Tobias Truvillion Biography
Tobias Truvillion is an American actor and model known for his roles on Empire (2016-17) and In Contempt (2018). He previously received his major role on ABC series One Life to Live, playing Vincent Jones.
Tobias attended Bayside High School in Bayside, Queens. He embarked on his pursuit of acting at the National Black Theater in Harlem in 1999. Truvillion received AUDELCO Award for his performance in the Oya musical in 2001.
Tobias Truvillion Age
Truvillion was born on 1 October 1975 in Flushing, Queens, New York, U.S. He is 43 years old as of 2018.
Tobias Truvillion Family
Tobias has not yet disclosed any information regarding his father, mother, or siblings.
Tobias Truvillion Wife
Tobias is married to Michelle Morgan-Truvillion.
Tobias Truvillion Acting
He started acting by appearing briefly in single episodes of the television series Playmakers, Third Watch and Law & Order. He starred in the music video “Free Yourself” by Fantasia Barrino in 2005. He had his first major role as Vincent Jones, on ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live in 2006. One Life to Live earned him a nomination for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series.
Truvillion appeared in another Fantasia Barrino music video for the song “I’m Doin’ Me” in 2010.
Tobias Truvillion Vampire Diaries
Tobias was cast as D-Major—a secretly gay record producer, who becomes the love interest of Jamal—in the Fox drama series Empire.
He starred on BET drama series In Contempt in 2018.
Tobias Truvillion Net Worth
Truvillion’s net worth is not yet revealed.
Tobias Truvillion Television Shows
2003 – Playmakers
2004 – Third Watch
2005 – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
2006 – 08 One Life to Live
2009 – Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2011-12 Blue Bloods
2012 – Truth Unspoken Series
2013 – White Collar
2014 – Being Mary Jane
Person of Interest
2015 – The Blacklist
Flesh and Bone
2016-17 – Empire
2018 – In Contempt
Chicago P.D.
Tobias Truvillion Films
2002 – Paid in Full
2003 – Death of a Dynasty
2005 – Hitch
2006 – Delirious
2007 – Blackout
2008 – The Day the Bread Turned Green
2009 – Brooklyn’s Finest
2010 – The Tested
2011 – Heartfelt
2012 – Nous York
2014 – Seasons of Love
2015 – Supermodel
The Trade
2017 – Cigarette Soup
Dope Fiend
Secrets
Bobbi Kristina
The Products of the American Ghetto
2018 – The Stuff
Tobias Truvillion Twitter
Tobias Truvillion Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0JjC0rp9Lz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Tobias Truvillion Talks Career and Empire
Interviewer: In your new film, Cigarette Soup, you play a soldier who’s fighting in Afghanistan. Did you undergo any special kind of military training for the role?
Tobias Truvillion: Yeah, actually. We had advisors who were on set with us who were in the military and spent time over there in Afghanistan and in the Middle East, and they gave us pointers on how it was to be in the service and advised on technical things, and what it was like, the camaraderie of being one of the guys. They spent so much time together, and [we learned about] technical things like how you would roll as a unit when you entered a building, and carrying all the stuff these young men have to at all times as they fight for our country. Picking these guys’ brains was such a wonderful experience. And we filmed it in a month, and spending that amount of time in a bunker, even though we weren’t really at war, you really got a sense of brotherhood and how it might have felt being over there, fighting in the real war. Some of the stories that I got from some of the guys, they were life-changing experiences. Some of their best buddies didn’t make it back.
Interviewer: Wow. Was that pretty emotional for you?
Tobias Truvillion: It was. It really was. A big purpose for myself was them seeing us perform for them. They were honored.
Interviewer: So what can you share about your character, Monti, and what he goes through in the film?
Tobias Truvillion: At first glance, Monti is this hardcore, no-nonsense guy, the muscle of the unit. He carries one of the bigger artillery machine guns, and he’s kind of the guy who really plays no games. But once you kind of get past the first layer, you start really getting a chance to know him, and you realize that he’s just another young man who doesn’t have it all together and is fighting for his country and who at some point in the film realizes that if he doesn’t open up [to the journalist embedded with the unit] and tell his story, it may never be told; he may never have a chance for his voice to be heard. So when we get to that point in the film, you get to find out who he really is.
Interviewer: Is this guy like you at all in real life, or was playing a guy like this pretty new to you?
Tobias Truvillion: I played a lot of sports growing up, and football is a team sport, and being a team player is the kind of person I am. I know how to lead, I know how to follow, and I would even be able to be coachable. So rolling in the unit and playing Marines, it kind of reminded me of the locker room feel, the camaraderie, the brotherhood between the boys and stuff like that. So there are elements of me in there, the camaraderie and wanting to get the job done and wanting to participate in the mission at hand. I could see myself there. But I’m more of a person who’s outgoing, and Monti is more closed off. He kind of rolls around with a chip on his shoulder. I’m the total opposite of that. I’m more open and free and like to talk to people. Monti was a little bit more closed off. But there were little elements and pieces in there.
Interviewer: Would you say it’s more challenging to play a character who’s totally different than you, or a character who’s a lot like you?
