“For the first couple of weeks I was convinced that he hated me. Every time he put his head down to think, in my head I’m saying ‘Oh my God, he’s saying: Why on earth did I take this actor on? He’s doing a terrible job!’”

The young actor couldn’t have been more wrong. Though Fehr was originally cast as a doomed character, Sommers recognized his appeal and decided to expand his part. Not only did Fehr’s character get to live, he became a major player in the sequel, The Mummy II, due out May 4.

Work came easily for the sexy foreigner after his screen debut (which he landed only six months after graduating from the famed Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England). Subsequent roles included a French-Canadian villain opposite Dylan McDermott and James Van Der Beek in the film Texas Rangers and an Italian gigolo in the Disney hit Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.

Now shorn of his long flowing hair and beard, Fehr only vaguely resembles the man who, in 1999, People Magazine called the “Sexiest Import.” Though his new look has by no means stopped the flow of film offers, Fehr is playing it smart. “It’s difficult. I’m turning down a lot of stuff. What I’m trying to do is find really good material that isn’t necessarily ethnic. Not that there’s anything wrong with playing ethnic roles, but I know if I do another big role like Ardeth Bay [of The Mummy], I will forever be playing ethnic roles. I think when one builds on one’s career, they must step forward all the time.”

Growing up in Israel, Fehr never expected to become an actor, though he admits to a childhood obsession with mimicking characters he watched on TV. “I would see a comedy on the television and I’d repeat all the lines to everybody and perform them again and again and again. I used to do Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street all the time for my Mom. To this day she always says to me, ‘Do Bert and Ernie!’”

Although Fehr was later introduced to acting by his mother, who studied it for a short time, he recognized what a tough life actors led and decided to study business. However his practicality eventually succumbed to his lack of interest in business. “I was in Germany, in business school and it was so boring, it drove me nuts.”

That’s when he joined the Old Vic and became hooked after performing in a production of Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Fehr says that he has always received much support from his parents, who taught him that one should always do what one loves in life.
“I don’t think I would have gone for it had I not had that support,” Fehr confides, “As you can see, I’m very, very practical.”

— Christa Rudowski

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