Drew Starkey has had his own real-life High School Musical moment.
The actor, who rose to fame on the hit Netflix series Outer Banks, recently told Dazed Magazine that he’s “got somewhat little bit of Troy Bolton in me,” having had a love for basketball and acting growing up. The important character (played by Zac Efron) within the Disney Channel movies played on the varsity’s basketball team for his father, who was also the top coach, but additionally realized that he had a passion for theater.
As for Starkey, he grew up playing basketball, as his dad is the top women’s basketball coach at Kent State University. Nonetheless, he ultimately pursued his love for acting, attending college at Western Carolina University in North Carolina, where he double majored in English and theater performance.
“It’s like, , basketball was my past love. After which I used to be like, ‘No, Dad, I need to sing and dance, , I’m meant to be an actor,’” he said, before describing the sensation. “Sometimes you possibly can hit a flow where it seems like that is what I’m meant to be doing, and it’s second nature. It’s unconscious in a roundabout way. And l feel like that happens, a minimum of for me, very rarely, and striving for that’s I believe what makes it so addictive.”
Starkey has turn into quite the heartthrob after finding success as Rafe Cameron on Outer Banks, which just released its fourth season. He’s also appeared in several other movies through the years, but he next stars opposite Daniel Craig in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, adapted from William Burroughs’ novel.
Starkey previously told The Hollywood Reporter of delving into the world of Burroughs to seek out his character Eugene Allerton, as he waited for filming on Queer to start, “It was a technique of osmosis, in a way. It’s so rare that you simply get a possibility to have 4 or five months of prep for something. And I believe at times I felt like I used to be doing nothing. But I used to be just meditating on it.”
He added of his character, “He only reveals himself when he’s a counterpart to Lee (Craig), and that felt like his truest form and what he was afraid of. And so I believe the actual work began on day one [of filming with Craig].”
