Netflix built him overnight, and he's been trying to prove he exists without it ever since.
At a glance
- Known for
- Peter Kavinsky in Netflix's *To All the Boys I've Loved Before* trilogy
- Before fame
- Replaced Jake T. Austin on *The Fosters* in a recast fans resented
- Off-screen
- Co-founded Favored Nations, a charity nonprofit, and serves as its CEO
Rise to Fame
A Netflix algorithm did what years of Disney Channel bit parts couldn't. He'd been grinding since he was a teenager, picking up forgettable guest spots on Austin & Ally and Shake It Up, then replacing Jake T. Austin on The Fosters in a recast fans openly resented. None of it registered.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before dropped in August 2018, and his Instagram jumped from 800,000 to 13.4 million followers in weeks. The internet crowned him "the internet's boyfriend," a title he didn't ask for and couldn't control. He has said he was newly sober when it happened, having quit everything the day before his 21st birthday. The biggest break of his career arrived while he was learning how to function clean.
In the Spotlight
The rom-com box was always going to be a problem. His bid for franchise legitimacy through Black Adam went sideways when the film lost an estimated $100 million and scored 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. DC scrapped his character entirely. Netflix canceled The Recruit after two seasons.
Warfare changed the conversation. Alex Garland's A24 war film pulled 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and $34.9 million on a $20 million budget, proving he can disappear into an ensemble without leaning on charm. Now he's stacking action franchises: young Rambo in a First Blood prequel, Ken Masters in Street Fighter, a Gundam adaptation opposite Sydney Sweeney. The physique he built eating 6,000 calories a day for Black Adam suggests the action pivot isn't casual.
Side Notes
TikTok turned him into a recurring villain without a clear charge. Users flag his interviews and social media posts as cringeworthy, but nobody can point to an actual offense beyond general earnestness. A 2025 Instagram Story canceling his Disney+ subscription to support Jimmy Kimmel backfired when fans noticed the sub ran through September 2026, handing them the "performative activism" narrative on a plate.
Off-camera, he runs Favored Nations, a charity nonprofit he co-founded in 2019 whose initial merch run raised over $40,000 in three days. He has said he tried "everything" drug-wise from 17 to 21, and he's been publicly candid about it in a way most actors in his lane wouldn't risk. The internet doesn't give him credit for any of it, which might be the point.