Fredrik Eklund (born April 26, 1977) is a Swedish

real estate broker A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents 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 agen ...

, former IT entrepreneur, 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 company ...

reality series, ''

Million Dollar Listing New York ''Million Dollar Listing New York'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on March 7, 2012. The show follows the lives of several luxury real estate agents as they represent property owners in New York's five boroughs ...

'' 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 Klas Eklund (born 16 July 1952)''Nordic Labour Market Policies and Labour Market Research'', Stationery Office Books, , p. 191 is a Swedish economist and author. Early life and education Eklund was born in Kvarngärdet, Uppsala as the son of the ...

, a senior economist at Swedish bank SEB, and brother of author

Sigge Eklund Sigvard Viggo "Sigge" Eklund (born 21 April 1974) is a Swedish novelist, TV producer and screenwriter. His books have been sold in 16 countries, and his podcast "Alex & Sigge's podcast" is the biggest in Sweden with over 500,000 listeners a week ...

. His paternal grandparents were Swedish actors

Bengt Eklund Bengt Gunnar Eklund (18 January 1925 – 19 January 1998) was a Swedish actor. He is well known as Nisse Granqvist in the 1964 TV series ''Vi på Saltkråkan''. Eklund worked for many years at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, but also ma ...

and

Fylgia Zadig Fylgia Ester Zadig (3 November 1921 - 3 September 1994) was a Swedish actress. Born in Malmö, Zadig was employed with the Uppsala stadsteater (Uppsala city theatre) and the Nya teatern in Stockholm. She had roles in numerous Swedish films. She ...

.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, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. Edina began as a small farming and mil ...

, where he attended

Edina High School Edina High School is a four-year public high school located in Edina, Minnesota, United States, a suburb of Minneapolis. The current student population is 2,683. Edina High School was ranked as 486th best public high school in the United States a ...

. After finishing high school, Eklund studied at the Stockholm School of Economics, 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 the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

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 or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Tag Eriksson (or Tag Ericsson). In an interview with '' Out Magazine,'' 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 John Gomes is an American luxury real estate broker, entrepreneur, and businessman based in New York City. Alongside his business partner, Fredrik Eklund, he operates brokerages in Manhattan and Sweden. They have continually appeared on the Bra ...

, 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 The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is "the leading trade group advocating on policy changes in the real estate industry," a trade association for the real estate industry in New York City. Formed in 1896, its current president is James W ...

''Million Dollar Listing New York''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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

's ''

''. 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 on Little Palm Island in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located 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, and e ...

. The couple lived in New York with their dogs Mouse and Fritzy until 2016. They have since moved to

Roxbury, Connecticut Roxbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,260 at the 2020 census. The town is located northeast of New York City. History Roxbury, whose Native name was ''Shepaug'', a Mahican word signifying "roc ...

, to live in a mansion Eklund purchased. Eklund and Kaplan attempted to have children through

surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...

, but the surrogate suffered a miscarriage. In November 2017, Eklund and Kaplan had twins via surrogate: daughter Milla and son Fredrik Jr.

References

External links

*
The Eklund Gomes Team
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Douglas Elliman Douglas Elliman is an American real estate company. Douglas Elliman employs more than 7,000 agents and has 113 offices in New York City and across the country. The company also has a number of subsidiaries related to real estate services such as ...

*
Eklund Stockholm New York

Fredrik Eklund Keynote Speaker Bio Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eklund, Fredrik 21st-century Swedish novelists Swedish male novelists Stockholm School of Economics alumni Swedish male pornographic film actors Actors in gay pornographic films Gay writers LGBT writers from Sweden LGBT people from Sweden Swedish emigrants to the United States Swedish expatriates in the United States 1977 births Living people Businesspeople from Stockholm Swedish people of German descent Participants in American reality television series Edina High School alumni