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If you’ve ever wondered what waiting for your new Netflix series to debut is like, Noah Centineo has a vivid metaphor about the anticipation.
«It’s kind of like when you have to pee. You start getting to a bathroom, and you have to pee worse, because you’re getting closer to a bathroom. It’s like that,» the actor says on a Zoom call, before giving a quizzical look to someone off camera. «My team is like, ‘Why? Why was that the metaphor?'»
The series that has Centineo, 26, holding his metaphorical bladder is «The Recruit» (now streaming Friday), an action-packed thriller in which he stars as a rookie lawyer at the Central Intelligence Agency who’s thrust into dangerous waters when a former asset threatens to expose agency secrets.
For Centineo, who earned fame in several Netflix teen romcoms including «To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before» and its sequels, «The Recruit» offers more than just another role. It’s also an opportunity to transform the way Hollywood – and the world – sees him: from a YA male ingenue to a bonafide leading man.
«This is a departure from the romcom genre and the love-interest genre, but it’s not a radical step in the other direction,» Centineo says of the show, which has moments of levity mixed with the thrills. «I like that. I like how this is a show that is about the world of the CIA, but not through a spy’s lens.»
Born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida, Centineo began acting as a kid, landing his first screen credit around age 13 in the 2009 film «The Gold Retrievers.» He also appeared in Disney Channel sitcoms including «Shake It Up,» which starred Zendaya, and Freeform’s «The Fosters,» from 2013 to 2018.
But the role that catapulted him to stardom – and into the hearts of teenage girls worldwide – was that of lovable jock Peter Kavinsky in Netflix’s «To All the Boys,» based on Jenny Han’s novel.
The film spawned two sequels and cemented Centineo’s status as Netflix’s go-to romcom guy.
