Who Is Cameron Cowperthwaite? 5 Things to Know About Fallout Actor

Cameron Cowperthwaite is already a pretty big deal, and now he’s starring in Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout series.

Fallout, a TV adaptation of the beloved gaming franchise, follows a young woman (Ella Purnell) who leaves her home in Vault 33 to venture into the post-apocalyptic wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles in search of her father.

5 Facts About Fallout’s Cameron Cowperthwaite

Cameron Cowperthwaite Was a Model Before Acting

Before moving to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue acting, Cowperthwaite (now 32 years old) was a model in New York City.

In an article on Medium, Cowperthwaite explained that Mark Wahlberg was an inspiration for why he started modeling, “but it didn’t go very well:”

“I started with modeling in NYC because when I grew up, I read about people like Mark Wahlberg getting started that way. I went there when I was 18 to try and get a start, but it didn’t go very well until my mom, who is a script supervisor/director, showed my spec shoot photos to her friend in the makeup department.

He further explained that his mom’s friend’s sister is still his agent today, and when he was 18, he “did an audition and got good feedback” and “the rest is history:”

“Her friend had a sister in LA who was an agent, still my agent today! I did an audition and got good feedback, so she decided to take me on as a client, and the rest is history.”

Part of his inspiring story included the actor quitting his major at the college he was at and deciding to “run to the West Coast and take the leap of faith:”

“I did decide to quit my major in college when I saw a Martin McDonough play at my local REP Theatre, and at that time in my life, it just made me think about what life could be and should be, so I told myself I was going to run to the West Coast and take the leap of faith that this would work!”

Cameron is Inspired by Robert Pattinson

Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Cameron Cowperthwaite explained to Indie Activity that he would go “to the movies every weekend with [his] dad for like 15 years.” 

“I went to the movies every weekend with my dad for like 15 years. Sometimes we would even do double features.”

While he loves “many people’s work” he specifically gave shoutouts to actor Tom Cruise, Mads Mikkelsen, and Robert Pattinson as inspirations:

“I have seen a lot of stuff, but I love many people’s work. I think Tom Cruise makes brilliant cinema. ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ which I was lucky enough to read for, was amazing. I love Robert Pattinson, and Mads Mikkelsen. My two favorite movies are ‘V for Vendetta’ and ‘There Will Be Blood.’ They are my go-to’s for inspiration.”

Cowperthwaite also talked to Naluda Magazine about some of the next aspects of being an actor, focusing on “being long set” with co-workers and the “15 hours a day” feeling “like summer camp:”

“The best part about being an actor is being on set, working, and collaborating with insanely talented, brilliant, whacky, and kind people. People who inspire you to push yourself to do your best work and also people you want to hang out with for 15 hours a day. It’s like summer camp vibes!”

He went on to describe the worst part of acting as “the new self-tape game.” While auditions were never easy, Cowperthwaite explains that sending in a tape “feels like you can send these things off into the ether hoping to hear something:”

“The hardest part is the new self-tape game. Auditions were always hard, but it’s been a weird transition into this zoom/self-tape thing. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel as intimate as this business used to be, and it feels like you can send these things off into the ether hoping to hear something, and then you don’t. That’s tough.”

Cameron is an American Horror Story Mainstay

Before Fallout, Cameron Cowperthwaite played Speed Wagon on American Horror Story and, more recently, Charlie on American Horror Stories.

The actor was told Daily Dead how much he loves working with Ryan Murphy and how many of the cast and crew move from project to project. Cowperthwaite added that “it’s exciting because you know the project is going to be something special:”

“First, I love working with Ryan and his team. Everyone rotates shows, bounces around, and sticks around because the projects are so good. So when he calls, it’s exciting because you know the project is going to be something special, and you get to see some friends you might not have seen in years!”

Speaking about his experience on American Horror Stories, he praised his castmates and described the set as “this small bubble trying to tell this finite story, and we were all just in sync:”

“Set feels a little bit like going to summer camp in that way. Every experience is so different, but that was one of my favorite set experiences of my career. I loved working with Madison, Spencer, Logan, Crystal, and the whole rest of the cast and crew. It was just this small bubble trying to tell this finite story, and we were all just in sync. I felt so safe to explore and make mistakes in the hopes of finding something awesome.”

Focusing on his character Charlie in the episode, he felt that he “was just beautifully written” and felt that death is a “subject of debate or conversation” which attracted him to the role:

“Charlie as a character was just beautifully written. I think with ‘American Horror Story’ and ‘Stories,’ death is a part of the show, but it isn’t usually the subject of debate or conversation. I thought it was very smart to approach it that way, and that really drew me in when I was reading the script.”

Cameron Originally Auditioned for Jeffrey Dahmer in Netflix’s Series

In the hit 2022 Netflix series, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Cameron Cowperthwaite played Steven Hicks, but he originally tried out for the leading role.

Another Ryan Murphy project, Cowperthwaite told LA Confidential how “blessed” he has been to continue to work with him and how “once you can get into his camp…he’ll continue to call you:”

“I’ve been pretty blessed with Ryan Murphy Productions. I’ve worked with him like five times now, I think, at this point. When I did my first stint with him, I was really told that he truly is one of the most loyal people in Hollywood and once you can get into his camp, as long as you find a nice rapport with him and the rest of his team, he’ll continue to call you.”

He also discussed how he had an “incredibly wacky audition” for Jeffrey Dahmer where he performed “an intense and dark and very disturbing home video:”

“And at the time I did an audition for Jeffrey Dahmer, I put myself on tape because this was in the beginning of COVID when self tapes and the at-home audition started to become a thing. I did an incredibly wacky audition. I did the scenes and then I made an intense and dark and very disturbing home video that I shot on my iPhone using a 1970s film grain filter.”

The actor further explained that after he lost out on the role to Evan Peters, “they called me for Steven Hicks:”

“I submitted to casting and obviously that part went to Evan Peters, who plays it beautifully. His portrayal of Dahmer is haunting. But because of that, I guess I had made my way toward the producer team again after it had been a couple years of working with them and they called me for Steven Hicks.”

Cameron Has Two New Movies Coming Up

After Fallout, Cameron Cowperthwaite is slated to star in two new films, You Don’t Belong Here and Roses on the Vine.

Roses on the Vine tells the story of Billy (Cowperthwaite), a single dad with a checkered past who works as a food delivery gig worker, and his mischievous seven-year-old daughter, Hazel, as they navigate daily life on his scooter across Los Angeles to make ends meet.

You Don’t Belong Here, written by Martin Bartlett, follows a group of amateur crime solvers who travel to an infamous campsite to investigate an unsolved murder, only to wake up the next morning in 1991, days before the murder occurred, with a mysterious killer on the loose.

How To Follow Cameron Cowperthwaite Online

For more updates about Cameron Cowperthwaitey, fans can follow him on Instagram at @cameroncowperthwaite.