- Jacob Elordi spoke to GQ about his career evolution, from teen rom-coms to "Euphoria."
- He said he had "$400 or $800 left in my bank account" after filming the first "Kissing Booth" movie.
"Euphoria" star Jacob Elordi said that he was not financially stable after filming the first "Kissing Booth" movie.
"I wasn't booking jobs," Elordi told GQ in a new interview released on Monday. "I think I had – I don't know, $400 or $800 left in my bank account – and 'Euphoria' was my last audition before I went home for a little while to make some money and recuperate."
The Australian actor's big break came when he portrayed a heartthrob named Noah Flynn in Netflix's adoption of Beth Reekles' 2012 young adult novel "The Kissing Booth."
Following the film's successful debut on the streamer in May 2018, Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos told Vulture that the teen rom-com was "one of the most-watched movies in the country, and maybe in the world."
The popularity of the movie, which costarred Joey King as protagonist Elle Evans, resulted in overnight fame for Elordi and two sequels released in 2020 and 2021.
But prior to its release, Elordi told GQ that he moved to LA after production wrapped in 2017. He said that he stayed on a friend's couch for a few weeks and sometimes slept in his car.
He's since told publications like Esquire that he struggled to be taken seriously as an actor because he starred in the teen franchise. But in a 2022 interview with Access Hollywood, Elordi said that he was "grateful" for those movies.
Elordi went on to play another high school character — a toxic, abusive jock named Nate Jacobs — in HBO's dark, gritty, and graphic show "Euphoria."
The series, based on an Israeli miniseries of the same name, is helmed by Sam Levinson and stars Zendaya as a teen drug addict named Rue Bennett.
The show premiered in June 2019 to rave reviews from critics, with Entertainment Weekly highlighting Elordi's character as "the most terrifying — and realistic — villain on TV right now."
The popularity of "Euphoria" amped up when the show returned for season two in January, and a third season is in the works.