Off Campus star Stephen Kalyn lands World Cup and Verizon gigs
The Vancouver actor served as a Coca-Cola Coin Toss Ambassador at the Canada-Switzerland match and just released a major brand campaign.
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Life is moving fast for Stephen Kalyn. The Vancouver-based actor, a breakout star of Prime Video's hit hockey romance series Off Campus, was a Coca-Cola Coin Toss Ambassador at the World Cup coin toss for the Canada vs. Switzerland match at BC Place on Wednesday, June 24. He and co-stars were also spotted at BC Place for Egypt's 3-1 win over New Zealand on June 21.
"It's an honour to be part of a moment that unites the world," Kalyn said in a statement. "The FIFA World Cup coming to our home country is something we've dreamed about for a long time, and being here to celebrate it as a Coca-Cola Coin Toss Ambassador makes this moment even more special."
The World Cup appearance comes on the heels of Kalyn's first major brand deal: a steamy black-and-white campaign for Verizon's new Simplicity plan that dropped on June 23. Styled like a Calvin Klein ad, Kalyn dances and struts in a white tank top and leather pants as INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" plays. He tells the camera, "It's you. It's only you. You're the one," before the tank top comes off and he delivers the tagline: "Simple is sexy."
Kalyn plays Dean Di Laurentis in the Vancouver-shot Off Campus, which became Prime Video's third-largest series debut ever with 36 million viewers in its first 12 days after dropping May 26. On the World Cup moment, he told the Hollywood Reporter that doing a commercial was a different beast. "You can kind of just let loose and think to yourself, 'Oh God, I really hope nobody would ever see me doing that in public.' That's kind of how I was feeling."
Off Campus has temporarily paused Season 2 production during the World Cup.