INTERVIEW MAGAZINE – It’s time to get into Danny Ramirez. He’s 29, born in Chicago, raised in Miami, and just stepped inside Tom Cruise’s cockpit for Top Gun: Maverick. Danny’s so busy, as he’s about to appear in Claire Denis’s The Stars at Noon, but he took a minute to tell all in our work questionnaire and model the tailoring look we should all be wearing right now: louche.

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DANNY RAMIREZ: Anywhere but not everywhere.

INTERVIEW: Where are you now?
RAMIREZ: At an Airbnb, lying in bed, searching for an apartment in N.Y.C.

INTERVIEW: Who do you work with?
RAMIREZ: Storytellers and suits.

INTERVIEW: What’s your morning routine?
RAMIREZ: Watch the sunrise, chug water, stretch my calves, shower, coffee, read, Duolingo, one game of chess, and workout.

INTERVIEW: What gives you energy?
RAMIREZ: Music, coffee, love, good stories, sports, a deadline, getting challenged.

INTERVIEW: What are you made of?
RAMIREZ: Millions of decisions and moments.

INTERVIEW: How much stamina do you have?
RAMIREZ: I have 11 staminas.

INTERVIEW: What gives you stamina?

RAMIREZ: Healthy food, running, and remembering where I came from.

INTERVIEW: How do you build stamina?

RAMIREZ: Discipline, repetition, and a bit of “fuck it.” The “fuck it” helps stretch your stamina’s capacity. It’s what allows you to endure and push when it gets tough.

INTERVIEW: How many hours a day do you work?

RAMIREZ: Zero to 24.

INTERVIEW: What’s the hardest you’ve ever worked?

RAMIREZ: I did a landscaping job during high school summer break in Miami. Or fall semester sophomore year at NYU Tisch. Hamlet, Mark Antony, Hotspur, Shylock, amongst other roles while continuing to audition.

INTERVIEW: What makes work fun?
RAMIREZ: Reaching a flow state. Although sometimes the suffering to get to a flow state is the most fun.

INTERVIEW: What’s your motivation?
RAMIREZ: My family and loved ones. Others. Stories. Miami Hurricanes football to win a Natty.

INTERVIEW: What holds you back?
RAMIREZ: Not getting started. Perfectionism.

INTERVIEW: What’s your dream job?
RAMIREZ: An epic character-piece adventure that gets to shoot all over the world with incredibly talented collaborators and a story that resonates deep. Or Scarface.

INTERVIEW: When does it feel like work?
RAMIREZ: When I’m not creatively fulfilled, when it lacks greater purpose.

INTERVIEW: What got you in trouble at work?
RAMIREZ: Honesty without tact and caring too much.

INTERVIEW: What do you do on your days off?

RAMIREZ: Watch movies, go to a park with my soccer ball, explore the city, and catch up on all news about the Miami Hurricanes.

INTERVIEW: What’s your favorite workout?
RAMIREZ: Putting on my cleats and doing agility and movement work, plyometrics, or sprints.

INTERVIEW: How long can you last?
RAMIREZ: Two hours. Sometimes months.

INTERVIEW: What gets you up?
RAMIREZ: Love and student loans.

INTERVIEW: What keeps you going?
RAMIREZ: Love and student loan interest rates.

INTERVIEW: What makes you sweat?
RAMIREZ: Spicy food.

INTERVIEW: How do you endure?
RAMIREZ: I lean into it.

INTERVIEW: When do you crash?
RAMIREZ: Around 1 a.m.

INTERVIEW: Where do you want to retire?
RAMIREZ: At a press conference.

INTERVIEW: What keeps you up?
RAMIREZ: Potential of the day. Progress for tomorrow. Perfectionism.

INTERVIEW: What do you want to create?
RAMIREZ: A ripple.

INTERVIEW: What do you want to leave behind?
RAMIREZ: A wave.

INTERVIEW: What’s your reality?
RAMIREZ: I’d let you borrow my headset but I can’t take this thing off me.

INTERVIEW: What are you made of?
RAMIREZ: Bits and pieces from all over the world. My 23andMe says so.