[This story contains spoilers for Tubi‘s Sidelined 2: Intercepted.]
Noah Beck has conquered social media, so he’s ready for a new challenge.
The 24-year-old collegiate athlete-turned-content creator-turned-actor has already amassed a massive fanbase, with more than 40 million followers across TikTok and Instagram. After dropping out of college to pursue a social media career in 2020, Beck went on to capture the hearts of millions with his viral lip-syncing and shirtless dancing videos, in addition to his collabs with other members of the Sway House, the former L.A.-based content frat that once dominated TikTok.
While Beck has expanded his presence beyond those viral videos, going on to dabble in the fashion world, he now has his full attention turned to acting. He made his film debut in Tubi’s Sidelined: The QB and Me last year and just reprised his role as Drayton in the newly released sequel, Sidelined 2: Intercepted, opposite Siena Agudong. But he knows there’s so much more to learn and is ready for anything thrown his way.
“At this point in my career where, unlike with social media, I’ve truly loved how humbling this industry is. And if this industry will continue to have me, I will happily be there,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I want to try different things and I want to do just about every genre. I’ll never rule something out before doing it. That’s just shooting yourself in the foot.”
Below, Beck opens up about Sidelined 2, what it was like working with James Van Der Beek again and teases the possibility of more movies in the franchise. He also shares how his view of social media has changed and the biggest challenge he’s been able to overcome.
With fans loving the first Sidelined movie, how excited were you to be able to return to the role of Drayton for the sequel?
This movie is my baby. I’ve been attached to it since the very beginning. I’ve kind of been a part of the adaptation process of taking it from Tam Marley’s book to what it is now. And so people resonated with it and people responded, and that’s all you can ask from going away for several months and creating something and just crossing your fingers, being like, we had the best time and we hope that we were able to at least capture a little bit of that on camera because the movie doing well or not, honestly, it’s at a point where it doesn’t even matter. I had so much fun filming these movies and it’s just a little bonus if they do well. And the first one did better than any of us thought it was going to do, so that’s obviously a blessing.
Sports were also such a large part of your life growing up, so what was it like to mix your love of sports and acting for these films?
Let’s just say Drayton and this story were not too far from my experience, so it was very easy to pull from things that I needed to pull from in some scenes. And those days filming the football shot, it was just play. And it was purely that camaraderie of being with a team and the extras of the football team coming in. It was hard to rally us. We were just on the field throwing the ball around, we were just having fun, and they were like, “Yo, we got to come film this.” And I was like, “One more throw.” And so it was really fun and it was truly my two worlds colliding, where you take sports and my newfound love, which is acting in movies and film and all the good things and just creating, to be honest.
Since you all were already comfortable as scene partners, having done Sidelined: The QB and Me, were you looking forward to reuniting with Siena for the sequel?
She’s truly one of my best friends. I have so much love for that girl, and more than anything, I was just excited to spend some more time with her. It’s funny because when we film these movies, like promoting it, we were just in Rome together and it doesn’t feel like work at all. Anytime I’m around her, even when we’re away filming a movie, it’s just one long hangout and one long sleepover, and it’s summer camp with your best friends. That alone is a selling point for me to continue acting in this franchise that it now is. And I think when you enjoy the work so much, I hope it shows through the screen because she’s just so easy to have chemistry with, and I am very lucky.
You also worked with the iconic James Van Der Beek again on the sequel, and I know he’s been battling cancer, so how special was it to reunite with him?
I could sit and talk about how amazing James was to me for an hour if you have it. With James, he has such a presence to him, and you can’t not be present in a scene with him. I learned so much, and I’ve just felt like I had this front row seat to such an acting masterclass. In our scenes, he’s Drayton’s father, so when he’s yelling or when he’s being stern with me, I’m just sitting there and I caught myself a few times just really being in awe of him, and I was like, oh shit, I forgot it’s a wide [shot] so I have to be in this. So there were times when I fell out of it and just wanted to enjoy what I’m seeing, what people literally pay to come see and I’m getting paid to do this with him. It’s pretty surreal. And off camera, he was such a gentleman and just such an amazing guy to have on set. He’s such a mentor to me.
