Riley Davis on Crew Girl, Off Campus, and What Comes Next

Riley Davis is moving through a particularly diverse phase of his career, with recent and upcoming roles spanning young adult romance, historical drama, and horror.

Earlier this year, Davis appeared as Sean McCall in Prime Video’s popular series Off Campus, the adaptation of Elle Kennedy’s bestselling book series. The romantic drama brought Briar University’s relationships, friendships, and hockey culture to television, introducing Davis to an audience already deeply familiar with the world on the page. From there, his slate begins to widen considerably, with each new project placing him in a different kind of story.

That now continues with Netflix’s Crew Girl, which premiered globally on September 10. The eight-episode YA series follows teenage rower Teagan Tao as she moves to a small town after a family scandal and joins the all-boys rowing team at an elite prep school, where rivalry and attraction complicate an already demanding environment. As Noah Bainbridge, Davis steps into the role of a serious, sophisticated, book-loving rower within the ensemble.

Several upcoming films move him beyond that traditional YA space. Davis appears opposite Mckenna Grace in the Blumhouse-produced The Last Kiss, a horror-thriller about a teenager cursed with visions of the deaths of anyone she kisses as a murder spree begins targeting those closest to her. Conversely, November 1963 places him alongside John Travolta and Dermot Mulroney for a historical crime drama centered on the intense 48 hours surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Davis’s move into horror then continues with Lice, an ’80s-set thriller he has already wrapped alongside Emile Hirsch, Justin Long, Kevin Connolly, and an ensemble of young actors. Set during a parasitic outbreak at a Long Island high school, the film follows students placed under military lockdown as they fight to survive an increasingly desperate situation, giving Davis another chance to work within darker material from a very different angle.

With Crew Girl out now, and a varied lineup of film roles ahead, Stardust caught up with Davis to discuss finding Noah, stepping into established fandoms, exploring horror, and where he hopes to go from here.

You’ve had a particularly varied run of projects recently, from Off Campus and Crew Girl to The Last Kiss, November 1963, and Lice. As those roles began coming together, did you find yourself becoming more intentional about the kinds of characters or genres you wanted to explore next?

Riley Davis: Definitely. I want to be challenged, and I believe one of the best ways to be better is to take on roles or projects outside of your comfort zone. I admire actors who have a broad range, who can work in different genres, and play characters that we don’t recognize. That’s always been a goal of mine.

Off Campus came with an established fanbase that already knew these characters and relationships from Elle Kennedy’s books. What did playing Sean teach you about stepping into a world where audiences may already have a very specific idea of who a character is?

Riley Davis: Sean was one of the characters that changed quite a bit from Elle Kennedy’s books to the TV show, largely because of the writing by the showrunners Louisa and Gina. So, in some ways, I didn’t feel as much pressure to be true to the character in the book as I think some other actors may have felt, because I knew there were parts of book Sean we were bringing into the show, but also a lot of new parts that we were going to be building. That said, it’s been very fun to see the online discourse about Sean and Off Campus. I’ve seen some comments and threads where people get very deep into their own lives or views on relationships and love when discussing Sean and Allie. Sean definitely stirs up a lot of debate!

Now you’re entering another ensemble-driven YA world with Crew Girl, but Noah Bainbridge has a very different personality and energy. What initially interested you about Noah, and what did you discover about him once you started playing him?

Riley Davis: I was initially interested in some of the comedy I read in the early Noah scenes. The scenes were quirky and weird, but had a lot of heart, and that was something I was excited about. Once I started playing him, I really discovered how much love he has for his teammates. Noah tries unbelievably hard to fit in with his team, but he just can’t sometimes. He cares deeply, and that was very fun to discover.

Crew Girl puts Noah in a competitive environment where personality and team dynamics can become closely intertwined. What side of him were you most interested in bringing forward?

