The Stunning Transformation Of Chris Briney

A new generation of heartthrobs is officially on the rise. The biggest stars in this new group include the likes of Jacob Elordi, Nicholas Galitzine, Timothée Chalamet, and, of course, Christopher Briney. In 2022, Briney shot to fame with Amazon Prime's "The Summer I Turned Pretty." Based on the teen romance novels by Jenny Han, the series follows Belly, a teenage girl who is torn between two brothers. As Conrad, the gloomy elder brother, Briney quickly became one third of the biggest love triangle since the days of "Twilight" or "Vampire Diaries." 

But he soon made it clear that playing handsome teen love interests wasn't all he could do. That same year, he starred opposite Academy Award winner Ben Kinsley in the indie drama "Dalíland," proving he had dramatic chops, too. In 2024, Briney's star is only set to rise, as he's back with another teen heartthrob, playing the iconic role of Aaron Samuels in the musical remake of "Mean Girls." 

So, how did Briney become one of Gen Z's most-sought romantic leads? Here is the stunning transformation of Christopher Briney.

Christopher Briney was born in 1998 in Connecticut where he was raised alongside his sister, Michelle Briney, by parents Michael and Kelly Briney. His mom and dad met while they were pursuing acting careers in New York. His mother, who was an actor and opera singer, also worked as a graphic designer and owned a transcription business. She died in 2014 of brain cancer. 

Clearly, the performing arts are a big part of the Briney family. However, Christopher was initially reluctant to follow in his parents' footsteps. "I always knew that they had tried to act, and that they loved it but I wanted to do something different," Christopher told the Los Angeles Times. "I wanted to be a little bit of a rebel."

Nevertheless, Christopher's parents still played a key role in his keen love for the performing arts. "Whether I was totally aware of it or not, they were exposing me to theater and music and films from a very young age," he said in Numéro. "Being saturated in an environment like that is probably what ended up pushing me towards this path. They both stopped trying to act professionally when my sister was born, but they never stopped loving art and doing more local productions of things."

Before Christopher Briney embraced his love of the performing arts, he was all in on America's favorite pastime. "I was like, 'I don't want to sing. I don't want to act. I don't want to dance. I want to play baseball,'" he told InStyle. Briney played all the way through high school, obsessing over baseball movies like "Bull Durham" and "A League of Their Own." As he recalled to American Studies, he even had his sights set on making a university's team after high school. However, it wasn't meant to be. "I took a year off, and then I went back and I was terrible," he said.

Though Briney didn't end up playing baseball on the collegiate or professional level, his years of playing the game as a child stuck with him. And all of that proved useful when it was time to play Conrad in "The Summer I Turned Pretty." "It's weird because like I was raised in a very warm and emotionally vulnerable household with a father who is always encouraging me to like, feel emotions and cry if I need to cry and share your life," he said to 1883. "But then for some reason like society or playing too much baseball or for whatever reason, I still fell into those traps [of not being able to express emotions] when I was younger." Briney noted that these experiences helped him connect with the character of Conrad. 

Everything changed for Christopher Briney in high school when he finally gave acting a chance. A summer acting program at Wesleyan University near his high school set the wheels in motion. "I did a few plays and teachers said things that inflated my ego and made me think I could actually do it," he told People of his high school acting career. Evidently, his teachers sensed they had a future star in their midst. 

Despite all the encouragement he received from his instructors during those formative years, Briney was not totally sure he could pursue a professional career as an actor — or if he even wanted to. "I didn't really feel like I was at a point in my life where I necessarily had to know for certain what I was gonna do with my life," he later told Teen Vogue. "What I always said well before I booked anything was if I can just make a living doing this in one way or another, I'll be happy."

After graduating from high school, Christopher Briney decided to keep giving the acting thing a try. However, his college experience proved to be a bit of a shock. "I think I just had a lot more to learn than I knew. At the time, coming out of high school, I sort of thought I was the s*** and then I was like, I'm really not the s***," said Briney to 1883, explaining that he auditioned for numerous acting programs and was rejected by almost all of them. As he put it, the experience "humbled" him. 

He had initially hoped to go to college in Los Angeles, but he ended up going to Pace University's new film and TV BFA acting course in New York. Luckily, it turned out to be the best possible option for him. "I met some of my dearest, dearest friends at college, I learned invaluable lessons," he said of the experience.

