Though he grew up in a traditional Italian-Catholic family in the straight-laced Chicago suburbs, actor Nico Tortorella bucked convention from the start.
Even when I was a hockey player, it was always a show for me. I would score a goal and throw my gloves out over the glass there was so much flair, laughs the rakish 28-year-old, who stars in the sleeper-hit series Younger.
Indeed, whether its revealing his tattoos in shirtless Instagram posts to more than 300,000 followers, outing his alter-ego drag queen (Almond Milk), opening up about sex and relationships on his podcast The Love Bomb, or dishing with Alexa in a trendy coffee shop near his Williamsburg home Tortorella isnt afraid to share.
The son of bar owners, he spent his teens acting in Chicago theatrical productions before moving to LA. I literally didnt know a single person in Los Angeles, he recalls. Breaking into this industry is one in a billion in the first place, especially if theres no nepotism involved you get told no over and over again.
But he managed to bounce from Ashton Kutchers short-lived The Beautiful Life (a show about aspiring models) to Wes Cravens franchise-ending Scream 4 to Foxs gory The Following.
Tortorellas big break came when he landed TV Lands Younger (created by Darren Star of Sex and the City fame). On the show which debuted in 2015 and returns for a fourth season on Wednesday he plays Josh, the handsome hipster boyfriend of Liza (Sutton Foster), a 40-year-old who pretends to be in her 20s to score a job in book publishing.
The actor is also making scenes in real life. Last June, he drew attention for revealing he is sexually fluid.
I fall somewhere under the bisexual umbrella, Tortorella explains. Previously paired with hairstylist Kyle Krieger and actress Olesya Rulin, he says hes also in a long-time open relationship with fitness instructor Bethany Meyers while exploring polyamory. There are a few people in my life right now, he says. Men, women, and there is space for others.
Appropriate, then, that his chest bears a scrawled tattoo reading, not this, not that, beyond definition, a mantra gleaned from an LA yoga teacher (though he chuckles at the clich).
Under Tortorellas bad-boy exterior is a veneer of vulnerability. Hes been sober for 2 years and has tried reiki for physical and emotional healing. Over Christmas, he traveled to Peru with shamans and experimented with the herbal hallucinogen ayahuasca.
The actors unconventional stances havent jeopardized his leading-man status on Younger or alienated the legion of fans who are Team Josh. I am a white, cisgender-passing bisexual man, and I realize that not everyone has that privilege, he concedes. At the end of the day, will it affect my career? Possibly.
I dont think there have been positive bisexual role models in the world especially in Hollywood, he continues. If you have a story thats different than what youre seeing out there, just get it out there.
To that end, he spent last years Pride parade atop the RuPauls Drag Race float; this week, he hosted a frank conversation with intersex model Hanne Gaby Odiele on his podcast.
As Tortorella continues to shoot Younger in New York and Ireland through July, his daily routine involves concocting his own version of Bulletproof coffee (involving coconut oil, maca root and cinnamon), working out and toting his new puppy, Sun, around town. (The 1-year-old Chihuahua was an unexpected gift from an Instagram follower.)
Cradling the 2-pound canine in the hem of his black tank top, Tortorella coos: People and energies come into your life when you least expect them.
Source: NY Post
