Eddie Ramos knew that he wanted to be an actor at 9 years old.
He quickly made that dream a reality when he joined the City Lights Youth Theatre and acted in his first off-Broadway play, “Rags,” one year later. Now, Ramos is a main character on “Incorporated,” a new series that premiered on the Syfy Channel on Nov. 30.
Ramos, 25, grew up in the LeFrak City apartments in Corona and then moved to Rego Park where he attended the Kew Forest School in Forest Hills. He acted in productions throughout middle school and high school, getting cast in plays and musicals such as “The Music Man,” and eventually attended Syracuse University to get his degree in acting.
“[My mom and I] would take the train into Times Square through the 59th Street Bridge,” Ramos said. “I remember being so excited to go into the city to act.”
Growing up in the 90s, Ramos said movies such as “The Mask” starring Jim Carrey inspired him to pursue acting.
“I watched that move in the ’90s over and over and over again,” he said. “I think what was cool about the ’90s was that so many movies were about kids and them growing up in their neighborhoods so it definitely helped me imagine myself on the screen.”
The HBO show “Entourage” was a large part of the reason why Ramos decided to move to Los Angeles after graduation. The show follows aspiring actor Vince Chase, played by Adrian Grenier, and his friends who are all Queens natives as they try to make it in the movie business in Los Angeles.
“Queens has such a rich history in the movie world,” he said. “It’s such a cool borough to come from.”
Ramos began booking small parts in popular shows like MTV’s “Teen Wolf” and NBC’s “Parenthood” after college. Casting director Wendy O’Brien, who cast him on “Teen Wolf,” brought Ramos to call backs for “Incorporated.”
“[I auditioned in front of] a big, large number of people, 20, 30, 40 people,” he said. “It’s just you in front of CBS executives in this big auditorium and you just gotta go.”
The show, produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, takes place in 2074. In this version of the world, climate change has wreaked havoc on the planet and corporations have effectively taken the place of the government.
Those who work for large corporations live in the Green Zone, which is filled with self-driving cars and the latest technology. Ramos, who plays a scrappy character named Theo, lives in the Red Zone. Most inhabitants in the Red Zone struggle to survive and corporations have little influence there.
Theo is left to fend for himself after he loses his family, especially his sister Elana, who has gone missing. In the first episode, the main character Ben Larson who is played by Sean Teale, locates her using face-recognition software. This leads Larson and Theo on a quest to find her.
Larson, who lives in the Green Zone and works for one of the most powerful corporations SPIGA, tries to locate her by getting a promotion at work to get access to classified documents.
Theo, who uses his fighting skills to work and make money through cage fights, begins working for a fight organizer to try to gain access into the Green Zone to find Elena. Ramos said he had some training when he played a boxer in a Tennessee Williams play adaptation in college. But training to play Theo was very different.
“I was training with one of the best fighters in Canada for six hours, two to three times a week,” he said. “The creators and fight coordinators and me all wanted to make sure that Theo looked like a fighter. That meant that he ate like a fighter and trained like a fighter and lived like a fighter.”
The show was shot from May through September in Toronto and Ramos said he has gotten close with the cast, which includes Sean Teale, Allison Miller, Julia Ormond, Ian Tracey and Dennis Haysbert.
“[Sean Teale] has become a brother to me. We’ve gotten so close,” he said. “He really took the lead position with such grace and authority and he makes everyone around him feel so much better.”
Ramos, who is the oldest of four brothers, said his family and friends are excited to see his hard work pay off. His mother, Melissa, even hosted a premiere party at EXO Café in Forest Hills.
“Coming from Queens, there’s not another place with people so genuine and so real and so many people to cheer you on,” he said. “You know that saying, ‘It takes a village?’ It definitely takes a borough.”
His younger brother, who attends The Garden School in Jackson Heights, even started selling Ramos’ autograph to his middle school friends. He was quickly told by his older brother not to do that.
“I have a huge thank you and a huge special place in my heart for Queens,” he said. “I hope that I continue the work and I get a project about Queens soon. It’s definitely where my heart belongs and I can’t wait to go back for Christmas.”
Ramos said his character will be “going down a path that I don’t think even he was ready for.”
“It’s definitely going to be a bumpy ride,” he added.
“Incorporated” airs on the Syfy Channel every Wednesday at 10 p.m.