While he was in school, he also picked up shifts at Trader Joe's. As he told American Eagle, he worked at the grocery store for about a year. In a separate chat with InsideHook, he stated, "It was a super solid job, they give you some pretty fire t-shirts."

Some of Christopher Briney's first on-screen acting credits are actually a series of short films he made with his friends while studying at university. He starred in a short called "Under the Covers" in 2018 and another called "Want This" in 2020. In 2019, he directed a short film called "Paix," which he later told the Los Angeles Times was inspired by Paul Schrader. He also acted with his current girlfriend, Isabel Machado, in a scene from Neil LaBute's play "Reasons to be Pretty," which she posted on her YouTube channel.

Although Briney is now focused on acting, it turns out, he might go back to making his own films one day in the future. "I love making movies," Briney told Numéro. "I really want to start taking time to direct. It is something I've loved doing for a long time and I want to do it on a more professional level."

As Christopher Briney continued his studies in acting at university, he learned more and more about himself. During that time, he dug into his own mental health. As he put it to Boys By Girls, "There's always some sort of anxiety with me just always with people in general."

In his everyday life, Briney has had to learn how to grapple with anxiety and overwhelming dread. "A lot of it is running through negative scenarios in your head," he confessed to American Studies. "Before I enter a conversation I'll be like, 'Wow, this is gonna suck when they punch me in the face.'" He's also had to learn how to deal with the version of anxiety that hits when he's acting in a scene. "When you have lines, things can go wrong within that, but you know what you're signing up for... it's scary in a different way," he said. In his aforementioned chat with Boys By Girls, Briney shared that he sees a therapist.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Not only did Christopher Briney hone his craft at university, he also met Isabel Machado, who, as of 2024, is still his long-term partner. As the couple revealed to People in 2023, they actually met while living together in college. They began dating in June 2021.

Since then, Machado, who is also an actor, has been Briney's rock. In 2024 at the premiere for "Mean Girls," he gushed to Access Hollywood, "I couldn't do it without her. I couldn't do anything without her. I don't think I could wake up without her. I'd forget how to breathe."

Over the years, Briney has posted numerous touching tributes to Machado. The pair has also taken part in a number of photoshoots together. And when it comes to sweet gestures? Briney literally delivers. As he told Glamour, Machado happened to be having a rough day while he was out of town, so he planned a little something that might pick up her spirits. "I sent flowers and a teddy bear through a mail service. It's not the most incredible thing, but I was proud of myself for making that happen," he said. Clearly, the movie star is totally smitten.

After graduating from Pace University in 2020, Christopher Briney settled down in Brooklyn and jumped headfirst into the auditioning process. "I just fell in love with New York. I love the energy. It makes me feel creative. It makes me feel like I'm a part of something," he said in 1883. 

Although Briney landed his first job just one year after graduating, his first year out of college overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic — and it certainly wasn't an easy time. As he told American Studies, he could barely afford his rent. On top of that, the pandemic meant that the industry was shutting down around him. He even found himself losing momentum and struggling to stay inspired. Nevertheless, he kept auditioning and working toward get a foot in the door. 

Briney's tenacity paid off. "I spent four years learning acting technique and how to live with yourself and how to accept failure," he said in 1883. "And then I was lucky enough to be auditioning for a year after I graduated and then even more lucky to book the things that I have."

When it comes to cinema, Christopher Briney's taste in film is nothing short of refined. "I have my own set of Criterion DVDs and I enjoy capital 'M' movies in an annoying way," he confessed to the Los Angeles Times. "I'll still go see my favorite movies at Metrograph even if I've seen them a few times, because there's nothing like seeing them in the theaters." 

As Briney continues to make a name for himself in Hollywood, he hopes he has the chance to make independent films of his own. "Just the idea of creating something unique and artful really excites me," he gushed to Boys By Girls. "I really do want to direct at some point, I really would love to write and I'd love to shoot something. Cinematography is really exciting to me."

Some of his favorite films include Charlotte Wells' "Aftersun," Leos Carax's "Mauvais Sang," Paul Schrader's "First Reformed," Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy, and Céline Sciamma's "Portrait of a Lady on Fire."

