Romance novel lovers could rest a little easier when they saw Belmont Cameli’s dark head of curls come into frame as the first episode of Off Campus, the book-to-screen adaptation of the best-selling series by Elle Kennedy, colored their televisions. Cameli, 28, is the latest fresh face to step into the role of BookTok Boyfriend—a title more desirable than ever as New York Times best-sellers like Heated Rivalry and Every Year After continue to seep onto the small screen. Joining the ranks of Connor Storrie, Hudson Williams, and Christopher Briney, the star has seen how quickly Internet boyfriend-dom can flip one’s life on its head—but rest assured, the tall, dark, and handsome brunette from Chicagoland is up for the challenge.
Since giving dedicated book fans the physical manifestation of the womanizing collegiate hockey star, Garrett Graham—one half of the lead couple in Off Campus season one, accompanied by Ella Bright as Hannah Wells—Cameli’s career has shifted into high gear. With the show’s massive success (Amazon Prime Video reported a record-breaking viewership of 36 million streams within its first 12 days, according to Variety) came magazine spreads, first pitches at Chicago White Sox games, and now, beauty campaigns. Remember those umber, scene-stealing curls we talked about earlier? Yeah, they landed their own Tresemmé deal.
Ahead, Cameli fills Who What Wear in on life after the show’s splashy debut, the shrouded happenings of season two, future career goals, and his simple routine for those signature curls.
I’ve seen pictures of you in your high school football jersey with some not-curly hair—how and when did you learn to embrace your natural texture?
I didn’t have a natural curl until later in high school—maybe around 18. I started growing it out more; it started getting wavy, and then I would cut it down and grow it out, and it just kept getting curlier.
Growing up, my hair was poker-straight. So, there was a whole period of time that I suddenly had curly hair and could not figure it out for the life of me, which is why I’m really happy to have Tresemmé on my side today. They make it so easy, so I don’t really have to think about it: I just go in with their three new products in the Bouncy Curls line, and it takes no time at all; I can just go about my day. But I’ve struggled—learning the curly hair [routine] later in life with no help was difficult.
We just spoke with your co-star, Stephen Kalyn (Dean DiLaurentis), about season 2. How is filming going so far?
It’s great! We’re having so much fun. We’re all very busy, and we’re just really proud of the show. We’re working on episodes three and four right now, and these scripts are really impressive. It’s just nice to be back with everybody—the cast, the crew, and our creators—it’s been a blast. We love shooting the show.
Kalyn told me that you once called him on a day off just to tell him about your high school football experience.
Oh, I call him randomly every single day. And he calls me too! We talk all the time; we just get along so well. He’s from the suburbs of Toronto, I’m from the suburbs of Chicago—we have similar trajectories and stories. We’re the same age, we started acting at the same time, and obviously this show happened to us together. But yeah, I gave a 30-minute soliloquy about my high school football team. He was like, “Okay.” And honestly, I’ve heard him talk about hockey and his hockey teams for hours on end, so whatever!
That’s how friendship works! How does this season—both the filming process and show itself—feel different than season 1?
It doesn’t really feel all that different. It’s almost the same crew, so it was kind of like we took a break and came back home, you know?
Obviously we’re aware of the attention the show has gotten, but that doesn’t really affect us while we’re working, so the days on set feel very familiar. It almost feels like no time passed at all between season one and season two, which has been really nice. I’d say the biggest difference is that when we’re shooting on location, there are more [fans] around.
If you could describe season two in three words, what would they be?
Ensemble, love, and friendship. I haven’t had time to think of a good three yet, but those three are definitely in there, lemme tell ya.
They definitely count. It must have been nice to jump back into filming after such a crazy press run of a summer.
It was. It was so nice to have work, and to be all together right after the press run and the release of the show. We got to come back into our bubble. For me, and I think for them, too, having work is a real privilege.
How does it feel to have your career explode the way it did this summer—to not only be in such a famous role, but also to land campaigns with brands like Tresemmé?
