Today, we are joined by an extraordinary talent: an actor, model, producer, author, and entrepreneur whose journey has taken him from Cologne to the runways of Dior, Versace, and Givenchy, and all the way to Los Angeles. He once studied Insurance Management and had a safe, predictable future ahead of him, until he chose his dreams instead. Since then, he has become one of the most recognizable faces in vertical drama, co-founded Vertical Drama Merch, launched his own fashion brand NEREUS, built a production company, and is now preparing to release his second book, RAW & HONEST, on October 1st.
He is a storyteller in every sense of the word, and he is just getting started.
Welcome to BODONY, Fabian Arnold.
Let’s take a step back into your early years. How was your childhood growing up in Cologne? Are there any memories, stories, or moments from that time that shaped you and that you’d love to share with the fans, anything you think they would be interested to learn about the boy you once were?
Fabian: To be honest, I wrote a whole book about my childhood called Broken Boy, Trying to Figure Out Life. I think there were a lot of things growing up that shaped the person I am today, as I think our childhood does for all of us.
From the outside, I was a pretty normal kid. But inside, I always felt like something was a little different. I was awkward, didn’t have the biggest self-esteem, and never really felt like I completely fit into most friend groups. I could be very introverted, but around certain people, I suddenly became the complete opposite, the class clown, loud and extroverted, always trying to make people laugh.
One thing I remember very clearly is that I always wanted to be the best version of myself and make my parents proud. I think that desire to make people proud has followed me for a big part of my life.
At the same time, I was always incredibly creative. I would come up with stories, scenarios, and entire little universes in my head. I think I got a lot of that from my dad. He’s also a very creative person and, in the best possible way, has always kept something childlike about him. Looking back, I think that imagination became a much bigger part of who I am today than I could have ever known back then.
Imagine for a moment that you’re face to face with your 10-year-old self, that young version of you who was still discovering the world and his own dreams. What would you say to him now, with everything you’ve experienced and the success you’ve built? What message, reassurance, or wisdom would you want him to hear from the man you’ve become?
Fabian: I would tell him that he’s going to achieve everything he’s ever dreamed of if he works hard and truly puts his mind to it. But I’d also tell him not to put so much pressure on himself along the way.
Life has so much beauty in it. And even though there will be some very dark nights and difficult days, there is always so much light that makes it worth living.
So dream big, work hard, but don’t forget to actually live while you’re chasing those dreams.
You were born in Cologne and originally studied Insurance Management, a path that promised stability and a predictable future. Looking back, when did you first sense that the safe route wasn’t going to be enough for you, and how did you find the courage to walk away from it?
Fabian: I think I knew pretty early on that I didn’t really fit into that system the way other people seemed to. I dreamed bigger, had different visions for my life, and at some point I realized that working for an insurance company simply wasn’t going to be enough for me.
For a few months, I worked within the creative side of marketing, which I enjoyed much more, but even there I felt like I didn’t have the freedom or flexibility to actually create and try new things the way you might when building a start-up or your own company.
Looking back, I think I already knew then that I needed to create and innovate. I needed to be in a world where my creativity wasn’t something I had to fit into a certain box, but something I could actually build a life around. I didn’t necessarily know what that life would look like yet, but I knew I had to give myself the chance to find out.
Fabian, what does success truly mean to you? Is it defined by career milestones, personal growth, the impact you leave on others, or something entirely different?
Fabian: I think there are many different forms of success. There’s career success and the milestones that come with it, but there’s also success in your personal life, in your own growth, and in the impact you have on other people.
For me personally, overall success in life is being able to look at myself in the mirror one day, look back at the life I’ve lived, and know that I did everything I could to follow the dreams I had and create the life I truly wanted to live.
I think if I can say that honestly to myself, then all those different forms of success somehow come together. And that definition will be different for everyone, but for me, that’s what it comes down to.
Before acting, you built an international modeling career working with houses like Dior, Versace, and Givenchy. What did those years in front of the camera teach you about presence, angles, and stillness that no acting class ever could?
Fabian: Modeling taught me a very technical side of being in front of a camera. Lighting, lenses, angles, perspectives, movement, and also stillness. Those are things you don’t necessarily learn in acting school, because acting training is much more about understanding and truly living a character.
For film and television, I think those two worlds come together. You need the humanity and emotional truth of acting, but at the same time, you’re still working with a camera. Understanding where that camera is, what a certain lens does, how small a movement can be, or how the light changes the way something reads on screen can make a huge difference.