Shortly after leaving Pace University, Christopher Briney landed his first professional role, and it was a big one. He was cast in Mary Harron's "Dalíland" as James, a young assistant to Salvador Dalí, who was played by acting titan Sir Ben Kingsley. As Harron told the Los Angeles Times, Briney was cast over a Zoom audition. "He had to be someone who had a certain youthful innocence but also wasn't a pushover," she said. "Someone who had certain strength inside, which Chris has as a person."

Briney traveled to Liverpool to shoot the film. The experience was nothing short of overwhelming. "The first week of shooting the movie, some nights I was curled up in a ball on the floor," he confessed to American Studies. "I really thought about running away." In fact, he was so nervous he was, as he recalled, "genuinely shaking through half of those scenes, thank God it was scene-appropriate."

Now, Briney looks back on the film with huge fondness. "The first project I ever did was an independent movie, I love it to death," he said in Boys By Girls.

While filming "Dalíland," Christopher Briney landed his second professional role. He was brought on to play Conrad Fisher, the love interest, in the teen phenomenon "The Summer I Turned Pretty." He had submitted a self-tape for the role and then did a chemistry read with the rest of the cast. 

Even though "Dalíland" saw Christopher Briney acting opposite Ben Kingsley, it was a small project that didn't exactly prepare him for the mania of "The Summer I Turned Pretty." For one thing, "Dalíland" wasn't exactly a blockbuster. "The second you step onto a TV set like 'The Summer I Turned Pretty,' you're like, 'oh, man there's a guaranteed audience here,'" he said in Boys By Girls. "It was weird... but luckily, I didn't understand the scope of it at the time."

Soon enough, however, he realized just how popular the "The Summer I Turned Pretty" books really were. "It was kind of terrifying," he said in 1883, adding, "I think what helped me come to terms with other people's opinions about that was reminding myself that it's all just words on a page and no two people are the same, so they're never going to be picturing the same person or the same tone or the same way someone says something. It's just impossible."

As Christopher Briney's fame grew, he realized his own relationship with social media would never be the same. After being cast on "The Summer I Turned Pretty," he gained millions of followers on Instagram. As someone who wasn't really into social media as a teen, this sudden boost certainly took some getting used to. 

Even though Briney sees how social media can be "toxic," he still uses it from time to time. The way he sees it, having a social media presence is actually part of the job. "I don't love social media but it's sort of a necessary evil, I think," he told Boys By Girls. For one thing, it allows him to foster a connection with his fans. His plan? "I'm going to use it to promote the things I care about when I can and stay off it as much as I can," he said.

Christopher Briney landed yet another huge role in 2023 when he was cast as Aaron Samuels in the musical remake of 2004's beloved teen flick "Mean Girls." At first, Briney considered turning down the audition because it was a musical. "I don't want to do that to people," he joked to Entertainment Weekly. Luckily, his character wasn't required to carry a tune. "I think there was a version where [Aaron] was singing at the end of a song with Regina, but he doesn't sing anymore, so I got lucky," he explained to Elite Daily. "If I tried to sing at all around these people, I would have been embarrassed."

What's more, Briney was determined to make the character his own thing. In the original "Mean Girls," Aaron Samuels was played to perfection by Jonathan Bennett; Briney had some seriously grool shoes to fill. As he said in InStyle, "I was like, I can't be concerned about trying to recreate something. I can't be concerned about redoing what was done so well. I'm a different person."

That mindset sure seemed to work out well. As Briney later told Numéro, the project was a "blast." "I really felt like I was surrounded by this massively talented group of people doing what they do best... I think it will be really good," he said.

After three huge projects, Christopher Briney's career is certainly off to a flying start. As if he wasn't busy enough thanks to his movie career, he's also carved out time to attend runway shows for high-end designers like Dior and Louis Vuitton. "I got to go to some fashion week shows earlier in the year, and seeing that up close was a really powerful thing," he told InStyle. "It is such an art form."

So what's on the horizon for the talented young star? If he had his way, his next role would ask him to step out of his comfort zone a bit. "The idea of doing something completely wild and unhinged and different is so exciting to think about," he said in 1883, explaining that his characters so far had been very similar to his own personality. He added, "I'm always game for stuff like that." 

Briney's also hoping to create his own films and take them to film festivals. "I'm manifesting that right now," he said in Boys By Girls. "I'm hoping for positive things in general, that's all you can do." We think it's safe to say that Briney's future looks bright, and whatever he does next is sure to be so fetch.