Jay Ellis Reveals the Underwear Casting Call that Made Him Quit Modeling, Talks Tom Cruise's Iconic Christmas Cake & Shirtless 'Top Gun' Scene

Jay Ellis opened up about his past as an underwear model and shooting a shirtless scene for Top Gun: Maverick.

The 41-year-old actor spilled all the tea during an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Friday (February 17).

He also revealed the Christmas gift he received from Tom Cruise, describing it as a “coveted” item to get from the movie star.

Keep reading to find out more…

If you were unaware, before becoming an actor, Jay worked as a model. However, he told Jennifer Hudson that he quit the industry after one horrifying casting call for an underwear gig.

At the time, Jay said he lived in a house with 16 models, describing it as “a huge range of just nasty all in one building.”

That led to a story about a casting call for an underwear modeling gig. Describing the audition, he said “You walk in, you say your name, you take a picture, you turn around, you drop trou, butt naked days and then you put the underwear on.”

When it was his turn, he had a realization that made him reconsider his career: “I realized that like 25 dudes had tried these underwear before me,” he said, “and there was probably another 15 who was going to try it on after me.”

“So I was like nah, man. I turned around like ‘I am so sorry, I’m not supposed to be here. This is not what my mom and daddy struggle for,’” he revealed.

Jay also opened up about a shirtless scene in Top Gun: Maverick that got movie-goers very excited.

“None of us expected that this was gonna go viral the way that it went viral,” he admitted.

The star shared that he and co-star Glenn Powell decided to see how fans were reacting to the movie by sneaking in to watch screenings.

“We would just watch the audience watching the movie. And when I tell you the sweat that was on peoples faces watching that scene… They were sweatier than us. People were like ‘Oh my God, them abs,’” he joked.

After that, the focus turned to co-star Tom and the iconic Christmas gift that he sends out – a cake.

“The cake is coveted in this town,” he told Jennifer. “It’s literally like getting a trophy. We get the cake every year. It’s always a surprise when you get it because you’re so excited to get it — and you wanna make sure you’re still on the gift list.”

The cake is so popular that Jay said his family froze it to take it with them to Mexico this year.

“Whatever it is — dry ice, ice cubes, whatever it is — we froze the cake,” he revealed. “We took it Mexico, thawed it out and we had it on Christmas Day.”

Speaking of that shirtless Top Gun scene… you might want to see this.

Press play on Jay Ellis’ interview segments below…