Netflix romcoms transform young actor Centineo into heartthrob
LOS ANGELES - If you have a Netflix account, chances are you recognize actor Noah Centineo.
Although, like the best teen heartthrobs of generations past, you’d be forgiven if you only know him by his character’s name: Peter Kavinsky, the high school lacrosse-playing romantic from “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
Since “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” hit the 125 million subscriber streaming service on Aug. 17, Peter Kavinsky has become a mini phenomenon, inspiring memes, tweets and think pieces from every corner of the internet about why Peter Kavinsky and his woke, pocket-twirling ways is the boyfriend we need right now.
Centineo, 22, got over 1 million new Instagram followers in a day. Two weeks later, it was up to 6 million. Now, it’s sitting at over 8.2 million.
Starting Friday, he appeared in another high school rom-com on Netflix, “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser.”
“Luckily, Twitter exists on a two-dimensional plane,” laughed Centineo on a recent afternoon at Netflix’s headquarters in Los Angeles. “It’s not like I have 6 million plus people walking around with me every day. That would be insane.”
The “instant” stardom has been a long time coming for Centineo, a Florida native who decided he wanted to act at age 8. At 15, after appearing on the Disney Channel’s “Austin & Ally,” he persuaded his family to move to Los Angeles.
When he arrived, he was always working and auditioning, but it was, as he describes it, “a slow climb,” leading to being cast on the Freeform show “The Fosters” at age 18.
And then came the one-two punch of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser,” both via the same casting director. “Sierra Burgess” was shot first, in early 2017. It stars Shannon Purser (a.k.a. Barb from “Stranger Things”) as a girl who finds herself in a texting relationship with Centineo’s Jamey, a football player with a nerdy side who believes he’s talking to a different girl (a cheerleader).
“What I love about Jamey is how he’s goofy and he’s a jock and he’s like, ‘Yo, we are allowed to be both sides of the spectrum in one human being,’ ” Centineo said. “I like Peter K because the boy is an egomaniac. He’s definitely not as smart as Jamey, but he’s sensitive, and a bit more extreme but still really loving and protective.”
Centineo almost sabotaged his “To All The Boys” audition by arriving late to the chemistry read with Lana Condor. He was given the wrong address and was mortified about it. As soon as he left, he had a dozen Sprinkles cupcakes sent over to the folks in the room, including director Susan Johnson. “He’s just charming. He can’t not be charming,” said Johnson. “I pulled him aside at the end of the shoot and said, ‘You can go wherever you want to go and do any role you want to do. You have that much of a gift and I hope you’ll be super choosy.’ He’s more than just the guy who is charming and cute on screen. He has depth to him that I think everyone is going to be excited to see in future roles.”
And, to be fair, Centineo thought he was doing two indies. Neither was a Netflix movie when he signed up and both were acquired by the service as part of a “summer of love” push and set for release within three weeks of one another. Needless to say, he’s taking this moment in stride.
“I’d like to think that my big break has yet to come,” he said. “I like to think everything has been slowly progressing toward the ultimate picture. Of what I don’t know, but we’re still painting.”