealing with right now.
“To be quite frank, I know so many people who if they are not out of the business, are on their way out of the business because they weren’t able to shift and sort of land in a safe harbour, and find a show to weather this time.
“So getting this series in 2019 and going from Covid to the strike and the real ramifications of streaming affecting not just the national platforms but the global platforms, it is a wild time to be quite frank.”
After the surfing competition, Quinn will be in Johannesburg for a few press interviews before heading back to Los Angeles to return to the set on ‘The Oval’.
That said, he is keen to shoot something in South Africa soon.
He shared: “This whole trip has been legendary and it keeps getting better. The country is so beautiful and your production is top of the world. Movies are shooting here all the time, as you know.”