Australian actor Adam Demos sent hearts racing in the Lifetime drama “Unreal” and starred opposite Christina Millian in the Netflix romantic comedy “Falling in Love,” but it is his star turn in “Sex/Life” that has really sent temperatures soaring.
The show revolves around Billie Connelly (played by Sarah Shahi) as she finds herself in an exhilarating love triangle with her husband Cooper (played by Mike Vogel) and Demo’s character and old flame, Brad Simon.
In Season 1, Demo’s went viral for appearing in a shower scene that almost broke the internet, and with Season 2 now streaming on Netflix, M&F sat down with the man from Wollongong to find out how he prepares to bare his physique, how he cracked Hollywood, and why at 37-years-young, he now feels better than ever after focusing on his back.
“It’s a beautiful, surfy little town,” says Demos of Wollongong, an idyllic place in New South Wales, Australia, where he grew up and returns to whenever he can. Wollongong was also where, as a young man, Demos discovered a love of exercising in the great outdoors. “I’m very biased, but it’s got it all. You’ve got mountains, you’ve got the bush, you’ve got the surf. I grew up on a 130-acre farm. I always come back here,” he beams. In a recent visit, Demos was also joined by his real life partner, Sarah Shahi, who he met and fell in love with on the set of “Sex/Life.” Well, they say that art imitates life! “Sarah only came for three nights because that’s all her schedule would allow,” says Demos. “She is amazing for being a champion and flying down here just to meet my mum and my best mates. Sarah will be back down, hopefully soon, but she did get upset at me because she never got to see a kangaroo or a koala,” he laughs. “That’s the first thing on the list for next time.”
Exercising Is Inherent in Adam Demos’ Culture
“I used to get up and go surfing before we’d get the train to school. Everyone was playing rugby league here,” recalls the actor who went on to work for his father’s demolition company. “Exercising is sort of in the culture down here.” After moving into other lines of work such as a job in the local steelworks, Demos decided to pursue a nagging dream of becoming an actor. “It was very outta nowhere,” he says. “Because I didn’t do the theatre at school.” Still, he enrolled in acting class in Sydney and seriously got the bug from there on out. “I ended up being in a play before I’d ever sat in an audience and watched one.”
Demos’ big break as the tongue-in-cheek “Solo Man,” (an iconic Australian character behind the ‘manly’ Solo drink) is the role that perhaps impresses his pals and family the most. Mom still has a poster on the fridge. It was a life-changing experience and having beaten out more than 300 applicants for the spot, the actor was more than ready to face the competitiveness of Hollywood. While Demos’ roles have often required him to get his clothes off in the name of an exciting scene, the actor is sure and steady with how he diets and trains. “I was committed to working out and staying in shape, and staying healthy, because you just feel better,” says Demos. “It makes you feel good and it’s the best way to start your day. But I think when you get a role and they tell you that you’re gonna be nude, quite a bit, it’s certainly a great motivator to do everything a little bit more intensely and disciplined.”
Adam Demos Got Solid by Working on His Foundation
Demos is still able to stay lean by getting outdoors. “I don’t love cardio in the gym, I love going for big hikes and I love swimming laps,” he says. “There’s a really cool saltwater pool here in Wollongong.” The star also refuses to embark on any crazy Hollywood type diets in order to prep for his more exposing scenes, but says that paying attention to his core and back has been a game changer for his career and wellbeing.
“[In the past] I would just train as hard as I could, but I had a pretty unreliable lower back from working in construction and also I was silly, and I never really used to exercise legs or core”, says the actor. “I was just sorta cruising around thinking that because my back was sore it prevented me from those types of exercises, but it turned out that my back problems were coming from a lack of foundation.”
Before filming began on the first season of “Sex/Life,” Demos went to Toronto to work out at Swat Health with strength and performance coach, Cole Gronwall in order to rehabilitate his back.
“They said, we need to get your foundation right, to prevent injury, and then because you will be able to work more on the legs, you will burn so many more calories. So, it was a really slow process but every month we would work on a new stimulus like heel elevated squats.” Demos, who is 6’3’’, started out with just the barbell to get his form correct, and then graduated to light weights. “We would always start with a compound movement (using more than one muscle group at a time) and then we would go on to (more focused) accessories.”
Demos bolstered his back with accessories like back extensions and for him, high volume with low weight works best. “I think trainers are incredible, and I just try to take all the little gems that they give you so that when I’m not with them, I’m not wasting my time. Now, I think that doing legs and core, and back, is the most important for my longevity.”
Before concentrating on his foundation, Demos would struggle to tie his shoelaces without feeling sore, but now he is able to stand around during long filming days pain free. “I haven’t had any issues for years now,” he says. “I thought the problems were just due to years of working in construction, but it was just me neglecting core, and legs, and glutes. Once we figured it out, I’m all good.”
With Season 2 of “Sex/Life” now streaming on Netflix, all this will be music to the ears of his adoring fans, now binge watching the new episodes. “I think season two takes the things that people loved about season one and then they’ve amped it up a bit,” shares the heartthrob. “But, they’ve also added new storylines and new characters. In season two we find new partners but are always drawn back together.” Just like Demos and his hometown of Wollongong.