It’s ironic, then, that the Hulu series Chad Powers—which Powell cowrote, executive produced, and stars in—is about a cocky college quarterback who quite literally dances before touching down in the end zone, leading to viral fame and public shame. The series, loosely based on Eli Manning’s ESPN+ show, Eli’s Places, tracks an absurd Mrs. Doubtfire–meets–Animal House comeback plot. “There’s not one part of me that’s jaded,” he says. “I’m really pinching myself every day that I’ve stumbled into this moment where I get to do this.”
That characterization is a typical Powell understatement. As a teenager, he landed a small part—“long-fingered boy”—in a big movie, Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 3. “I shot for a couple hours maybe, and they had to literally kick me off [set] when the grips were moving all their stuff out. I didn’t want to leave,” he remembers. Soon thereafter, Powell got to work in his family’s garage, building his own makeshift studio. “I got PVC pipe and old skateboard wheels, and I literally made my own camera dolly so that I could shoot movies with my friends.”
It’s clear that beneath Powell’s charming smile is an unstoppable grind. His hustle has taken him far: “When I first moved out to Los Angeles, if I would get an audition or a meeting on the Universal lot, I was the guy that, maybe the meeting was 30 minutes to an hour, I would stay there all day,” he says. “I didn’t want to leave. I would go around the lot and try to meet people, and go explore the lot. I’d go eat food from the Desperate Housewives crafty [craft services]. I just wanted to be a part of that world.” Now his production company, Barnstorm, has a bungalow on that same lot, thanks to a deal with the studio.
This, Powell knows, is his real superpower. “The reality is I’ve never considered myself to be the most talented person,” he says. “I never felt like I was the guy that showed up and could nail it. But I knew that I was always the guy that was going to outwork the person next to me, and no one would ever outwork me.”
With a whopping five projects lined up, it’s hard to disagree. He’s currently working on a comedy about a country music star with Judd Apatow, something Powell can hardly believe when he says it out loud. His genuine aw-shucks enthusiasm might be why the internet, which has affectionately compared him to a capybara (though Powell self-identifies as a golden retriever), loves to root for him. When he mentions A-list names like Tom Cruise (“a guy that I really modeled so much of my taste and choices after”), throughout our conversation, he always seems sincerely starstruck. He’s just as excited to be here—on a film set, on a red carpet, or in a movie theater—as we are to see him.