By: Haley Bosselman By: Haley Bosselman | September 27, 2024 | People, Feature, Movies,
For Oliver Trevena, Los Angeles is like chocolate.
No, this is not a Forrest Gump metaphor, but rather an approach to steering clear of the overindulgence that can so easily happen in a city saturated by sunshine and stars.
“I love eating chocolate,” Trevena says during a mid-September phone call. “If I don't eat it, I miss it. But if I eat too much, I get sick.”
The British native’s relationship with Los Angeles, where he is based, has kept steady thanks to a whirlwind few months of adventure keeping up with his duties as a businessman and actor. When he hops on the phone, Trevena has hardly been back a day in the city upon returning from the Toronto Film Festival. It’s just enough time to let the magic of Southern California wash over.
“I enjoy being outdoors,” he explains. “I live in the canyons. I love the hikes. I love being able to take a drive to the beach on the weekends. Not a lot of places where you go where that's so accessible. I love the healthy lifestyle, which to me, is a lot easier in California than it is in some places where I go.”
Trevena’s passion for health translates to his entrepreneurial portfolio. In addition to working with the likes of All Saints, John Varvatos and Buscemi, he is an investor in celebrity-favorite gym Dogpound, Next Health, wellness sanctuary Artha and Know Beauty. Additionally, he and dear friend/business partner Vanessa Hudgens launched Caliwater, a line of RTD hydrating cactus water beverages, a few years ago.
Though he watched his parents foster their own business, it was never a passion of his while growing up. “I ended up falling into the business world,” Trevena admits. “It was always drama and English and dance, and that was it. That was my focus.”
But his hustle as an enterpriser has helped him as an actor, which he credits with teaching him “more about structure and keeping my head down” and allowing him to foray into producing.
“In the entertainment industry, there is an element of luck,” Trevena says. “You can put 10,000 hours in as an actor and still never work a day in your life. It could just be audition tapes because someone else is always making the decision. Whereas I find that in business, when you really put your head down and you really work, there's something at the end of it.”
He adds, “The blend of the two worlds seem to work very well for me. And a nice part of it is I get to enjoy a movie and get to be on set without panicking of where the next job is coming from because I can always jog between the two.”
Whether between his professions or projects, Trevena appears to have a knack for bringing his network together. While working on action-thriller Paradox Effect, he put in a word for producers Jeff Bowler and Bret Saxon with Orlando Bloom for his forthcoming boxer film, The Cut, for which the duo ended up executive producing and producing, respectively.
“I’m excited for Orlando because it shows a different hog in his wheelhouse,” says Trevena, who has a cameo in the TIFF-selected film. “The movie is really about that extreme madness of cutting weight [in boxing] and what people go to and the mindset and the craziness.”
For a better example of Trevena’s dexterity as an actor, you can now watch Paradox Effect. The film first premiered at the 2023 Rome Film Festival, at which he received the breakout actor award.
In the film, Olga Kurylenko’s Karina witnesses a murder and must cooperate with the killer to save her daughter’s life. Caught between the crossfires of the criminal underworld and police, Karina races against time alongside Trevena’s Covek.
“He's not your quintessential gun-in-hand action guy, kicking and punching. There's a little bit more to him,” Trevena describes. Playing a dynamic character was among the number of perks of working on Paradox Effect. He also got to act alongside Harvey Keitel, who he describes as a “bucketlist” actor to work with.
Trevena predicts audiences will connect with Paradox Effect’s ruminations about mistakes and making amends. Ultimately, he knows viewers will be entranced by the advetnure.
“That’s what I’ve always loved about movies is trying to escape a little bit,” he says. “Sometimes I just want to escape what's going on and watch an hour and a half or two hours of just pure enjoyment that I have no tie to… I'm just losing myself in a movie. So I think this for people is hopefully more of a thrilling ride where they can forget their work day or forget about their troubles for a little bit.”
Watching movies and television is part of Trevena’s relaxation regimen (which also includes playing soccer and going to concerts) —that is, of course, after he’s spent most of his hours maximizing the day. His efficiency is also boosted eating “clean-ish” and by his home, which he describes as a “little wellness sanctuary.” Trevena starts many mornings with an ice bath and then may make a pitstop at the infrared sauna or LED bed. Eventually, he’ll likely get an extra kick from a chagaccino (from Alfred Coffee when he’s at home), a beverage akin to a mocha latte but made with chaga mushrooms.
Trevena will likely have to rely on his homemade chagaccinos for the time being, noting he has been in Los Angeles for an estimated two to three months, collectively, over the last couple of years. He points to how lots of filming is done now in Europe, London, Atlanta and Atlanta. In fact, he’s “never had the luxury of filming in Los Angeles.”
But being on the move is symbiotic to Trevena’s approach to life. He prefers to stay present in the moment, elevating the excitement of being on set while taking the pressure off of movie releases.
“It's a tough industry,” Trevena says. “I've been in this world for a long time and am getting some great momentum now. So for me, I just really enjoy making movies.”
Photography by: Manfred Baumann; Courtesy Paradox Effect