Connor Dean is an actor, influencer, tennis player, and now podcast host on the BLEAV network. His new podcast entitled “In or Out with Connor Dean” is about tennis philosophies applied to pop culture events. I recently interviewed this young talent about his podcast and his plans for 2023.
Thank you for the interview! Tell us about your podcast.
Thank you for interviewing me! My new podcast “In or Out with Connor Dean” has been a long time coming. I was approached almost a year ago to do a podcast about tennis. I had wanted to do a podcast, but just couldn’t think of a good concept. I knew I wanted to talk about tennis but there is so much more to my life than that and I wanted to incorporate those things into it as well. That’s when we came up with the idea of including both! Now, I talk about tennis (which I love) but also bring on guests for a discussion about current pop culture events.
How did you come up with the name “In or Out with Connor Dean”?
We threw around a lot of names because we wanted it to have something to do with tennis, but it also needed to be able to make sense for pop culture discussions as well. When you play tennis, most tournaments don’t have the umpires you see on TV calling the balls in or out. Players call their own shots which means your opponent will decide if your ball was out or not. A lot of times if the opponent doesn’t say anything the player that hit the shot will ask if their ball was “in or out”. Hence the name of the podcast!
How do you decide what pop culture events you are going to talk about?
That’s a good question. I usually correspond the event to an upcoming release of something. For example, I was lucky enough to go to the world premiere of Shazam: Fury of the Gods in March so I talked about that movie with my guest (who also attended). Since I live in Los Angeles and work in the industry there are a lot of events that I get to go to, so I never run out of finding things to talk about!
When does your podcast drop each week?
A new episode will be released every Thursday on BLEAV, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Sticher.
Photo Credit: Julian Dahl
You have also walked the runways of New York Fashion Week as a model. How did that get started?
I was approached by an up-and-coming designer to walk for them in NYC about a year ago. I thought it might be fun, so I gave it a try. I like seeing the different designs and I usually get to keep the designs which is also cool. Now I’ve been to New York Fashion Week 3 times and walked for about 5 different designers and I’ve walked for 2 designers at Los Angeles Fashion Week as well. I’m planning on heading back to New York in September for Fashion Week. It doesn’t hurt that the US Tennis Open is also that week!
You live in Los Angeles which is very different than New York. Do you like New York?
New York is very different from LA, but I do love it. I like the fact that you can walk everywhere, and I enjoy seeing Broadway shows. The food isn’t bad either! There is always something to do in NYC.
Any projects or plans for 2023 that you can share?
Well, I am continuing to work on my podcast and will be starting a very different kind of podcast with my friend Max Bartos. That one will be all about horror movies because we both really like them and know a lot about them. I am also a series regular in an upcoming show called “Veghead”. It is being pitched to different networks at the moment. Other than that, I will be traveling, working on school, playing tennis tournaments, and finding time to hang out with my friends.
Where can we follow you?
You can follow me on all social media @theconnordean or follow my podcast In or Out with Connor Dean
Photo Credit: Rodin Eckenroth