Riley Davis: I was most excited for some of the humor that comes in episode six. A lot of that is rooted in Noah’s deep love for his teammates and rowing, but his inability to express it in a way that they can understand. Noah has such an endearing, quirky love for his team, and getting to play that was the most fun. Episode six was probably one of my favourite parts of shooting because I got to just play and do whatever I could to try and make my castmates laugh. We all had a lot of fun shooting the murder mystery episode.

Both Off Campus and Crew Girl deal heavily with friendship, attraction, and complicated young relationships. What do you look for to make those dynamics feel specific to the characters?

Riley Davis: Honestly, a lot of it comes from my castmates. In Crew Girl, we’re a nine-person team; the dynamics really revealed themselves when we would hang out as an ensemble outside of work. That’s where you really find the different parts of you that mesh with the group, and then you can bring those parts of you into the character. With Crew Girl, because we did all this rowing training and filming as a team, we naturally built a strong friendship and team dynamic because we spent so much time together. I try to be as open to my scene partners as I can, and not pre-plan anything, because whatever we discover in the moment will usually be the best version of the scene on that day.

The Last Kiss takes you into much darker territory, with a supernatural element that becomes connected to a murder spree. What appealed to you about the project, and did working within horror ask for something different from you as a performer?

Riley Davis: Yes, it definitely asked for something dramatically different than Off Campus or Crew Girl. Those shows were fun, light-hearted ensemble-based projects, but The Last Kiss was sort of the opposite. The Last Kiss is an ensemble cast as well, but my character, Tyler, masks his loneliness and carries a lot of guilt and hurt in him. There was a real darkness that had to exist to make some of those scenes work, and that sometimes meant spending time alone, away from the ensemble.

I don’t want to spoil too much here, but I’ve always wanted to play a character like Tyler. I have a ton of empathy for him and everything he has been through, and I felt a deep responsibility to him. We had a fantastic director, Yoko Okumura, who helped me beyond words, and the team at Blumhouse were all very supportive. I'm very proud of the film that we made.

You recently wrapped Lice, which combines an ’80s high-school setting, body horror, quarantine, and students beginning to turn on each other. Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about your role and where he fits into that increasingly chaotic environment?

Riley Davis: I played Callahan in the movie. Callahan is a lover, a hero, and not nearly as cool as he thinks he is. He’s a leader and takes care of the people around him. He’s also very loyal, brave, and was a blast to play. Lice was one of the most collaborative and creative sets I’d ever been fortunate to work on, and I can’t wait for it to be out in the world. I made very strong friendships on that movie with people that I still hang out with all the time and am lucky enough to call my friends.

Of everything you’ve worked on recently, was there a scene or type of material that pushed you furthest outside your comfort zone?

Riley Davis: Of all of the projects we’ve talked about today, November 1963 was probably the most outside of my comfort zone. We actually shot that film in Winnipeg while I was doing Off Campus in Vancouver at the same time, so it was pretty crazy travelling back and forth for a couple months and switching from Turk, a Chicago mobster, to Sean, a college boyfriend. Sometimes in the same week. And those two don’t have much in common.

November 1963 was challenging because there was a raw intensity to my character, Turk, and the whole plan for the assassination. I wanted to make it feel as real as possible, and those are high-stakes situations and moments to live through. On top of that, there was also pressure that I placed on myself, as a younger actor on a set with a lot of veterans like John Travolta, Mandy Patinkin, Dermot Mulroney, and Jefferson White. I wanted to make sure I was locked in, focused, and ready to be the best scene partner and collaborator I could be each day. Our director, Roland Joffé, is such an accomplished and incredible filmmaker; I really wanted to be at my best every day for him. I learned so much working on November 1963 with that cast and crew; I’m very lucky.

Photographer: Jonathan Bensimon (@jonathan.bensimon)
Stylist: Christal Williams (@christal.a.williams)
Grooming: Sophie Hsin (@sophie.hsin)
Words/Editor-in-Chief: Aedan Juvet (@aedanjuvet)