You probably know Jay Ellis as Payback, one of the lovable new recruits in Top Gun: Maverick, this year’s biggest blockbuster thus far. Or if you were a huge Insecure stan, you probably had mixed feelings about him as the bungling, on-and-off boyfriend of Issa Rae’s character. His latest gig, however, is something entirely different: Ellis is currently the host of the second season of How Did They Build That?, a Smithsonian Channel series that examines several notable buildings and structures by probing the minds of the architects and engineers who brought them to life.
The gig “isn't me just doing a job,” Ellis tells AD, but rather somewhat of a passion project. “Being able to dive into something that I love and truly enjoy has been such an awesome thing.” His enthusiasm for the project is especially noteworthy when you consider that Ellis is having maybe one of the best summers of his life. Not only did Top Gun just whiz past the 1997 mega-hit Titanic in domestic box office sales, but Ellis just tied the knot with the love of his life in a dreamy garden wedding in Tuscany. The couple also just bought a charming house in Hollywood’s Spaulding Square (a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone) according to Dirt.com, though they have yet to move in
Below, Ellis tells AD about the show, his love of architecture, his favorite buildings of the season, and his new home.
Architectural Digest: Even though this is the second season of the show, you’re the first host. How does that feel?
Jay Ellis: It’s awesome! I love architecture. I’m such an architecture nerd. When I got called for it, I heard that it was the first time they were going to have a host, and I was like, Oh, okay, I like that! I get to talk about architecture, and buildings, and structures that are going to stand for hundreds of years and are going to have huge impacts on the cultures and cities and people around them.
What do you think you bring to the show?
I play around, and I’m a little goofy, so I definitely think there’s some lightness that’s brought to it. I am a naturally curious person and love to learn. I hope I make it enjoyable for people, and fun! [I] want them to be amazed in the same way that I’m being amazed every time I learn about a building or structure. Listen, as a Black dude, to be on TV talking about architecture in a space that we normally don’t get to be represented in, I absolutely enjoy that and love it. I have friends who are architects, and to be able to, in some way at a distance, represent them in the work that they do is really cool.
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Where do you think that curiosity [for architecture] comes from?
I really don’t know. I will say I think the first time I ever really just stared at a building and was like, Huh, I wonder how that happened? was when my dad was in the Air Force and we moved around a ton. There was a stretch where we were on an Air Force base in Austin, Texas, and I remember the Frank Erwin Center—which is the basketball stadium at the University of Texas. I remember staring at it and being like, Huh, that's a big building! Like, How do they do that? How do they put seats in it? And a basketball court in it? Then how do they change it into a stadium for musical performances? My grandparents lived in Sacramento, California, and when you would drive from their house in North Highlands to the airport, you would always pass the stadium that the Sacramento Kings played in, and I remember watching that being built as a kid and that stood out to me. I think maybe that grew into this love of architecture that now spans residential, and commercial, and structures, and bridges, and tunnels, and so many other things.
Were you lucky enough to visit any of the buildings or structures that are in this season?
No, I didn’t get to visit any of the ones in the season. I’m hoping that when the folks at Smithsonian read this article, they’ll let me go visit a bunch next year. I want to go to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. I’ve been to the ones in New York and Venice. Next time I’m in New York, I one hundred percent want to pop into Little Island; that one I think is dope. Anytime somebody can build an island, I’m like, How does it not wash away? Like, Am I really brave enough to step on it?
Which one of the buildings in the season is your favorite? You just mentioned [Guggenheim] Bilbao.
That's definitely one of them. I would also say the library in Seattle designed to look like a stack of books, which is genius! The building, from the exterior, looks like a stack of books. As a person who loves to read, it makes me want to stack a bunch of books on my nightstand. It looks like a bunch of books stacked on your coffee table by 2,000 times the scale. It’s really cool.
You also just recently bought a beautiful home in historic Spaulding Square. Did you purposely make a purchase in a historic neighborhood?
It just happened this time, to be honest. But I lived in a historic neighborhood previous to this. I lived in an area where the homes were built all in the 1920s. And it was a [neighborhood] full of primarily Spanish-style homes. And I absolutely loved that experience. I loved the pride that folks take in the neighborhood, not just their own home, but collectively caring about a group and a neighborhood. We started looking for a home and we found this place and it just so happened to be a 1919 historical home…. I haven’t even moved in yet. I’ve been gone the entire summer. We will hopefully move in in the next month.
Is there a space or room that’s going to be just yours?
I hope. I don’t know if my daughter will allow that. But we’ll see.
And are you also into interior design, or are you just going to leave like that to your wife and a professional?
Nah, I do a little bit of it all. I’ve remodeled houses. I’ve done electrical and plumbing and drywall and paint and everything…furniture and lighting and wallpaper. I truly enjoy doing all that. My brain is doing something else. It’s like a step away from work, but I still get to be creative and get to use my hands. And similar to building a building or making a movie, I get to step back at the very end and look at something that I created and was a part of shaping and molding, and I love that.