Tobias Truvillion: Well with any role, I want to do my best with it and be honest with it. Even the role that I play now on Empire, I play a man who is what they say is “on the down low,” meaning he’s gay. And with me being a heterosexual man, that was a stretch and territory that was different for me. For myself, as an actor, we always want to have characters and material that challenge us; it should be stuff that [makes you] a little bit fearful, because we are artists. So characters and stories that make you a little nervous, that give you a little bit of fear, that’s where you want to be. That’s the kind of work that I want to do. So challenging myself and finding interesting ways to play these characters, even though sometimes it might not be what’s on the surface or on the paper, it might read a certain way, but trying to get underneath and finding out the different dimensions of the character, who they really are, is a challenge. And playing characters who are outside of my comfort zone or are really not at all who I am, that’s the work that I want to do. That’s the work that I do now, and that’s the work that I’ll continue to do.
Interviewer: In the soap opera world, fans sometimes get confused and think the actor is actually the character. Has that happened to you?
Tobias Truvillion: Oh, yeah! When I played Vincent Jones on One Life to Live, my character wasn’t really a bad guy, but some of the storylines gave him a bad rap because he did some devious things to some of the other characters, so that used to happen to me. People would come up to me and say things like, “Don’t do that anymore!” or “You can’t treat Cristian [David Fumero] like that!” [Laughs] People love their TV, they love their content, they love the stories and the shows. They’re invested in them, and sometimes they blur the lines when they see you in the street and think you’re the actual character, and it’s like, “No! That’s not me, it’s not who I am!” [Laughs]
Interviewer: Do Empire fans also do that? Or is it just the soap fans?
Tobias Truvillion: Yeah, it happens with Empire, too, and sometimes people aren’t exactly sure what to say. They’ll come up to me and refer to me as if I am D-Major, and I kindly and politely have to tell them, “I’m Tobias. The character I play is D-Major.” But for the most part, people know you’re playing a character. And I’ve been a working actor for my entire adult life, and people know my work, so sometimes when they see me, they acknowledge me as an actor. So it’s a little of both. Some people know me from Empire and know, “Okay, this guy is definitely not gay, and he’s playing D-Major,” and they say, “You’re doing a great job.” But you also get the people who are like, “Man, he’s doing such a great job, so I’m not sure — is he really gay?!” [Laughs] But it’s our job to play these characters to the best of our ability, so I guess when you do that, people get invested and believe it, and that’s what you want.
Interviewer: What would you say you’re most recognized for: One Life to Live, Empire, or something else?
Tobias Truvillion: I would say Empire. It’s big. It’s the number one show in the world. You’re talking 12 million people watching it every week. And it has definitely changed my popularity tremendously. People may have known my face or they might not have known my name before, but now people say my name when I’m walking down the street. Or I’ll introduce myself, and I’ll be like, “Hi, my name is Tobias.” And they’ll be like, “I know who you are!” [Laughs] And that’s really trippy for me! I mean, I’m just a regular guy; I’m from New York, I ride the subway, I teach in the schools, and sometimes I pop up in the stores, and when that happens, people are really blown away; they’re blown away that I’m standing there with them. So Empirehas had a powerful impact.
Interviewer: I love that you still introduce yourself, even when you may not need to give an introduction. That’s really sweet.
Tobias Truvillion: Yeah, my grandmother gave me manners.
Interviewer: That’s good! And I hope you remember that, no matter how big you become. And speaking of that, your soap fans are fierce and still follow you and your career. How does it feel to know that they still care about you and follow you in your new projects?
Tobias Truvillion: Oh, it’s wonderful. Being on the soaps was great. I think about all the people who I worked with at the time, and I look at them now, and it’s like, David Fumero [ex-Cristian Vega] is on Power, and Tika [Sumpter, ex-Layla Williamson], who’s doing wonderful things, and Renee Elise Goldsberry [ex-Evangeline Williamson], who is destroying the stage on Broadway. I think about all my friends, and they’re doing big things and flourishing on other shows and other platforms. And the people that follow us and support us, they’ve been there the whole entire time. It makes you feel so good, and it’s a wonderful thing. They’re excited to see you work and see you continue on in your career. I enjoy that, and I’m very grateful for them. Every once in awhile, I’ll meet someone who says, “I remember you from the soaps!” But sometimes people get confused because I like to transform into different characters and have different hair, and then when they get to see me on Empire or Law and Order or something, they’ll say, “Oh yeeaaahhhhh, that was you on the soap opera!” So it’s a wonderful thing. Soap fans are so loyal, and I’m so grateful for that. I even went to the Daytime Emmys a few weeks back! Just to be around the daytime world and the fans, and it was a wonderful experience. And it had been a long time since I had seen so many people. Like my buddy Lawrence Saint-Victor, who’s on The Bold and the Beautiful [as Carter Walton], and [former OLTL executive producer and current General Hospital executive producer] Frank Valentini; I got to talk to him. These people support me, and I like to support them. It felt good to be around the daytime folks and hang out with fans again. It felt great.
