3 Years in Pakistan: The Erik Aude Story

Turn.

Fuck!

Wait... wait... Please.

She does a grab, on the ground, stay on the ground.

Sorry guys, excuse me.

Slower is actually better than faster.

I want you to keep the fight in this area. In this area.

I'm gonna have the pads down on the ground for you guys

the whole time, OK?

Hard work doesn't bother him, ya know?

You never hear him complaining.

He's uh... collaborative.

and that's what you look for in any artist you work with.

What are you doing in acting for 2013?

I got a lot of stuff going on, just acting, auditioning,

living life, playing poker and enjoying every minute of it.

He just has a positive attitude,

he just has a positive outlook,

he just laughs things off.

And I think it's his way of, like always fighting

to like hold on to his joy.

So we're here at "Vice is Nice", every year

it's my favorite charity by far,

It's for animal rescue and I love that

100% of all profits go toward the animals.

I, myself, have a rescue,

and it's by far one of the best parts of my life.

He's been through a lot and...

You know, to still carry the smile on his face

and be the cheerful guy that you know today is just a blessing.

He has a hard shell and this sounds

like super cliché, but he's super loving.

This is like my godmother in the poker world, but she's one of

my best friends. I love this woman, love her sense of humor.

The only woman to final table at the main event ever,

still to this day.

Poker is great-I love poker.

I see people get mad and I just laugh,

I go: "Why are you getting mad? just shake it off."

It could always be worse, no matter how bad it gets,

it could absolutely always be worse.

I think he's honest to a fault.

And I think he loves life no matter what took place,

and I think he doesn't hold grudges.

He's got a pair of Jack's.

Gimme your fucking money.

When I met him I feel like I'm home, ya know what I'm saying?

I feel like somebody... You just get used to him so quickly

for some reason, I don't know why.

he's been through a lot, ya know.

Life definitely hasn't been easy for him.

I'm getting emotional.

I feel like he puts up a front or tells his jokes

or tries to be the tough guy, but... He's a sweetheart.

It's something that happened to me so long ago.

Are you fine with it all coming back up again? Because you...

I don't know... because I did the show Locked up Abroad ,

it's constantly thrown back in my face again.

And I'm constantly having to justify what uh,

in people's words, I "claim" happened.

I think it would be really good closure

to tell your story in your own words,

and then it's almost like...

you get the last word because you got to tell the truth,

and I think that's important.

At least this way everyone can kinda see how I am

and why I am the way that I am.

I'm the youngest of six boys... no sisters.

Peter's my only full brother.

Um... When my mom met my dad she had Peter and myself

but uh my dad and her just couldn't get along

and ya know, she painted a really bad picture of my dad

So I really didn't have a great relationship with my dad.

Jeff and Michael are my mom's first two kids.

They... they had it kind of bad.

- There we go. - Hey, how are ya?

I'm good, we finally meet! I feel like I know you.

Can you tell me your full name and your relationship to Erik?

My name is Jeffrey Farneski

and I'm Erik's birth brother.

I'm under Michael and above Peter

and then Erik's the youngest.

I know you guys were spread out, but if you can tell us

what your relationship was like when you were kids.

We actually didn't have one.

Out of the children that Sherry, our mother, had,

I was the only one placed up for adoption.

So I actually found out about Erik when I was 18.

My mom was... you know she was young,

but she also wasn't...

She wasn't the best idea of a mother, I guess you could say.

Hello?

Hi, Sherry?

Who's calling for her, please?

This is Jamielyn Lippman. I'm a friend of your son Erik's

and I'm also a filmmaker.

Your name again, please.

Jamielyn.

- Hi, Jamie. - Hi, how are you?

I'm doing very well, thank you.

Well I wanted to call you because I'm making a documentary

about Erik and I wanted to see about coming out there

to interview you.

Does Erik know about this?

He does.

Has he given you permission to speak with me?

Yes.

OK, fine. I'll only say this:

Erik is totally innocent.

I will tell you that now. He is totally innocent.

I'll put my hand on a bible and stand before God about that.

I'll do anything for him.

Sherry was involved in her own aspirations

and Erik kinda went and did his thing.

And I was usually out in the garage.

Right before seventh grade, I was twelve years old.

and Lethal Weapon had come...

Lethal Weapon 3 was being filmed up in Lancaster

at this old housing track.

So Merle brought me there

and he says: "Erik come back in twenty minutes."

I stayed there for a couple hours that night.

I knew I was gonna get in trouble.

We saw the aftermath and saw the whole movie set

and how things are laid out

and how things are done,

and I guess that put the hook in him.

Growing up I liked to watch Jean-Claude van Damme movies,

Arnold Schwarzenegger movies,

and I wanted to be those guys growing up.

I wanted to be a stuntman my whole life.

Tunnel vision, ya know if that's what he wants to do,

then that's what he's gonna do.

He's got his own set of principles.

I was the kind of kid

that you kept your kids away from.

I was an asshole, I was a brat, I was a smartass,

and it's my mouth that got me into a lot of fights.

I was not athletic sports-wise. I was terrible.

I tried basketball, I sat the bench...

I didn't play football until I got into high school

but the only reason I wanted to play football...

The only reason I wanted to play football

was because I liked to hit.

As a football coach I'm gonna get

a lot of different personalities,

and I'm gonna have the opportunity to work with

a lot of different guys.

but Erik was always somebody

I think that respected me

enough to listen to my advice.

And I think that really helped us become close.

And to this day we're close friends.

To this day I hold a California record.

It's stood since 1996.

Even though I played for a very small school,

my record of "the most tackles by a defensive end" stands.

I had 147 tackles. I wanted to play football

but I wanted to act and do stunts even more.

And I was doing little shows when I was still in high school.

But the second I turned 18, I moved out of the house

and I tried to get down to Hollywood.

During this time I was still auditioning,

I was booking some shows here. I booked a big WB show.

I was doing Nickelodeon shows.

I was always doing co-stars and small reoccuring...

He got so much work it was crazy.

I mean Erik was very aggressive,

and he knew what he wanted and he would go for it.

He would not give up.

And he had friends that were directors.

He would call them and get parts.

And he just loved to be in front of a camera.

I met Erik on an episode of Cousin Skeeter.

It was a tv show I was doing for Nickelodeon

and he came on as a guest star,

and I remember thinking "This guy's crazy".

He was just super awesome,

full of energy, willing to try and do anything

and we just got really close.

Even though yes, I was starting to become a working actor,

I still needed a side job to make ends meet

because working as an actor maybe once every month

or every other month just doesn't pay the bills.

So I always had jobs. I was a security guard

and I got asked to be the night time manager

at a local gym called World Gym in Burbank.

He's always talking, he loves to talk.

Sometimes I tell him "Erik, you don't know these people".

He's like: "Hey, you gonna practice this and that

you have to know everybody."

It's good because you never know who you're talking to.

So when you're on the front,

it's like easy access or easy victim

for people to get to you.

Because you work in the front desk,

anybody can come and talk to you,

you know what I'm saying?

That's how that incident started. Yeah.

Wait, Erik let me ask you: