Nico Tortorella
Nico Tortorella is an actor, born 1988.
The break came in a slasher sequel. Nico Tortorella played Trevor in Scream 4 in 2011, a part that requires being handsome, plausible and slightly untrustworthy at the same time, and the parts that followed traded on exactly that. In The Following, across its run from 2013, the character is billed under two names, which tells you most of what you need to know about the shape of the role without spoiling any of it.
Younger is the job that changed things. Josh, the young Brooklyn tattoo artist at the centre of the show's central deception, ran from 2015 to 2021, and the part demanded something the earlier work had not: sustained likeability. A romantic lead in a long-running comedy drama has to stay watchable for years without a plot twist to hide behind, and Tortorella managed it.
Since then the work has been broader. Felix Carlucci in The Walking Dead: World Beyond, William in the adaptation of City on Fire, and an appearance on Secret Celebrity RuPaul's Drag Race under the drag name Olivette Isyou, which is a more revealing credit than a filmography usually offers. The through-line of the career is a performer comfortable being looked at and not especially interested in being pinned down.
Movies (4)
TV (7)
Where to start with Nico Tortorella
Younger is the long game and the right place to start. A show that ran six years is a commitment, but it is the only work here that shows what sustained charm looks like as a craft rather than an accident of casting.
For something shorter, Scream 4 is the entry point everyone actually has, a sharp meta-slasher that is far better than the sequels around it, and the part is a good demonstration of the early type.
The Following is the most demanding role on this list and the series is a grim watch, so approach it knowing that. The Walking Dead: World Beyond is the weakest branch of a very large franchise, though the character is one of its better ones.
City on Fire and Odd Thomas round it out, the first an adaptation with too much book in it, the second a strange little supernatural comedy with a following.