Thanks to Boss Models, Steven also has two campaigns under his belt — for Harlequin and for A&F's little brother Hollister — and is featured in Weber's new book All American: Short Stories. But the first impression I get of Steven Strait is his ridiculously deep voice, strongly reminiscent of Joel McMillan's slow, measured cadences.

You live here in New York, is that right?

Yes, I've lived in the West Village my whole life.

Native-born New Yorkers are so rare. What was it like to be a little kid growing up in the West Village?

It was an experience. What it really does is expose you to so many different types of living, all different types of lifestyles, people, cultures and races; so by fourth grade nothing seems taboo.

Do you really grow up that quickly?

You do. I mean it's different for everybody but you learn early on to accept people's individual choices.

What school did you go to?

P.S. School No. 3. Grades K to 6, and around five hundred kids. It was very laid-back because most of the kids were children of the hippy generation — so there were a lot of free-spirited kids. There were no boundaries between races, sexes, cultures, religions, whatever. It was all pretty much accepted given the way we were brought up and where we were brought up. So it was a really cool place to go to school.

What were you like? Class clown, very studious, or what?

I was just a normal kid and played sports and stuff.

Which sports?

I was really into basketball when I was young. I played in a whole bunch of leagues for a while — city-wide leagues, Riverside, which is quite a prestigious basketball program. I was really into it for a long time.

Why?

I just liked the energy about it. Especially when you grow up in New York you can feed off an energy that sort of incorporates into every aspect of your life. And I think you try and get that energy from everything you do. Basketball just seemed very exciting to me.

So it's the pace of the thing?

And the precision. That makes it very cool.