Actor Ethan Suplee Is Unrecognizable Today After Hitting The Gym
Ethan Suplee was first introduced to audiences as bully Frankie Stechino in Boy Meets World, before etching out a successful character acting career in movies like Remember the Titans. Today, Suplee is still acting, but there is one big difference. The once surplus sized actor has become absolutely ripped and looks like he could lead his own action franchise. This is how Ethan Suplee turned his life around!
Television Comes Calling
At just 18-years-old, young actor Ethan Suplee was cast as Frankie "the Enforcer" Stechino in Boy Meets World. With his size, he created an intimidating figure for young Cory Matthews to face on a daily basis in school.
The show didn't just paint Stechino as a bully though, it showed the softer, more poetic side to Stechino in several episodes. These moments allowed Suplee to show just how talented he really was, which eventually led to supporting roles in feature films.
Kevin Smith Cast Him In Mallrats
Shortly after introducing himself to the world with Boy Meets World, Ethan Suplee was cast by Kevin Smith in Mallrats. It was the actor's first major role and placed him alongside Jason Lee. The two would later reunite for My Name Is Earl.
After Mallrats became an indie success, Smith kept calling Suplee back for more movies. A few of the more notable View Askew movies he starred in for Smith were Dogma and Chasing Amy.
More Dramatic Movie Roles Followed
Proving he was a more dynamic actor that people gave him credit for, Suplee began taking small roles in dramatic films. One of his biggest roles that showcased his acting range was American History X.
He also starred as Louis Lastikin 2000's Remember the Titans. For a while, it seemed like new roles were pouring in. From 2000 to 2005 Suplee was featured in 13 movies, averaging nearly three a year. His drive to work seemed unstoppable, but was he really happy with the roles he was getting?
A Reunion With Jason Lee
Although Ethan Suplee was finding steady work as a character actor, he found himself headed back to the small screen in 2005. Suplee was cast as Randy in My Name is Earl, which reunited him with Jason Lee.
Randy became a fan favorite on the show, which ran for four seasons and was nominated for several awards. During the run of the show, Suplee was noticeably thinner than he had been earlier in his career. Was this the start of his miraculous weight loss journey?
His 20-Year Journey Begins
On his podcast, American Glutton, Suplee recently opened up about his long-fought battle with his weight. He was never a small child, and when he was just five-years-old, his grandparents became concerned about his size and began limiting his food.
This, in turn, led Suplee to eat in secret, further leading him to put on even more weight. By the time he was ten-years-old he weighed more than 200 pounds and preferred to eat alone when no one was watching.
Weight Management Programs Didn't Work
As Suplee's family became more and more worried about him, his parents decided to enroll him in a weight management program. When this proved uneventful, his mother pulled him out of the program.
After that, Suplee admits he stopped caring about his diet altogether. It wasn't until years later when a chance encounter with another celebrity set Suplee on his path of wellness. Before that happened though, he said he "became enormous."
Jim Caviezel Changed His Perspective
It was the early 2000s when Ethan Suplee was flying first class and Jim Caviezel sat down next to him. The two knew each from nearly working together on a Robin Hood movie that never came out.
Caviezel, who famously played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, had some not-so-kind words for Suplee: "He sat down and he started talking to me about how he and his life emulates Jesus Christ and that if you don't do that you're gonna go to [expletive]." Surprisingly Suplee wasn't mad, but happy about the conversation.
Suplee Took Caviezel's Words To Heart
Suplee admitted that he could have had a negative reaction to Caviezel's words, but instead took them to heart. "Nobody ever talked to me like that... He wasn't mean, but it was a thing I had not experienced."
On his podcast, he continued, "I remember landing and going, 'That was an awful experience,' what am I gonna do, fight Jim Caviezel?" The more Suplee thought about it, the more he realized he ever wanted to let someone talk to him like that again, "I hold no ill will against him. The [expletive] conversation worked!"
Since He Started Dieting, His Weight Has Always Fluctuated
When he isn't acting, Suplee says his two passions are eating and dieting. This type of lifestyle has led massive weight fluctuations, "I've gained and lost probably close to 1000 pounds at this point and have done all the diets."
Those diets include Atkins, Zone, intermittent fasting, Blood Type, and South Beach. All in all, he says, "I went from 530 to, at my lowest, 220." Working in an industry that pigeonholes actors, Suplee found that losing weight meant he was being offered fewer roles.
"We Don't Know Who You Are"
To get down to 220 pounds, Suplee began biking obsessively. " I actually did get properly thin at one point – I was nine percent body fat," he said. "But I was also riding a bicycle six to eight hours a day, six days."
