By: Sofia Marretta
Some people are just destined for stardom. Steve Stanulis’ path to Hollywood was anything but conventional, but the actor, producer, and director’s history is what makes his work revolutionary.
Stanulis’ journey begins at the NYPD’s 120th precinct. By day, he was a highly decorated officer handling felony arrests. By night, he worked as a freelance dancer at Chippendale’s. After seven years on the force, an on-the-job injury led him to a high-profile career in body guarding. His star-studded clientele included the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Alanis Morissette, and Kanye West, whom he guarded at the 2016 Met Gala.
The Turning Point
“At some point in your life, you came to a crossroads,” Stanulis says. “You could have gone left or right, and you said, ‘Screw it. I’m going this way.’” This non-conformist philosophy guided his decision to move into acting. Bodyguarding brought him to a party where he met a producer connected to The Replacements. A week later, he was in Baltimore working alongside Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman.
Stanulis tells similarly wild stories on his podcast Screw the Clout, where guests are invited to share a time when they rejected the expected path and took a risk. His first guest, Lucie Fink, detailed her career move from Refinery29 producer to YouTuber-CEO. Stanulis has repeatedly embraced uncertainty, leaving police work and stepping onto movie sets without formal training.
From the Ground Up
Though kismet, Stanulis’ industry swap was not a straight skyrocket. “I started huge films first, and then I had to go back and get humbled,” he says. “I went from the top to the bottom quickly, then started climbing my way back.” After working on Gangs of New York with Daniel Day-Lewis under Martin Scorsese, Staunulis went back to the basics. He studied at HB Studio and hit the pavement auditioning. He began to rack up credits in The Interpreter, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, The Sopranos, and The Deuce, before going out on another limb.
Getting Behind the Scenes
In 2012, he founded Stanulis Productions, which has allowed him to fund independent productions he truly believes in. Stanulis believes his police background gave him an instinct for both people and stories. “When you deal with people always trying to create a situation that you know is not factual, it gives you a sense of how to create stories,” he says. That instinct has been right more than once. His Long Shot Louie won Best Drama at the Williamsburg Film Festival, along with Monica, which received major festival recognition and an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His directing portfolio includes Clinton Road, Fifth Borough, Chronicle of a Serial Killer, and Wasted Talent, about A Bronx Tale actor Lillo Brancato.
Stanulis has even reached into theatre, with his Off-Broadway play Stripped, inspired by his Chippendales years, earning a Las Vegas run at Planet Hollywood. That wasn’t the end of his biographical work, with his book, Sex & The Shield, having debuted in 2018. Stanulis has even considered turning the literature into a documentary or feature film.
What’s in the Works
At the moment, Stanulis is working on a third season of Great Kills. The series he describes as “The Sopranos meets The Office,” focuses on a small-time hitman followed by a documentary camera crew. By creating humor through increasingly absurd situations rather than traditional punch lines, the series has been cemented as a dark comedy classic. Stanulis says the show’s fully improvised format gives it an unpredictability audiences have embraced. “It’s not so much that it’s funny because there are jokes,” he says. “The situations are so ridiculous.”
On the Horizon
What he’s most excited for, though, is his newest project. Lazarus Syndrome, a psychological thriller inspired by the rare phenomenon in which a person is pronounced dead and unexpectedly returns to life, is currently in pre-production. Stanulis describes the story as “Jacob’s Ladder meets The Sixth Sense,” with John Bianco, known for The Sopranos, attached to direct. The film follows a police officer who is shot during a drug warrant, declared dead at the hospital, and revived minutes later. What follows is a descent into a fractured reality, where the central character is forced to confront the unsettling truth that nothing around him is as it appears. “It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done, script-wise,” Stanulis says.
Despite the excitement, Stanulis’ greatest priority is at home with his wife and children. “It’s about being a dad and a husband,” he says. For a man who has done it all, his family makes it worth it. “When you’re really working and doing stuff, that comes to the forefront anyway.”
Steve Stanulis has spent a lifetime stepping into unfamiliar roles, both on and off screen. Each unexpected turn has become material for the next story he tells, giving his work an authenticity that can’t be manufactured. As new projects continue to take shape, one thing remains constant. Stanulis is still choosing the path less traveled, and finding his best work waiting at the end of it.
@stevestanulis
