Photo: Getty
The two were just spotted spending the day together in New York City.
By Laurie Ulster — Written on Feb 06, 2020
The internet went bonkers this week after spotting Euphoria stars Zendaya and Jacob Elardi cavorting together in New York City.
People have been speculating they were a couple since last summer when they took a trip to Greece together, and ramped up the rumors when she went to Australia with him to present his American Australian Association Arts Award, but at the time, both insisted they were just “best friends.”
But after fans saw them together in NYC, they captured the two kissing and social media erupted with dating theories about the couple.
1. Who is Jacob Elordi, Zendaya’s boyfriend?
Some basics: Elordi is from Brisbane, Australia, despite that American accent he uses in his performances. He’s 22, six-foot-three, drinks too much coffee, loves his mum, and has been acting since he played The Cat in the Hat in Seussical: The Musical as a kid.
His first role here in the U.S. was as an extra in a Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, when he was just 17. “Look for a tall guy in a red coat,” he says to fans who want to spot him in the movie.
2. You probably first saw him in The Kissing Booth.
Elordi’s big breakthrough was playing heartthrob Noah Flynn in The Kissing Booth, which Netflix touts as their most re-watched original movie of 2018. It was so popular that they picked Valentine’s Day of last year to announce that a sequel was coming.
Filming started last June and wrapped in October, and it’s likely the movie will turn up on Netflix by May. Although Noah left for college at the end of the last one, he’s back for the remake.
3. He’s dated his co-stars before.
He started dating Joey King after they filmed The Kissing Booth together. “I thought he was very cute when we first met,” she said, “but it started as a friendship. Right away we were talking about gross things with each other (laughing). But before long I started to realize, ‘Hey, I think I kind of like this person!’ We were spending 17 hours a day together, and all of us would hang out after work and watch movies together and stuff. It was great.”
They dated for over a year. King went to visit him on set when he was filming the movie 2 Hearts in Vancouver … perhaps to make sure history didn’t repeat with his co-star in THAT movie, Riverdale’s Tiera Skovbye.
They eventually broke up, which made filming the sequel a little awkward, but King said, “making those sacrifices was totally worth it.”
4. He’s down with Euphoria’s edgy content ... but he almost blew the audition.
Even after the success of The Kissing Booth, things were tough for Elordi, and he was still sleeping in his car or on friends’ couches; in his own words, he was “practically homeless.”
With his visa running out, he went on an audition for HBO's Euphoria and loved the script, saying it was exactly the kind of project he wanted to do. At the audition, he was so nervous he forgot his lines, but got a callback anyway, and eventually scored the part.
As for the show’s racy content, he’s all for it, despite some of the backlash the show gets for being too explicit. He did a locker room scene where he was basically surrounded by penises and it didn’t faze him at all, but joked that it was a little rougher on the intimacy coordinator. “I think she had to review every single penis before putting it on the show.”
5. He’s a supporter of trans people.
One of his Euphoria co-stars is Hunter Schafer, who plays trans character Jules Vaughan. Elordi notes the importance of casting a trans actor in the role.
“It’s a no-brainer, right? If you want honesty and truth and you want to portray people properly,” says Elordi. “And you have incredible actors out there — it’s the way that it should always be done. It is really nice that as a result of your work, maybe some kids can watch that show and feel like they’re a little bit more at home, that there’s people like them.”
6. Elordi takes his acting seriously ... like, concussion seriously.
During an intense fight scene in Euphoria with his character’s father (played by Eric Dane), he decided to “go for it” once the camera rolled to make it as real as possible … so much so that he was bleeding and got a concussion from it — and even threw up afterwards.
He felt it was worth it, saying the scene was, “definitely the most fulfilling thing that I’ve sort of ever shot. I have a magazine cover for Wonderland and you can see the cuts on my arm. But it was pretty cool in hindsight.”
7. He’s been a Calvin Klein underwear model.
Last summer, he did a Calvin Klein underwear campaign alongside other gorgeous people like Bella Hadid, Naomi Campbell and Diplo. The goal of the campaign with the idea that “sexy is a state of mind,” which may be true, but toweling off in a locker room is a pretty good state to be in, too.
8. He was obsessed with the show Supernatural as a kid.
The first American TV show he watched as a kid was Supernatural, starring Jared Padalecki and Jenson Ackles, which will air its series finale on May 18th. He was in sixth grade when he saw it and was instantly hooked.
He started collecting toys from the show, picked up a box set, and admits he would even go to conventions.
9. He likes: motorcycles. He dislikes: cooked vegetables.
At some point, every sex symbol finds themselves being asked about their favorite this and their favorite that. His favorite romantic comedy is 10 Things I Hate About You (because it’s based in Shakespeare and it’s clichés are “the original clichés”), his favorite scene in that movie is the paintball scene, and his favorite actor is Heath Ledger.
He also loves motorcycles, after learning how to ride one for The Kissing Booth and has been obsessed ever since. And he says in no uncertain terms that he hates cooked vegetables. Chefs, take note.
Laurie Ulster is a freelance writer and TV producer.