Freddie Stroma Talks “The Crew,” Self-Care, and the Last Thing He Bought Online

To Harry Potter fans, Freddie Stroma is best known for his role as Cormac McLaggen, the obnoxious Gryffindor who had a crush on Hermione and accompanied her to Professor Slughorn’s Christmas party, much to Ron’s disdain. He’s worked on many other projects since, including Pitch Perfect (Luke), UnREAL (Adam Cromwell), and very recently, Bridgerton (Prince Friederich). Now, he has returned to our screens in Netflix’s new NASCAR-based series, The Crew, which premiered on February 15. He recently answered a few questions for PopSugar‘s Q&A series, Last Call, revealing what he’s been up to lately, his favorite show, and what he does for self-care.

Stroma, like most actors, experienced what it’s like to work during a pandemic last year. The Crew still had a few episodes left to film while the pandemic was in full swing, but Stroma says that it actually turned out to be a lot of fun, despite the circumstances.

We finished the last few episodes during the pandemic, so there were a lot of measures in place to keep us safe (masks, shields, no more live audience, etc.). It was great, though — the last scene we shot was the opening scene of the show, which was insanely fun to shoot.

Speaking of shows, Stroma is a huge fan of the Netflix show Lupin (we’ll admit that we wanted it to be about the actual Remus Lupin at first) and admits that he can’t wait for the second part to come out. We’re right there with him.

Stroma also makes time to read, and the last book he read was Making Movies by Sidney Lumet.

I admire his work so much, and the book is great because it not only gives you anecdotal stories but [also gives you] an in-depth look at the techniques he used. He’s such a legend!

Speaking of legends, Stroma still gets starstruck every now and then when meeting one. He admits that it was a little scary working with Jennifer Lopez in the 2018 film Second Act.

I got to do a dance with her in Second Act, which is pretty scary considering what an icon and terrific dancer she is.

Apart from dancing in the occasional film, Stroma also makes time to exercise to keep in shape. His last workout consisted of a run and weight training, accompanied by Apashe’s hit song “Majesty.” He also recently started prioritizing stretching as a form of self-care.

I’ve spent my whole life playing sports and working out but hardly ever stretching the amount that I should be. So now I’ve got an uphill battle to get some form of flexibility back.

While on the topic of self-care, Stroma shared the last thing he bought for himself online.

Oven gloves. That’s right, it was oven gloves. It’s tiring being this cool, but that’s the life I chose.

His wife, Johanna Braddy, also makes sure to spoil him every once in a while, and Stroma seems very impressed by the most recent gift he got from her, which came in the form of a T-shirt.

[It] says ‘Keep calm and call 0118 999 881 999 911 9725…3.’ It’s from The It Crowd. We’ve seen every episode at least four times now.

As for what the best piece of life-changing advice is that he’s received, Stroma’s answer is fairly simple: Go whole food plant-based.

My wife and I are predominantly vegan now and have never felt better. We follow a YouTube channel called Simnett Nutrition. He’s this awesome Canadian nutritionist called Derek Simnett who has great recipes and fitness advice.

Have you watched The Crew on Netflix yet? What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments.