Leo Fitzpatrick Shares Untold BTS Stories from Skateboarding's Cult Classic ‘Kids’

Originally posted on TransWorld SKATEboarding
By Brian Blakely | Last updated Aug 21, 2025 3:31 PM ET

Call him an actor, an artist or simply just a skateboarder, but Leo Fitzpatrick has lived with the shadow of Kids (1995) for nearly three decades now. As a young east coast teen, he landed the role of "Telly" in Larry Clark’s raw (and arguably controversial) indie skate film that instantly made waves far beyond the skateboarding world.

Leo recently sat down on Living Proof Radio to reflect on that life-changing era, sharing some behind-the-scenes stories from filming Kids, what things were like once the film dropped, and how he ended up carrying the “Telly” persona for years afterward. This clip is just a small piece of the full conversation, but it’s a good one—check it out:

One fun fact—amongst the countless little nuggets peppered in here—that I found interesting to hear (although not that surprised) was that Leo's performance in Kids was so convincing that some people couldn't help but blur the line between actor and character once the film released, which is an issue I have to assume actors have dealt with since day one.

For anyone who grew up watching Kids (or felt its influence later on like myself), hearing Leo’s perspective is super interesting and a great look behind the curtain of this absolute cult classic. If you've never seen Kids, you really should, but beware—it gets pretty heavy.

That said, the film helped skyrocket a handful of careers in Hollywood and beyond, and will forever be one of the—if not the—best skateboarding films ever made.

"Aside from acting, Fitzpatrick co‐founded the experimental New York gallery Home Alone Gallery in 2012, later becoming a co-director at the Marlborough Chelsea gallery in Manhattan," Living Proof mentions on YouTube. "His gallery Public Access provided an accessible approach to art to both the viewers and artists that was less common within the New York gallery space."

This article first appeared on TransWorld Skateboarding and was syndicated with permission.

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