So I definitely feel like my years in modeling gave me an advantage when I moved into acting. I was already very comfortable in front of a camera and understood its technical side. Then acting became about adding the human side to it, creating a character and making all of that technique disappear.
Now let’s jump into one of my favorite topics: vertical dramas. You’re now among the most recognizable faces in the vertical drama world. How did you first discover this format, and what were your initial thoughts when you stepped into its fast-paced style of storytelling?
Fabian: I wouldn’t necessarily call vertical dramas my favorite topic, but they’ve definitely become an important part of my life, my journey, and my career, and a stepping stone toward where I ultimately want to go with feature films, producing, and the big screen.
What I quickly realized is that vertical dramas have a huge advantage because of their fast pace and turnaround time. As an actor, you get an incredible amount of screen time and can build a much more direct connection with an audience. In traditional film, you might have one or two projects coming out over the course of a few years. With verticals, you can potentially have a new project coming out every month. That gives you a completely different opportunity to build a personal brand and, more importantly, a real community around your work.
For me, it actually brings together different parts of my career. I spent years working as a social media creator and model, and now I’m an actor and producer. Vertical storytelling somehow sits right at the intersection of all of those worlds.
I also think it’s teaching us a lot about where storytelling and our attention spans are heading. I don’t see it as replacing traditional film or cinema, but understanding this new format and why audiences respond to it gives me knowledge that I can eventually bring into the feature film world as well.
Male leads in vertical drama are frequently cast as billionaires, bodyguards, or brooding bad boys. Which of these archetypes do you genuinely enjoy bringing to life, and which one do you feel the genre is ready to move beyond?
Fabian: I think it’s all about having a good mix. Just playing billionaires would get boring, and just playing the mafia guy or the bad boy would get boring too. I actually enjoy switching between different types of characters and always try to bring something different to each one, even when they might fall into a familiar archetype on paper.
So I don’t necessarily think we need to get rid of one particular archetype. I’d rather see the genre keep expanding and give these characters more layers, more imperfections, and more unexpected sides.
AI-generated series are increasingly entering the vertical drama market, raising real questions about the future of performers. Where do you stand on this shift, and what do you believe a human actor offers audiences that technology simply cannot replicate?
Fabian: To be honest, a lot of it comes down to cost, profit, and margins. So from a business perspective, I understand why production companies and platforms are experimenting with AI if it allows them to create content faster and cheaper.
But I also think the more AI-generated series enter the market, the more saturated that space will become. If audiences are constantly being offered similar AI-generated content, I think the human element can actually become more valuable again.
For me, that’s especially true when you start building IP around real actors. People don’t only connect with a character on screen anymore; they connect with the person behind that character, follow their journey, interact with them, and become part of a community. That relationship is difficult to replicate with technology.
So I don’t think it’s simply AI versus human actors. The market will ultimately show us what audiences genuinely want to watch and connect with. But I do believe we’re already seeing how valuable real human connection becomes when everything around us gets more artificial.
As a co-founder of Vertical Drama Merch, you’ve helped turn fandom into something people can wear and collect. What convinced you that audiences wanted a deeper, more tangible connection to this genre and its actors?
Fabian: It actually started pretty organically. I was getting a lot of requests from people asking if I had my own merch, so at first I simply started thinking about creating something for my own audience.
But while looking into everything that goes into setting up a merch business, I realized: why build all of this infrastructure just for myself? There are so many other actors in the vertical space who have incredibly engaged audiences and probably don’t want to deal with everything that happens behind the scenes.
That’s where the idea for Vertical Drama Merch really came from. I wanted to create one place where the community could find merch from their favorite vertical stars, while we take care of the entire setup and infrastructure behind it.
For me, it’s another way of bringing the actors and the audience closer together and turning that connection people already feel through the screen into something tangible.
Alongside acting, you run your own production company and fashion brand. Is there a particular story, character, or world you’re eager to create yourself, one that you haven’t yet been given the chance to tell?
Fabian: I’m actually just about to launch something called Unbroken Universe, which is basically becoming the home for all of my creative stories and ideas. My production company is more the executing side of things, while Unbroken Universe is the creative world behind it.
It will bring together everything I love creating, my books, writing, films, and eventually different fictional worlds and IPs. NEREUS, my fashion brand, will also become part of a much bigger story and universe over time.
