Felix Merback: The Indiana Teen Who Drove Cross-Country to LA and Became an Actor and a Producer

Felix Merback is one of the many actors who stumbled upon vertical dramas in the post-pandemic era. Now, he's not just seen on-camera, but working behind the scenes to make these stories happen.

Felix Merback saw potential in an audition call more than two years ago, and his life changed. Now, he has been in over ten micro-dramas and is going even further in the industry. Let's discover more about him!

Getting to Know Felix Merback

Originally from Bloomington, Indiana, Merback has been living in Los Angeles for the past four years, according to an interview he had with Vertical Drama Love on September 5, 2025.

"So I am a cornfed hoosier. Proud of it, too. But, for what it is that we do, Los Angeles is like the hub for film and television. And so, I thought it only right for me to pack my stuff in my car and drive cross-country to LA, which is where I landed in 2021," he revealed to Jen Cooper.

Jen Cooper and Felix Merback during an interview on September 5, 2025 | Source: Youtube/Vertical Drama Love

One fact everyone should know about him is that he and his siblings are fraternal triplets. From a very young age, they liked to put on plays for their single mother, Althea Crome. As a kid, Merback also enjoyed basketball, but that was his only sports-related interest.

Instead, he preferred camping, hunting for rocks, playing around, hiking, etc. In general, his siblings and he were mostly alone because their mom worked late shifts at the hospital to support them. But she had another talent: knitting at a precise micro-level.

Around 2006-2007, she was featured in an article for Ripley's "Believe it or Not," and was later called by Laika Studios to make the star sweater featured in the stop-motion film "Coraline." But that was his family only claim to fame.

In high school, Merback participated in some productions, like "The Drowsy Chaperone," with his sister. That's where he discovered that he wanted to do this forever. He continued doing musicals in college and eventually began looking for professional work. But the journey to finding roles was difficult.

"I graduated in 2020, and you know, everybody knows about that, like Hollywood was shut down, Broadway was shut down," he said to Cooper. "I was like, 'I think I should try film,' even though I have never done that before. [...] I took the leap of faith and packed my stuff in my car, drove from Indiana to LA."

That journey took around three days as he ventured through Kansas, Oklahoma, then a small town in New Mexico, and finally the city of angels.

However, the only reason he had taken that chance was because of a work opportunity. They asked him to be there in a week, and Merback quit his job and did it. In the end, the production turned out to be a disaster. Still, he doesn't regret his move.

Discovering Felix Merback's Vertical Dramas

In the Meet the Creatives section of Vertical Drama Love, the actor said that he got his start in this format because he saw them popping up on casting sites. At the time, they were called Mobisodes, and he decided to try it out.

That's how he booked his first-ever micro-drama, "Profit Prophecy." He said, "That was two years ago and was, to my great surprise, essentially the beginning of this new media renaissance in the domestic market."

Some of his other verticals include "Star Moon Romance Rejected and Reborn as Alpha," "Fleeing Husband: Please Love Me All Over Again," "Substitute Bride, Sweet Love," "After Divorce, Stripper CEO and I Dominate Hollywood," and "How I See Through You."

Yet, his part in "Billionaire Daddy: The Hunt Is On!" cemented his reputation among fans. "I saw like a measurable increase in my following after that," he recalled. "People really liked the body swap component to it, which I might be wrong, but I feel like it was one of the first, if not the first, to really take advantage of the body swap component in verticals."

His other can't-miss dramas are "Don't Mess with the Blind Heiress," "The Heiress and Her Three Princes," "Kiss and Switch: The Cursed Vampire," "The Best Mistake Ever," "Guess Who's Back, Cheater?" and several more.

But the one you should really put first on your watch list is "Dungeons of Ecstasy," as Merback has a producer credit on top of being in a supporting role next to Nicole Mattox and Eric Guilmette. This "50 Shades of Grey"-type of vertical was shot in Orvieto, Italy, and is a project he's truly proud of.

Merback is also extremely thankful for these micro-dramas because they've become a real source of income for his peers in the industry.