Go Full Throttle

Navy flight school is just a pit stop on DANNY RAMIREZ'S tour of Hollywood.

- NOJAN AMINOSHAREI

Preceding pages, from left: Tank by Calvin Klein; hybrid pants by Brady; sneakers by Salomon. Tank by Ten Thousand; shorts by Nike; Nike sneakers, Ramirez's own. Vintage tank by Abercrombie & Fitch, available at the Society Archive; joggers by Paskho; sneakers by Nike.

WHEN DANNY RAMIREZ tells the story of flying to Los Angeles for his Top Gun: Maverick audition, it doesn't get off to a great start. "I wouldn't say I was deathly afraid of flying," he says, "but..."

Ramirez's acting career started only seven years ago, with such illustrious roles as "Moving Van Kid #1" and "Panicked Student." That he's quickly built a résumé of interesting roles is indicative of his tendency to bum-rush an opportunity. "I've always been dive first and sink or swim later," the 29-year-old says. When I let slip Ramirez's aerial anxiety to Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, he was dumbstruck. "Danny never showed that fear," he says.

What Kosinski calls "flight training" Ramirez calls "the Tom Cruise School of Being a Badass." Cruise himself developed a grueling five-month crash course for the actors. "I learned the art of puking and rallying," says Ramirez.