Fredrik Eklund (born April 26, 1977) is a Swedish
real estate broker
Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...
, former IT
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
, reality television star, and author. He is best known for starring in the
Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
* Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
* Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...
reality series, ''
Million Dollar Listing New York
''Million Dollar Listing New York'' is an American reality television series that aired on Bravo from March 7, 2012, to August 26, 2021. The show follows the lives of several luxury real estate agents as they represent property owners in New ...
'' for all of its nine seasons. In 2015, Eklund released his book ''The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone'', which made
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.
Early life and education
Eklund is the son of
Klas Eklund, a senior economist at Swedish bank
SEB, and brother of author
Sigge Eklund.
His paternal grandparents were Swedish actors
Bengt Eklund and
Fylgia Zadig.
[En porrfilmstjärnas bekännelser]
Svensk Bokhandel, October 2004, Fredrik Eklund, accessed May 2008,
Eklund had his first American experience as a foreign exchange student in
Edina, Minnesota
Edina ( , ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous ci ...
, where he attended
Edina High School. After finishing high school, Eklund studied at the
Stockholm School of Economics
The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE; , HHS) is a private business school located in city district Vasastaden in the central part of Stockholm, Sweden. SSE offers BSc, MSc and MBA programs, along with PhD- and Executive education progr ...
, but never graduated. He has worked for the financial newspaper ''Finanstidningen''. At the age of 23, Eklund founded an Internet company with over 45 employees, and went on to work for the
investment bank
Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...
SEB in Stockholm, London, Singapore, and Tokyo before beginning his work in New York City.
Film career
In 2004, before arriving in New York City, Eklund acted in a number of pornographic films under the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
Tag Eriksson (or Tag Ericsson).
In an interview with ''
Out Magazine
''Out'' is an American LGBTQ news, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any LGBTQ monthly publication in the United States. ''Out'' was owned by Robert Hardman of Boston, its original investor, until 2 ...
,'' Eklund has said of this period, "It was only a week of my life, accumulated. It was spread out over a few months, so it was a very short period of my life. It was something that I tried and quickly decided that I was done with." Eklund went on to say in the interview that he is proud of who he is, that he does not regret anything, and that his past involvement in the pornographic film industry has not negatively affected his career.
Real estate career
Eklund has closed over five billion dollars in residential real estate.
Eklund became managing director at the New York City real estate firm CORE Group Marketing and in 2010, alongside his business partner
John Gomes, managing director at
Prudential Douglas Elliman, the largest real estate brokerage on the East Coast. Eklund also started the top-selling team at Elliman.
Eklund is the founder of Eklund Stockholm New York, Scandinavia's most high-end residential real estate brokerage with 50 employees and $1 billion in closed sales in 2014.
He is an active member of the
Real Estate Board of New York.
[
He co-founded Douglas Elliman's Eklund Gomes Team with John Gomes.]
''Million Dollar Listing New York''
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' featured Eklund on the front page of the "Sunday Style" section in November 2010. He is one of five New York City brokers starring in Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
* Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
* Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...
's ''Million Dollar Listing New York
''Million Dollar Listing New York'' is an American reality television series that aired on Bravo from March 7, 2012, to August 26, 2021. The show follows the lives of several luxury real estate agents as they represent property owners in New ...
''.
On January 24, 2022, Fredrik Eklund announced his departure from the ''Million Dollar Listing'' franchise.
Personal life
On February 9, 2013, Eklund married artist Derek Kaplan, who is originally from Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
, on Little Palm Island in the Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...
. The couple lived in New York with their dogs Mouse and Fritzy until 2016. The couple have previously lived in Roxbury, Connecticut
Roxbury is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,260 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town is located northeast of New York City, and is p ...
, in a mansion Eklund purchased. In 2020, the family relocated from New York to Los Angeles. In the summer of 2023 they moved to Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
.
Eklund and Kaplan attempted to have children through surrogacy
Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, danger ...
, but the surrogate suffered a miscarriage
Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...
. In November 2017, Eklund and Kaplan had twins via surrogate: daughter Milla and son Fredrik Jr. They also have an older son, Kai, who is Kaplan's biological child.
Eklund has been sober since October 2020.
See also
* LGBT culture in New York City
New York City has been described as the gay village, gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ political sociology, sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ+ populations. Br ...
* List of LGBT people from New York City
New York City has been described as the gay village, gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ political sociology, sociopolitical ecosystem. It is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ populations. LGBTQ ...
References
External links
*
The Eklund Gomes Team
– Douglas Elliman
*
Eklund Stockholm New York
Fredrik Eklund Keynote Speaker Bio Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eklund, Fredrik
Stockholm School of Economics alumni
Swedish male pornographic film actors
Actors in gay pornographic films
Gay pornographic film actors
Gay businessmen
Swedish gay actors
Swedish gay writers
Swedish emigrants to the United States
Swedish expatriates in the United States
Swedish LGBTQ businesspeople
1977 births
Living people
Businesspeople from Stockholm
Swedish people of German descent
Participants in American reality television series
Edina High School alumni