Fredrik Eklund (aka porn's Tag Ericksson) set for 'Million Dollar Listing'

Rumors have been circulating the past few months that Fredrik Eklund, a.k.a porn actor Tag Ericksson, was going to appear on the new season of Bravo's reality real-estate show, "Million Dollar Listing."

Yesterday Bravo sent out a press release confirming that Eklund will be appearing as one of the brokers on the New York spin-off, "Million Dollar Listing New York," which premieres on March 7 at 10pm.

"Million Dollar Listing" has been a hit on Bravo for four seasons thanks to its quirky coverage of real estate agents working in Hollywood and Malibu, California. According to a Bravo release, the New York edition will "follows three of Manhattan's most relentless realtors and their intertwining lives as they fight for their share of the market and deal with demanding clients in order to make a fortune selling the hottest and most expensive real estate in the city."

In addition to Eklund, the real estate agents to be featured in the New York edition are Michael Lorber, Director of Business Development for Douglas Elliman Worldwide Consulting, and Ryan Serhant is SVP, Managing Director for Nest Seekers International.

What was missing from the Bravo bio about Eklund was any mention of his porn past. Here is his bio as published:

"Fredrik Eklund is the youngest Managing Director for Prudential Douglas Elliman. With more than 1.25 billion dollars in residential sales, he is known for being a "listings machine" working with the firm's senior management team focusing on international sales, new developments and re-sales throughout Manhattan. Eklund is constantly rated as downtown's "Top Luxury Broker" and was nominated as "Rookie of the Year" by the Real Estate Board of New York. He set record sales in 28 buildings in Manhattan last year and is often spotted showing apartments to top name celebrities. Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, Eklund studied at the Stockholm School of Economics before founding an Internet company and working for the investment bank SEB in Stockholm, London, Singapore and Tokyo. In addition, he is the founder of a high end residential real estate brokerage in Scandinavia with 35 employees."

His ’non de porn’

Not that Eklund is hiding his porn past. Far from it. In a profile published in the Style section of the New York Times on November 12, 2010, his successful career as a real estate broker was mentioned, as was "that other career of his: that of a one-time actor who starred in a half-dozen adult films under the nom de porn Tag Eriksson."

Eklund, who came to America ten years ago "with zero clients and no real estate training," built a career in porn thanks to his regimen at a New York Gym.

The Times described it this way:

"It was that body that caught the eye of an online casting agent in 2001. Wash West, a tongue-in-cheek pornography director who had worked with Bruce LaBruce and others, was intrigued by Mr. Eklund's story. "His grandfather was a famous actor in Sweden, so he came with this pedigree of Swedish theater and film," Mr. West said, referring to Bengt Eklund, who worked with Bergman.

"As Tag Eriksson, Mr. Eklund appeared in approximately six films shot in California in 2001 and 2002, including "The Hole," a parody of the popular horror film "The Ring." (In "The Ring" watching a cursed videotape causes the characters to die; in "The Hole" it makes them gay.) The film won him a 2004 GayVN award, sometimes called the gay pornography Oscars, for a best solo scene.

"For Mr. Eklund, the racy films offered an escape from the strictures of Old World Sweden. How others might judge him was not a concern. 'Did I ever think it would affect my career negatively?' he said. 'No. Did I think that I might fall in love with somebody one day who might have a problem with it? Yes.'"

’Lord of the Fruit Flies’

He took those experiences and wrote a book about it: an autobiographical novel called "Bananflugornas Herre" or "Lord of the Fruit Flies."

"It started as a diary," he told the Times. "It was never about the movies themselves, it was about the journey a young Swedish man goes through."

When published in Sweden it became a sensation, largely because Eklund comes from one of Sweden's most prominent families "with ties to prime ministers, the royal family, even the legendary director Ingmar Bergman." It made Eklund somewhat of a minor celebrity back in his native Stockholm, and the subject of glowing profiles in the Swedish press.

The book also helped Eklund came out to his father. He sent him a copy of the manuscript before it was published. "So this was his way of telling me - a rather drastic way," the elder Mr. Eklund told the Times. He was shaken by the revelation. "I became worried, not because of the movies themselves, but I feared drugs and AIDS, probably like any caring parent would do."

Early tech adapter

Eklund wasted little time in making his real estate career happen in New York. Upon getting his license at NYU, he went to work for at the real estate firm JC DeNiro, an agency owned by Robert DeNiro's uncle Jack, where his volume of business garnered him a nomination for rookie of the year by the Real Estate Board of New York.

He attributes some of his success to being an early adapter of the BlackBerry and using the internet. ""When I started..." he told the Times, "listings were still coming in by fax."

While Eklund is discreet about his celebrity clientele, they are said to include Daniel Craig, John Legend, Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd, Rachel McAdams, Ben Stiller and Brooke Shields.

And after the New York edition of "Million Dollar Listing" premieres in March, expect Eklund to have fifteen more minutes of fame.