Thinking about the ending to Sidelined 2: Intercepted, it concluded in quite an ambiguous way. So have there been talks about a third film in the franchise, and if so, would you be open to returning as Drayton?
We were kind of going for that bittersweet ending, and when we shot the thing, we shot three or four different endings and were like, “I guess we’ll see in the edit which one works the best and which one we decide.” It came together so quickly, and there’s no second book, so we were like, this can go wherever we want it. And they have so much love for each other, and it’s kind of that saying of if you love something, let it go and if it comes back to you, [it’s really yours]. But I’m stoked to see where it goes, and let’s just say I would love to continue these movies and there definitely are some unanswered questions. So if we decide to continue this story, I would happily come back as Drayton.
Looking ahead, do you have any dream genres or roles you would love to take on in the future?
At this point in my career where, unlike with social media, I’ve truly loved how humbling this industry is. And if this industry will continue to have me, I will happily be there. I’m not too picky right now, and just like how I started with TikTok, I want to try different things, and I want to do just about every genre. I’ll never rule something out before doing it. That’s just shooting yourself in the foot.
Having got your start on TikTok five years ago, so much has changed during this time with social media. How has your view of social media changed from then to now?
My view of it has never been too serious. And I think maybe that’s the only way that it’s really changed. But at the same time, as much as I feel like I’ve used social media to be this catapult for other things in my life that I’ve had an interest in … I guess I’ve treated my brand as my résumé. But then the seriousness quickly gets flooded out by the unseriousness of the silly videos or whatnot. I treat each platform fairly different. I think each one serves its purpose but ultimately not taking life that serious.
Social media has definitely changed in a way where it really was this series of boredom activities that I’m just going to put on camera to just past the time. And to an extent, it still is that with the occasional brand deal. I think social media now is — whereas it was super entertainment-based when I was first starting out — a search engine. You can be educated on it, you can be entertained, it can be escapism or it can be informational. It is truly whatever you please and whatever your algorithm is feeding you. So, for me, I still view it as if you want to do anything, if you want to promote anything, if you want to break into a space and you don’t have social media, I think you’re really doing yourself a disservice if you’re not capitalizing on it.
Do you see yourself continuing to do social media in the future as you focus more on acting?
A hundred percent. To each their own, and it’s not one size fits all, so I wouldn’t say it’s pretentious of me to just all of a sudden drop it and be like, “I don’t need this.” It’s never that. In the past year, I have pumped the brakes on certain platforms, but then I’ll also hit these spurts where I’ll go on vacation or I’ll travel for work and get some amazing content, and I’m pumping out an Instagram Reel or an Instagram dump a day, and then I’m also throwing up two to three TikToks, because I’m just so inspired. So I like to not put any pressure on any of it. If there’s a day where I’m like, I’m not inspired by anything, I don’t have any drafts, I am not forcing myself to do it. And that might allow me to have the bandwidth to do something else creatively. But yeah, I think I will continue; it wouldn’t be fair to the people who have been following me through this whole journey.
What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve been able to overcome to get you where you are today?
I think acting’s really helped me with not caring too much about what people think. And in a world with social media, it’s quite literally all it is in a sense. You’re putting stuff out there, it’s very vulnerable. And especially if you’re not playing a character online and you’re not playing a different persona and you’re truly being yourself, you’re like, “Hey, this is me in a video. This is the potential to hit millions of people. Am I okay with how this might be perceived?” So I think just being authentically yourself and just being like, “This is me, take it or leave it,” has really helped with the acting and kind of getting out of my own skin a little and just being like, “No one cares that much.”
If you had to describe what makes Noah Beck Noah Beck, what would you say?
Ultimately, I am just curious, and the day that I’m not curious is the day that I need someone to slap me upside the head and be like, stay curious. Because life’s more fun that way, and you start to romanticize things. You start to just constantly be a student and ask questions. I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I think I know everything. I hope I don’t. I don’t want to be that cursed with knowledge. But yeah, I think curiosity. Without that, I wouldn’t be myself.
