ANGUS CLOUD
PLUCKED FROM A NEW YORK STREET WITH ZERO ACTING EXPERIENCE, ANGUS CLOUD RETURNS AS FEZCO, THE TROUBLED, LOVEABLE DRUG DEALER IN HBO’S YOUTH-GONE-MAD HIT SERIES EUPHORIA
“A LOT OF PEOPLE EXPECT LIKE I KNOW WHAT TO DO, LIKE I’VE BEEN DOING IT FOR A LONG TIME. BUT THAT’S NOT ALWAYS THE CASE.”
There is not much online about Angus Cloud. During a basic search, a person can find his social media (half a million Instagram followers); his IMDB page (which contains little else besides his role on HBO’S Euphoria); and a handful of brief interviews that were conducted when his role as lovable drug-dealer Fezco on the breakout hit was released this past summer. Cloud, when informed of this, seems unfazed, showing this was not his intention, nor does he care to broaden his reach. “Is my birthday on there at least?” (For the record, while it is May 13th, that, too, is rather difficult to find.) There was a time, in 2018, when Cloud was just a guy living in Brooklyn, working at a fast-food joint. But after he was approached by a casting executive while walking down the street in Bushwick , just like that, he was handed the career that so many people in Hollywood work years, even decades for, and still can never achieve. “Stuff has changed, but a lot of stuff has stayed the same,” Cloud says from Los Angeles, where he has now relocated full-time. He is “all-in” on this acting thing, he claims, now that Euphoria, the American adaption of the Israeli show of the same name, which instantly won over fans, has become a smash. The visually arresting series follows the life of 17-yearold Rue (played by Zendaya), a drug addict fresh from rehab with no plans to stay clean, and the troubled lives of those who surround her. “Well, some people recognize me on the street or in the store now,” says Cloud. “That happens.” Cloud does admit now that he has reached a certain level of fame—the kind where his face appears on billboards alongside Zendaya’s and he walks red carpets—life has shifted, and it’s not just because he has moved coasts. “Everything seems to be sometimes easier,” he acquiesces, although the 26-year-old quickly adds: “But don’t get me wrong. This is still regular me.” That humility is exactly what won over casting directors when Cloud flew from New York to Los Angeles, completely unprepared, to audition for the role of Fezco. Despite his laidback attitude, he admits to being shaken in front of the cameras—a fear he had to eventually come to terms with during filming. ”You got to just deal with it. Say ’Oh, fuck it.’ You’re going to do it or you’re not going to do it,” he says. Although he may still be getting his feet wet in Hollywood, especially compared to the veteran cast of actors he works with on a regular basis, Cloud says he often feels those around him forget that - both a blessing and a curse in some ways. “A lot of people expect like I know what to do, like I’ve been doing it for a long time. But that’s not always the case.” Still, it sounds like the young group of actors, which along with Cloud and Zendaya, includes Maude Apatow,
Hunter Schafer, and Jacob Elordi, are tight knit. “The cast is really cool. We’re all friends, and whatnot,” says Cloud. “We be kicking it, we be hanging, we be chilling. There’s none of that weirdo.” Although Cloud says he hopes to parlay his accidental stardom into a long term career in acting (“I’m trying to do all the types of acting. ‘Fantasia’ even!”), it wouldn’t be a surprise if at some point he ended back up in New York. While he speaks pleasantly about Los Angeles, and enthusiastically and lovingly about his job, Cloud speaks most passionately about the city where he was discovered. “I miss New York. I love New York. I’m trying to move back out there sometime,” he admits. “Los Angeles, it’s nice, no crowds, blue sky all the time. But I like the rain too. I love New York.”
“LOS ANGELES, IT’S NICE, NO CROWDS, BLUE SKY ALL THE TIME. BUT I LIKE THE RAIN TOO. I LOVE NEW YORK.”