Brandon Flynn
The American actor Brandon Flynn, best-known for his portrayal of Justin Foley in “13 Reasons Why”, was born in Miami, Florida, USA, on 11th October 1993. After matriculating from New World School of the Arts, Brandon graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Career
His first acting role was playing Mr. Smee in a “Peter Pan” musical at the age of ten, but Brandon’s first credited TV appearance was as Mike the Intern in an episode of the 2016 comedy-drama series “BrainDead”. At the time, he had already acted in commercials and films with uncredited roles, as well as 11 plays including “The Crucible” and “Much Ado About Nothing”. In 2017, he played Luke in Greg Pierce and John Kander’s musical “Kid Victory” at the Vineyard Theatre, and was the only character who didn’t sing.
In the same year, the actor was cast as Justin Foley in the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why”, a role that would last until 2020. As the secondary antagonist in season one and one of the protagonists in seasons two to four, Justin grappled with many issues such as a tumultuous home life and a heroin addiction that spiraled out of control and led to him becoming homeless and prostituting himself. After being diagnosed too late for treatment, Justin died of a fatal infection before graduation day, despite getting off the streets and leaving his murky past behind.
In February 2018, Brandon joined season three of “True Detective” playing the recurring character Ryan Peters, a teenager who was questioned by Roland West and Wayne Hays due to his having seen Will and Julie Purcell prior to their disappearance. Brandon’s role as Ryan ended after three episodes; in the same year, he made a cameo in the music video “Lockjaw”.
After an hiatus in 2019, Brandon made his feature film acting debut in “Looks That Kill” (2020), with a starring role as an unfortunate high school student named Max Richards with a face so beautiful that he accidentally killed anyone who looked at him. The dark indie comedy was geared towards a young adult audience ,and was released digitally on Amazon and other online platforms in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also in 2020, Brandon was cast as Henry Osgood in “Ratched”, a Netflix drama suspense series starring Sarah Paulson. The main storylines are based around Sarah’s character, Mildred Ratched, an asylum nurse who infiltrates the mental health care system in an effort to try and break her foster brother out of the hospital where he was admitted after several murders.
As for upcoming projects, Brandon is set to appear in the historical fiction series “Manhunt”, which follows Edwin Stanton’s search for John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The story is based on James Swanson’s novel “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer”. Although not much has been divulged about Brandon’s character, Edwin Stanton Jr., we do know that the series is being produced for Apple TV+ and will be released in August 2023.
In 2022, the actor also wrapped-up filming for his upcoming role in the horror comedy “The Parenting”, starring Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris, Brian Cox, and Parker Posey – a young gay couple rent out a house in the country, only to discover that it’s already occupied by a centuries-old poltergeist. For now, no official release date has been confirmed.
Personal Life
In 2022, Brandon opened up about the “pain” and “beauty” of embracing his sexuality at a young age. The actor, who came out at 14 years old, spoke to “TODAY” Show about feeling like he didn’t fit in because of how sensitive he was. “I was never focused, I was always really sensitive, really, in my own world,” he explained.
At the age of 10, however, he noticed a shift after performing in his first play. “Everything kind of came into focus… kind of cleared up in a way when I was performing, and that’s actually never stopped.” Pursuing his interest in acting, Brandon met like-minded individuals while studying art the New World School of Arts High School, many of whom he remains friends with to this day, and calls his “chosen family”.
Brandon’s support system helped him come out, but it wasn’t an overnight process for the “13 Reasons Why” star, as it took him almost a decade to feel confident in himself as a gay man. At 21, while trying to find himself and wondering if his sexuality was just a phase, Brandon went to London to study, which helped him resolve his doubts about himself.
As for Brandon’s love life, the actor was first publicly linked to someone in 2017 when rumors began swirling of a relationship between himself and his “13 Reasons Why” co-star Miles Heizer. A source close to Miles later shut down the false report, saying: “Miles and Brandon are friends from the show, but are not dating.”
Next, Brandon was first seen out and about with singer Sam Smith in October 2017. Two months later, they made their relationship Instagram official; however, they split up in June 2018 after dating for less than a year. Even so, Sam has nothing but good things to say about Brandon, describing him as “wonderful” in an interview with The Times.
Following his split from Sam, Brandon was rumored to be dating Richard Madden after the pair were seen together multiple times in Los Angeles. Sources even claimed that Brandon and Richard were living together in a rented apartment, but the rumors were never confirmed. Nevertheless, the press had a field day when Brandon and Richard attended the 2019 Cannes Film Festival together. A few months later, anonymous sources claimed that the rumored lovebirds had already gone their separate ways.
These days, Brandon is clearly enjoying the single life, and focusing on his upcoming projects. The handsome thespian has plenty on his plate, juggling a hectic filming schedule with high-profile events and the occasional modelling gig. With a reported net worth of $2 million, and plenty of brand endorsements and opportunities coming his way, Brandon’s career shows no signs of slowing down.
