Known for his breakout role as John B in the hit Netflix series Outer Banks, Chase Stokes is stepping into 2025 with undeniable momentum. The actor kicks off the year with two feature films: Valiant One and Marked Men. The former, a gripping military thriller, sees Stokes deliver a raw, intense performance as Edward Brockman, alongside co-star Lana Condor of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. In contrast, Marked Men explores a passionate whirlwind romance, with Stokes portraying Rule Archer—a broody, emotionally reserved tattoo artist.

Stokes sat down with VMAN to share everything as he embarks on his exciting new chapter—from on-set anecdotes and his personal tattoo philosophy, to his desire to branch out into other realms of filmmaking.

VMAN: What has 2025 been like so far for you?

CHASE STOKES: So far, it’s been a little bit of a whirlwind. I participated in dry January for a little bit, so that was fun. It turned into damp January for a little bit — but it’s still been good. Having two projects come out has definitely tested my patience, and made me really hunker down on how I’m operating, but I’m super thankful and super grateful. I feel like it’s really rare to have an opportunity like this.

VMAN: I’d love to pivot to your new film, “Valiant One.” It’s such a layered and intense military film. What drew you to the role and the script?

CS: I think you see a lot of military films that really focus on either the private sector, who have these insanely capable operators, or like the Rangers and SEAL teams — all of these really fascinating, well-prepared military professionals. This felt like a version of a story that highlighted the people who are not equipped for those types of situations. In my own research, I found that it felt like the majority of the military falls into an [Edward] Brockman-esque type of category. 

Beyond it being a military film, it felt like a story of a kid who really didn’t have a direction to go. He followed the rule book of life, found himself in the military, and then through a chain of events, ends up in this unforeseen, one-in-a-trillion circumstance. To go even deeper on the humanistic side, the idea of someone who doesn’t feel ready for something but is forced to prepare is a really universal story to me. We all feel ill-prepared or unequipped for life, and sometimes you just have to commit and keep moving forward, one foot after the other. 

Steve Barnett has done some incredible films from the producing side, and I absolutely fucking adore Lana Condor. Having both of them on the table felt like a really cool opportunity to do something that felt relatable, felt like a film that people would enjoy, but also to play a character that also felt very specific but also broad, if that makes sense. 

VMAN: Do you have any fun or notable on-set stories you’d like to share?

CS: Gosh. I mean, one of the funniest parts of it was, you know, all of the equipment we wore was the actual equipment that the U.S. military wears. So, whether it’s your plate carrier or your backpack with all of the equipment, we didn’t cheat anything. We were wearing like, 40-60 pounds worth of equipment at all times, and Lana just could not find her center of gravity. 

In this one specific scene where we’re running towards this house, Lana goes front, and I’m following her. All I see is Lana in a full out sprint, then her body starts to go sideways, her feet leave the ground, and she just starts tumbling. It started this chain of events of Lana continuously losing her footing and falling. I have a really bad tendency: When something bad happens, I laugh. Thank God she wasn’t hurt, but it was such a consistent thing that she would tell me to “go fuck [myself]” because I would laugh at her while she fell. It didn’t make sense in my brain how quickly somebody could lose their center of gravity. That was a running joke with all of us: “Is Lana going to take a tumble today?”

VMAN: That’s so funny, poor Lana! Did you or the cast in general watch anything or do anything noteworthy to prepare for your roles?

CS: There’s so many films that we could take source material from. Steve and I connected early on about the camera movements and the way that we wanted to do this film. There’s a scene when we’re in this North Korean truck that is fed by a wood burning stove. It was an homage to one of both of our favorite movies, Children of Men. The camera movements of the scene also mirrored those in the film, so you have nods to some of the great cinematographers and films of times past. 