He was so small that when he went out for roles, producers would tell him, "We don't know who you are, you're not what we were enjoying before." His wife also told him, "Hey, idiot, you can't retire and ride bicycles. You have to go get a job."
Suplee Listened To Hollywood
After being told he was unrecognizable, Suplee decided to put weight back on because "maybe it'll be better for work." He added, "I'm not going to kill myself to be thin when nobody knows me as a thin person, and I do think it is affecting the kind of jobs I’m getting."
Suplee put weight back on but never got back to his peak. Oddly enough, even though he was big again, he still had one role that he "wasn't big enough for."
He Nearly Lost His "Chance"
By 2017, Ethan Suplee was working on his weight and his diet. At this moment in his career, he auditioned for the Hulu original series Chance. Producers knew he had lost weight in the past, and thought he would be too small for the role, even though they wanted to cast him.
Suplee's agent had to convince casting directors that he was big again. "I'd gained a bunch of weight back because I actually didn’t find being thin all that it’s cracked up to be," he said. "So we convinced them that I was heavier again, and I went in, and that was that. I was heavy enough."
Suplee Is Unrecognizable Today
In 2019, Ethan Suplee co-starred in Motherless Brooklyn, a period piece directed and starring Edward Norton. Suplee is unrecognizable in the film, and was even more disguised doing press for it.
You can see that not only he is now sporting a more svelte figure, but he's also grown an impressive beard. Honestly, he looks more intimidating now than he did as Frankie Stechino in Boy Meets World. Suplee's journey to get healthy isn't over yet, though.
Chance Introduced Him To Weight Lifting
While filming Chance for Hulu, Suplee fell in love with weight lifting. Unlike biking, he found it was manageable with his busy schedule and he didn't feel frail after a workout.
Speaking to Men's Health, Suplee said, "I found that I really enjoyed lifting weights and I could get my workout in an hour, and so that wasn't like a huge part of my day. Even if I had a really long work day, I could go before or go after."
New Goals
Now that Ethan Suplee is living a healthy life with a stable weight he has new goals. First, he wants to get down to ten percent body fat. Then, he wants to get a six-pack. And finally, he wants to be able to deadlift twice his body weight.
Suplee says he's not too far away from achieving his six-pack and calls it an "utterly vain goal." Today, he lives life at 260 pounds and feels healthier and happier than ever.
He Taught Himself Food Science
One of the most important lessons Ethan Suplee learned from his two-plus decades-long battle with his weight was about food. Once he started taking his health seriously, he taught himself the science behind the foods he ate.
Looking back now, he says, "The most important thing I would want anyone to take away is that for me, the biggest change was understanding how food works. And the more I feel that I understand, scientifically, the more power I have over it."
He's Fine If Being Healthy Costs Him His Career
Now that Ethan Suplee has started his podcast and dedicated himself to his health, he's not worried about his acting career. He says, "I made my career as the fat guy. I don't want to be fat anymore. If the podcast is what I have to do make a career, that’s fine."
His new lifestyle is permanent, not one of the many fads he has picked up and dropped in the past. For him, maintaining his weight and muscles is now what he cares most about, not the vanity of Hollywood.
What Is His Podcast About?
So far we've mentioned Ethan Suplee's podcast, American Glutton, multiple times. But what exactly is it about? Now that Suplee has changed his life, he's using his podcast to "investigate" diet culture and obesity.
Suplee feels like this is the first time in his life he's ever been able to maintain a certain lifestyle. Maybe that's why he decided to start his podcast, to help discern myths from reality and health rights from health wrongs.
Still Acting
Despite fears that his weight loss might lead to fewer acting roles, Ethan Suplee is still in high demand. Not only did he star in Chance on Hulu in 2017, in 2019 he was featured in Santa Clarita Diet, The Ranch, and Motherless Brooklyn.
If you go to his IMDB page, Suplee currently has two movies in post-production; The Hunt and Gossamer Folds. The Hunt was actually supposed to come out in 2019 but was delayed after controversies arose over its subject matter.
Suplee's Workout On Chest Day
When news of his weight loss and muscle gain spread, Men's Health got in touch with Suplee to ask him about his workout routine. He shared his typical chest day workout with the male wellness magazine.
Chest day for Suplee starts with a pre-activation power plate pushup workout. He then moves on to three sets of dumbbell incline flies followed by three sets of dumbbell incline presses. Next, he does three sets of low bench presses, three sets of cable scoops, three sets of dumbbell pullovers, three sets of dumbbell French presses, and finally four sets of double skullcrushers with holds.
