The Truth About The Boy Who Plays Noah In The Kissing Booth 2

The Kissing Booth is one of the biggest Netflix hits ever. It also gave Jacob Elordi, who plays Noah — the love interest of Elle, played by Joey King — his big break.

"I'll never forget the day I got the call saying I got the part," he told The Courier Mail. "It was a Saturday and I was walking through Westfield Chermside. I could see it was a conference call with about five managers. They always told me that meant either really good or really bad news. When they told me I'd got the part, I collapsed and just started crying. It meant a whole lot."

Since then, he's gone on to star on other shows and films including Euphoria, The Mortuary, and, of course, The Kissing Booth 2 (per IMDb). Starring in The Kissing Booth definitely changed Elordi's life, but he wasn't fully prepared for the fame that it would bring him. "It was super intense for a little while," he told GQ Australia. "Overnight you couldn't really go anywhere."

Elordi moved to Los Angeles from Australia to pursue his acting career, but starring in The Kissing Booth wasn't the instant ticket to stardom that you might expect. Sure, it turned him into a household name, but Hollywood is difficult to break into.

After starring in The Kissing Booth, Elordi told GQ Australia that he "didn't really have anywhere to live" and was pretty much living out of his car "and on my mates' couches." He added, "My visa had like two weeks before it expired, so I was going to dip out and go back to Australia."

Elordi explained that The Kissing Booth was one of his first film roles "and your money runs out pretty quickly in Los Angeles." He continued, "I had my mum and dad making sure I was eating and I had a lot of support from friends, so I was very lucky. I was never down and out. But in terms of America, I was done."

Things turned around for Elordi after he landed a role on the teen drama Euphoria, playing Nate. The show is decidedly grittier than the rom-com The Kissing Booth, but Elordi was excited to take on the challenge. "I wanted to make things like Euphoria before I even came to Hollywood, when I was still in high school," he told GQ Australia. "So there was no change in my brain where I was like, 'OK now I need to do serious work.' I knew the calibre of work that I wanted to do and I'm just lucky that I've been able to step up and do it so early on."

Getting the role also meant that Elordi was able to stay in the U.S., and the actor signed a lease and bought himself a Range Rover. Unfortunately, Elordi ended up moving back to Australia anyway — but only temporarily. He explained to GQ Australia that when production shut down on the second season of Euphoria due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to quarantine back in Australia with his family.

"I was supposed to start shooting, but s*** was starting to get weird in LA," he said. "And the last place on Earth I want to be when s*** gets weird is America, so I booked a ticket and dipped out."

What's next for Elordi? He's got huge plans for the future. As he told GQ Australia, he wants to write and direct one day, but he also just wants to see where life takes him. "I don't really feel like I'm building a career or trying to be this kind of actor or that kind of actor," he said. "Every morning I want to wake up and be excited about what I'm going to do. I want it to be honest and fulfilling for me personally, and then maybe it can be fulfilling for the rest of the world, too."

While Elordi feels like he still needs to prove himself, he also said that he's proud of what he has already accomplished. "It's been a blur and it's definitely a version of living the dream," he said. "But it's starting to feel a little more normal now."