But it’s interesting, I would go back and watch 13 Hours, or Black Hawk Down, or Saving Private Ryan — all of these great military films. Even so, doing that didn’t really help with positioning where I needed to be for the film — it was really all about boots-on-the-ground training. Day one, we got off the plane, got our stuff situated, and went straight to the gun range. We were all immediately immersed in the world. 

We had a great military advisor. He’s kind of a legend in the U.S. military. His name’s Todd Sharbutt. He’s a 25 year Navy SEAL, Master Chief veteran. I mean, he’s seen any and everything you could ever imagine in combat. To have somebody like that making sure that we did everything right: from tying our boots, our patches being placed accordingly, to the ways that we were holding our primary and secondary firearms — all of that was super important to him. For Lana and I especially, we both come from military families, so it was important that we made sure that this film was as accurate as we humanly could make it.

VMAN: Pivoting over to Marked Men, where you play a tattoo artist who gets unexpectedly swept up in a romance, can you talk a little bit about any tattoos that you have or want to have?

CS: I have 18 or 19 tattoos. They go from my hand all the way up my arm, and then I have a big honker over here, and then one on my wrists. It kind of started out as a joke. I got this little smiley face right here. His name’s Frank. I was scared of needles and permanence, and I never thought I would get a tattoo. The first time I got tattooed, I did it as a way of conquering a fear. It’s grown into this thing that I call “my sketchbook of life.” I didn’t get one specifically for the film, but I’ve definitely gotten more since the film finished.

VMAN: Can you explain some of the tattoos that we see on Rule in the film? I remember seeing the “1939” tattoo on the character in one of the film’s earlier scenes, and wondered what the meaning was behind that one.

CS: Interestingly enough, that’s my tattoo. It was pretty cool; I asked Nick, “Hey, do we want to cover these?” And he was like, “No, I think it’s kind of cool that you have a piece of yourself in this movie.” I think there’s a piece of myself in Rule as well. My right arm in the film is my actual right arm, but the left arm’s tattoos were all added for Rule specifically — as well as the back chest piece. I think my favorite tattoo of his is the finger tattoos of Remy, his brother, just because it’s such a painful placement. I think he’s holding so much pain and anger towards himself to get such an intense, thick tattoo on your knuckles like that — the sentimental value of it is very present.

VMAN: For sure. You mentioned that the first tattoo you got was to conquer your fear of permanence, but Rule’s philosophy in the film around tattoos is that each one should have a very specific, deeper meaning to the person. Do you live by a similar philosophy when you get new tattoos?

CS: The majority of my tattoos have a lot of meaning. Like, 1939 was the year my grandmother was born, and she basically raised me as a young kid — I lived in a retirement community for a long time — and then the other one right next to it is a dove. It says, “Love, Joan,” which is the last signature she wrote on a Christmas card to me before she passed. A lot of them have a ton of sentimental value, but I do have a few that don’t follow Rule’s tattoo code of honor. He would probably be a little pissed at me.

VMAN: I read in another interview where you mentioned that you were interested in directing and camera work as well. Is that something that you have planned for the future and that you actively want to pursue?

CS: I do, and I am. Before I got into acting, I’ve always been a huge camera nerd. Doing a show like Outer Banks for the last God knows how many years, you get immersed in a world where there’s no boundaries. It’s like a limitless playground for filmmaking. I’ve gone from messing around holding boom mics to our camera operators asking, “What focal length are you thinking we’re at?” or going to our DP and asking, “Hey, are we gonna use a filter here to make sure that the light is diffused so it looks pretty?” I’ve just learned so much, and it’s continuously increased my interest in the world of filmmaking. In having conversations with people and by growing in the industry, I’ve been very fortunate that some people have taken interest in allowing me to get in the director’s chair and tell stories from that perspective—there will be more on that soon.

VMAN: That’s so exciting. My last question is, if your life were a book, what would you call the chapter that you’re on right now?

CS: “It feels good to breathe.”

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Photography Daniel Prakopcyk
Fashion Avo Yermagyan
Grooming Marissa Machado