(New York, NY) — Bravo Million Dollar Listing New York’s Fredrik Eklund has cleaned up his act since his days as a gay porn star. Today, he is widely considered to be one of the top brokers among the Manhattan elite.
Currently, Managing Director at Prudential Douglas Elliman, Eklund has worked with the likes of Daniel Craig, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd, Rachel McAdams, Ben Stiller, Hillary Swank, Sophia Coppola, Brooke Shields, and the Olsen twins.
Formerly known as Tag Eriksson, the Sweedish gay porn actor who starred in the infamous film, “The Hole,” a parody of the popular flick, “The Ring,” which won him a 2004 GayVN award – the gay porn equivalent to the Oscars – for a Best Solo Scene.
It all started back in 2001, when Fredrik Eklund’s rock hard body and bright blue eyes caught the eye of Walsh West, a tongue-in-cheek porn director, who was also intrigued by Eklund’s Sweedish theatre and film pedigree as the grandson of Bengt Eklund – a famous Sweedish actor who worked with film legend, Ingmar Bergman. Shortly thereafter, the aspiring young actor – still in the closet to his parents – was offered an opportunity at gay porn stardom.
Coming from a prominent Sweedish family – his father, Klas Eklund is the Chief Economist, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), who has close ties to Sweeden’s Prime Minister – it is no surprise that when the X-rated tabloid press about Fredrik began spreading throughout the country, the ex-porn star moved to New York City.
Given Eklund’s posh Sweedish upbringing, he felt right at home in Manhattan society. Naturally, he runs with a glamorous set of Swedes, like Princess Madeleine and Victoria’s Secret model, Caroline Winberg. Rather quickly, Eklund’s bite into the big apple left a mark. In 2005, just a year into his first job at JC DeNiro – the real estate firm owned by Robert DeNiro’s uncle Jack – Eklund did $50 million in business, solidifying his reputation as a closer, and earning him a nomination for “Rookie of the Year” by the Real Estate Board of New York.
Within two years, Eklund joined Shaun Osher’s highly visible boutique real estate firm, CORE Marketing Group as Managing Director, building his portfolio over $58 million, earning No. 37 spot on The Real Deal’s listing of top brokers in New York City. In the last eight years, he has grossed more than $1.25 billion dollars in residential sales, and currently runs a senior management team at Prudential Doulgas Elliman.
Seemingly destined for the small screen, Fredrik Eklund is now set to star on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York, airing this March. Not the first real estate reality show to be cast in, Eklund was originally part of HGTV’s Selling New York, while working at CORE. However, upon the producers’ discovery of his salacious past, he was promptly ousted from the show.
Moving on from his gay porn star days, Eklund’s being featured in the New York Times Styles section in 2010 was certainly a step up since his stint in “The Hole.” To Eklund it is just another taste of what life has to offer, as he told the New York Times, “Life is a big tasty smorgasbord, and there are a lot of really good-looking sandwiches to try.”
