One of my favorite series, Slow Horses, came back last week. If you aren’t familiar with Slow Horses it’s about a group of MI5 agents that work out of Slough House, an off-site building that’s a dumping ground for agents who have screwed up or disgraced themselves, but not badly enough to be fired. The rest of the agency refers to them as “slow horses.” It’s based off of a book series by Mick Herron. If you’re into the dramedy spy genre, then I totally recommend it.

SH stars Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, and Kristin Scott Thomas, but the entire ensemble is fantastic. Speaking of the ensemble, Christopher Chung plays the memorable wannabe tech bro douche Roddy Ho. Christopher just got a nice profile in the New York Times. It was quite charming and revealed that he is nothing like the character that he portrays. In fact, before hitting it big, Chung worked as a personal trainer. Actually, he’s still keeping up that side gig, even with five seasons of a hit AppleTV+ show on his resume.

Chung… works as a trainer at Fred’s Gym in London and is loyal to a group of clients, with no plans to leave.

Slow Horses is based on Mick Herron’s best-selling Slough House book series. The author, 62, told The Times that having a fit actor like Chung portray the nerdy I.T. guy, Roddy Ho, allows the character to be the “Roddy that Roddy always wanted to be.”

Chung refuted the claim that an I.T. guy can’t look like him.

“There are people like this, that are kind of geeky, nerdy, really good at computers, but that are in incredible physical shape,” he said, jokingly adding, “I’ll send you some videos.”

“He’s having the time of his life,” Herron said of Chung. “He’s terrific and audiences love him.”

In June, Chung opened up to Body and Soul about balancing both jobs and their respective schedules. He noted that he works out five to six times a week, “with four days of lifting and two days of conditioning work.”

“I feel funny in my body and mind if I don’t get those workouts in or I’ve got a lot of either pent-up anxiety, that I just need to get out,” he said.

“I’ve had to really learn how to have a new relationship with my body, and how that kind of plays into my filming schedule,” he added.

“I make sure that my nutrition is on point throughout the shoot weeks and I can’t go out and slam the beers and eat junk anymore,” he said. “I used to use food as a kind of mood leveller and binge, then I would punish myself by going to the gym and pushing as hard as I can.”

“I was motivated by aesthetics [when I was 25] whereas now I must be functional and make sure that my body is robust enough to do whatever is required of me on set, still hoping that the by-product is an aesthetic physique,” he said.

[From People]

Slow Horses doesn’t film all year long, but I hope it pays enough for its supporting cast to live off of even as they pursue their own side gigs. Hopefully this is a case in which CC prefers to do personal training rather than pursue other acting gigs. Either way, I think it’s cool that he continues to combine his hustle with his fitness passion. His clients must really appreciate that he’s stuck by them. I completely understand what he means when he says that he feels “funny” in his mind and body if he doesn’t get his workouts in. Personally, I have ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder and find that if I don’t do something like workout, take a walk, or even journal to clear my mind each day, then I feel off.

Either way, Roddy-the-character could be super annoying, but he’s endearing in his own way, and that is totally a testament to Chung’s personal charisma. I hope he gets more acting rolls moving forward if that’s what he wants. Oh, without spoiling anything, the season five premiere of Slow Horses was so intense! I can’t wait to see where the rest of the season takes us. I keep meaning to put the books into my Libby queue. I’m hoping they’re not as intense as the Will Trent series was.

photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Julie Edwards/Avalon, Dave Starbuck/Future Image/Cover Images