Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1
When you think of Noah Centineo, you probably think of the superstar who won the 2019 MTV Movie Award of Best Breakthrough Performance for playing Peter Kavinsky in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Totally deserved, right? I mean, nothing is cuter than that hand in the back pocket. And Noah is the epitome of charm with that hot tub splash and his love of Kitty’s Korean yogurts.
But here’s the SCOOP! Noah has been honing his acting chops for over a DECADE. From the outside, it looks like a rapid rise—literally shooting to stardom—but we know better, don’t we?
Back in 2009, when he was just thirteen, Noah started out in the film The Gold Retrievers as Josh Peters, who saves the family from losing both their home and their beloved golden, Bosco, by finding a long-lost treasure and fighting criminals and rabid bears along the way. Noah was as cute as the puppy!
Then there were bit parts in two Disney TV series, Austin & Ally and Shake It Up. Next was the part of Jaden Stark in 2014’s How to Build a Better Boy (perfect title for him!), followed by joining the cast of another Disney pilot called Growing Up and Down, which was initially not picked up. So, he wasn’t exactly coming out of the gate winning Oscars.
Noah C.—or NC, as we like to call him—went through a truly rough time. Because he’d signed a contract for the pilot, he couldn’t take jobs during that time period, even though the show didn’t come to fruition. He explained to MTV News that, “I went through a really dark patch because I wasn’t actually allowed to work. I was contractually obligated to be on hold for a certain amount of months. And that sucked miserably.”
But NC was not to be daunted! He kept at his craft, and, man, did it pay off. He auditioned exhaustively, taking some small roles until he landed the role of Jesus Adams Foster in The Fosters. Here’s where things turned around for Noah! This is a very moving series, and Noah lends both gravitas and charisma to a character who is warm and loyal but also struggling with ADHD.
So, from there, BAM! Noah was cast in another series, T@gged, a creepy thriller. He plays—you guessed it!—the boyfriend, Hawk Carter. Do you sense a pattern here? From there, he progressed to heartthrob surfer Johnny Sanders Jr. in SPF-18, and lo and behold, one of the first of many times Noah is shirtless on film. It didn’t get great reviews, but nothing was going to stop him now. He branched out into the supernatural for the movie Can’t Take It Back, which prompted Dread Central writer Jonathan Barkan to write the headline “Exclusive: Can’t Take It Back Clip Proves My Fear of Pencils Correct.” While these weren’t blockbusters, they got Noah on a streak. And we know where that led him! Sierra Burgess Is a Loser is where it led him. And what a lead!
So, Centineo has acting chops and charm for sure. And even though the MTV Best Breakthrough Performance Award makes it seem like he came out of nowhere, he told The Hollywood Reporter that, “The following is overnight. The career is not.” Clearly, he plans to stick around awhile.