That’s something I really want to explore more in the future: not just creating one movie, one book, or one product, but building worlds around stories that can exist across different mediums. I’ve always had all these different creative interests, and Unbroken Universe is my way of finally bringing them together under one roof.
Right now, I’m releasing my second book, RAW & HONEST, on October 1st, 2026, and I’m already working on my third, GROW & BECOME, which I’m hoping to release in December before Christmas. There’s a lot I want to create, and I feel like I’m really just getting started.
Hollywood can be a demanding place for international talent. What is the most challenging part of building a career as a foreign-born actor in Los Angeles, the part that rarely gets discussed openly?
Fabian: I think the hardest part is accepting that you might have to start from zero again. When I moved to Los Angeles, I had already built a successful career in Germany, but in Hollywood, none of that automatically means anything. You have to prove yourself again in a new language, a new culture, and an industry where thousands of people are chasing the same dream.
What people rarely talk about is how much patience that takes. As an international actor, you’re not only building a career, you’re building an entirely new life at the same time. There are visas, language and accent work, understanding a different industry, building a new network, and being far away from family and the life you know.
For me, the biggest lesson was learning to put my ego aside and be willing to be a beginner again. It can be frustrating, but it also teaches you a lot about how badly you actually want it.
Somewhere in Germany, a young model is watching your journey and wondering if they could make the same leap. What is the one piece of honest advice you would give them before they book that ticket to Los Angeles?
Fabian: Don’t move to Los Angeles just because you think you have to be there to make it. Come when you have a reason to be there and when you’re ready to put in the work.
LA can open incredible doors, but it can also be expensive, lonely, and very humbling. Nobody is waiting for you when you arrive, and whatever success you might have had back home doesn’t guarantee you anything there.
So prepare yourself. Work on your craft, save some money, understand the visa situation, build relationships before you arrive if you can, and most importantly, know why you’re going.
And then, if you really want it, take the risk. Moving to Los Angeles was one of the scariest decisions I’ve made, but also one that changed my life completely.
Your career already spans modeling, vertical drama, feature films, and entrepreneurship. When you imagine yourself ten years from now, where do you see your focus: leading feature films, shaping vertical drama from behind the camera, or building something entirely new?
Fabian: I think ten years from now, my focus will be much more on creating than only being in front of the camera.
I love acting and I definitely want to continue doing it, especially when there is a character or story I really connect with. But over the last few years, I’ve realized how much I enjoy building something from the ground up: developing an idea, creating the world around it, bringing the right people together, and eventually seeing it come to life on screen.
Vertical drama has taught me a lot about storytelling and audiences, but I don’t want to limit myself to one format. I want to develop and produce films, series, books and stories across different mediums, while still acting in the projects where it makes sense.
So ten years from now, I hope I’m not defined by one title. I’d rather be someone who creates worlds and stories, sometimes in front of the camera, sometimes behind it.
As we come to a close, what message would you like to share with your fans around the world, the people who believed in you from the very beginning, and the friends who have stood by your side at every step of this journey?
Fabian: Honestly, just thank you. Some people have been following my journey for many years now and have seen me go through so many different chapters, from modeling and social media in Germany to moving to Los Angeles, starting from scratch again, acting, writing books, and now creating my own projects.
My path hasn’t always been straightforward, and I’m sure the next chapter won’t be either. So it means a lot to have people who continue to support me, even when I change direction, try something new, or don’t have everything figured out yet.
And to my friends and the people close to me who have been there through the highs and the lows: you know who you are. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.
I’m incredibly grateful for everything that has happened so far, but I also feel like I’m only getting started. So thank you for being part of the journey. I’m excited to see where it takes us next.
Fabian Arnold does not want to be defined by one title. Model, actor, producer, author, entrepreneur: each chapter has been a step toward something bigger. “I’d rather be someone who creates worlds and stories,” he says, “sometimes in front of the camera, sometimes behind it.”
The boy from Cologne who built entire universes in his head is now building them for real. And the lesson he would pass back to that younger version of himself is the same one he seems to live by today: “Dream big, work hard, but don’t forget to actually live while you’re chasing those dreams.”
With a new book on the way, another in progress, and Unbroken Universe about to open its doors, Fabian is clear about where he stands. “I feel like I’m only getting started.”
Excellent interview!!.
Chose his dreams instead… that line touched my heart so deeply. 💛 You inspire me to keep chasing mine too. So proud of you — from Cologne to LA, and now your second book! Always cheering you on from Lipa, Philippines 🇵🇭
Very interesting interview you know where you have come from and where you are going