It’s been really interesting. I think a lot of actors hope for the audience that we’ve garnered now. I feel really honored to have new fans of my work. I’m really grateful for the opportunity that it’s presented me—when it comes to my next jobs, when it comes to partnering with Tresemmé and their great line of Bouncy Curls products, and getting to talk about my hair. It’s really nice, and it’s been an adjustment, but it’s been cool. [But] my day-to-day is pretty much the same—all the things I’m seeing with my eyes are no different.
Since you’ve been acting for a minute now, is there a beauty hack that you learned on set that changed the way you get ready?
Eye patches go a long way for me. I’m a tired boy most of the time, so letting those soak in is totally cool. When it comes to my hair, turning my head upside down and scrunching is essential to getting those curls right. You’ve got to do your hair upside down a lot of the time.
And if I want my hair to look good, I usually have to use a diffuser somewhere in the process. If I want to completely air-dry my curls, they end up looking incredible—but that takes so much time. Once you get the Defining Cream in there and put a little mousse in, give it that shape, then go in with the diffuser, and set it and forget it, it’s great.
I know you’re busy shooting Off Campus until early fall, but do you have any other upcoming projects that you can share with us?
I do, but not [ones] that I can share. There’s some really fun stuff that I’m looking at with my team right now, and hopefully we’ll get season three for Off Campus. In the time between, I’m really looking forward to going to work and shooting some features. There’s some fun stuff I can’t say, but I’m really just excited to be on set more. I want to spend all my time on set—like, literally all my time. So hopefully that’s what I’ll get to do.
I’m curious—do you guys see the TikTok edits? Are you sending funny comments to each other? Can you laugh at everything?
We definitely can laugh at it. I’m not on TikTok; I’m not on the Internet really, unless it’s, like, woodworking videos on YouTube. But there are a lot of pink helmet videos that go around that we really enjoy. People have really given the pink helmet the life that it’s deserved online. I’ve seen some of the edits of the show—and a lot of them are extremely impressive, [even] just from an editing standpoint. I’ve seen plenty of it. It’s all fun, and weird, and cool. It’s just wild, honestly.
There’s been a lot happening this summer. Between the World Cup, your breakout show, and filming, there’s a lot to obsess over. What are you obsessed with right now?
I’m so predictable: It’s Chicago White Sox baseball. The Cubs and the Sox are both doing really well right now—there’s a lot of good baseball happening on the South Side. I’m obsessed with driving my car. I bought this 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser from Japan—it’s this little diesel engine with four-wheel drive—and I love driving it so much. Vancouver is a gorgeous place to drive around. And I’m also obsessed with getting eight hours of sleep whenever possible.
I hear you guys are up early doing hockey practices!
Yeah, we do a lot of boot camps. We are in the throes of filming right now, so when we’re shooting, we’re on the ice for 12 to 16 hours—which ends up really hurting your feet, but being good practice.
The shooting schedule, on top of other fun stuff we have going on outside the show, keeps us pretty busy, so when I know I have a night when I can get eight hours of sleep, I get so excited. I’ll have, like, one hundred dreams and try to write them all down in the morning.
Speaking of dreams—your life is opening up in big ways these days. What are some new personal and career goals that you’ve set for yourself?
I really want to wear multiple hats at some point, as a filmmaker. I never really knew when the next step towards directing would be, and right now, I’m realizing that if that’s going to happen, it won’t be in a way that I foresee. Because right now, I really just want to go to work as an actor, build out a diverse body of work, play unpredictable characters, and work in different genres and arenas. So right now, my vision is honestly the same as it’s always been: I want to do things that are different from the others that I’ve done.
I’ve done a decent amount of comedy television now, and I’ve done some genre films, some drama. I’ve played in this YA space a couple of times, and I really just want to protect the vision of doing different things. And work with cool filmmakers that I like. It’s a pretty broad goal, but my goal is just to work. I really love being on set, so that’s where I want to be.
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