Owen Thiele Was Every Celebrity’s Bestie. Now He’s Stealing Scenes in Your Favorite Show

This is an edition of the weekly newsletter Tap In, GQ senior associate editor Frazier Tharpe’s final word on the most heated online discourse about music, movies, and TV. Sign up here to get it free.Owen Thiele’s star is blossoming. His evolution from peripheral best-friend-of-Hollywood-starlets to bona fide actor in his own right began last year with a leading role in FX’s hang-out sitcom Adults (and a supporting role on Benito Skinner’s rival Overcompensating) and is now in full swing thanks to Adults’ surging popularity and a much-improved second season, which dropped late last month. And for good reason: as Anton, the droll, eternally over-it member of the Adults crew, Thiele deftly moves between broad hysterics and dry, disaffected one-liners, often quietly stealing a scene. He’s winning people over off-camera as well: last week he turned an emergency plane landing into a series of hilarious Instagram stories in which he imagined crash headlines that wouldn’t bother to report his death because Andrew Garfield was on the same flight.Now, Thiele is getting New York Fashion Week show invites and brand deals (see how deftly he drops the name of his latest partner in the interview below). Last Saturday, I found Thiele posted up in a sizable trailer parked outside The Standard Hotel as he waited to go perform hosting duties at a pop-up event for the popular European aperitif. In the interim, we talked about adjusting to his newfound celebrity, tapping into his emotional side on-screen, and who should play Anton’s mother on a not-yet-announced but inevitable third season of Adults.Hannah Turner Harts/BFA.comHannah Turner Harts/BFA.comGlad you’re in one piece after the emergency landing. Has Andrew Garfield hit you to say “Glad we both made it?”So… I’m going to be honest, and this is a GQ exclusive: Andrew Garfield has not messaged me. There's a lot of articles where our names are side-by-side and he has not reached out, so I'm feeling blindsided and hurt. I am feeling really overwhelmed. I think if Andrew messaged me, the world would heal. I think there'd be no more emergency landings.Andrew, what are you doing? Just build.Right? Come on, Andrew, you could save the world right now. It takes one little DM. I don't think he even has an Instagram. I'll give him my number. Write my number in this article.You have to go to the Artificial premiere.Oh, that’s great, easy. I’ll do that.Although now you’re being called out for getting second billing over some others...It was “Andrew Garfield, Owen Thiele, and more.” So now Nick Robinson is so upset about being the “and more.” Nick has been famous for way longer than me. I think he can take one for the team. I'm nervous and shaky about this whole journey of mine and he should just swallow it for a second. He can be my support person. He was in Love, Simon. I love that film.So about that acting journey you’re on, how’s the reception to Adults season two been for you?It’s been so overwhelming. It feels like one of those short films that your friends make for no money and just for the hell of it. And then all of a sudden millions of people are watching it. It feels surreal… but it’s the most beautiful, magical thing. I also feel very lucky because I truly and deeply believe in the material. I think the writing is so special, so it just makes it all the better that people like it.Speaking of shorts for the hell of it, Eighty-Sixed was your first acting bit, right?Eighty-Sixed was my first thing. Shout out Cazzie David, thank you for giving me that.I did her first ever interview, and it was for that.No way. I’m obsessed, that’s so funny. I got the bug then. A camera was in my face and I was like, “Ooh, I like this.” So then I’ve been acting ever since.And you’re still on Overcompensating? It feels like they were fighting Adults for custody over you a bit.I’m still on Overcompensating season two. I don’t think anybody wanted me that badly, to be honest. I think one of them would have been happy to raise their hand and cut me, but I negotiated. And I’m in both again, so sorry guys.You were saying before we started that acting still makes you really anxious.I don’t get nervous being myself. I’ve been me for a long time now, so I’m pretty used to it. But playing characters, I still get nervous about. The first day of Adults season two we went in and everyone was so calm. It was the premiere episode where Paul Baker has a second friend group. And I literally had one line in the scene. The scene rested on Jack Innanen’s shoulders and I kept fucking up the takes because I would shake. I got so nervous. Which is so funny because Anton is so similar to me, so I should just swallow that.So how do you embrace the nerves and lock in?My mom always said this—it's so cheesy, but I think nerves fuel the creative energy. So it’s like, if I'm nervous, something good will come of this.What was the most fun thing to conquer filming this season of Adults?This season felt very challenging for me because the funny parts just feel like play, but there were a lot of emotional things this season. And I was tasked with a big emotional arc, and I think it’s so amazing that the creators, Ben Kronigold and Rebecca Shaw, gave a Black man the emotional arc. That is so rare. There are very few television shows that have that. It was tough to tap into my emotional side.Why?I like to make jokes! I laugh through the pain. I don’t like to sit in the pain. It’s boring. I’d rather have a Sarti Spritz.Incredible integration right there. How do you lock in when it’s time to get dramatic, then?I listen to a lot of Lizzie McAlpine, a lot of Sade and some Lauryn Hill, and then I can get there.You had that arc, but there’s also a big Anton-centric episode where Raven-Symoné is your sister.That was the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me. I think Raven-Symoné was the first person I saw on screen where I was like, “Oh my God, I see myself in her.”On That’s So Raven?Yeah, she was a Black queer woman leading a show on Disney Channel. I was like, Okay, that’s me. I need to do that. And then I auditioned a bunch and never got it and Disney would not have me. But now I’m on a Hulu show, which is Disney. Full circle.Did you see some of the critiques of that episode?No, what are they saying?That a Black guy would never be that outwardly brash and disrespectful to their mom.You know what? I think what’s so great about this show is some people really relate to certain parts of it, but don’t relate to others. I hope if they relate to one character on the show, we’re doing well. So if they don’t relate to me and my mom’s dynamic, that’s totally fine. Hopefully they relate to Samir and Issa’s dynamic. You know what I mean?Is that approach something you’re applying more as you take on more roles?I’m trying to. I can't read into everything because if I did, I would be on Twitter 24/7. And let me tell you something, I’m already on there 23/7, so I don’t need that extra hour, babe. I got to sleep.Was there a scene that you were especially proud of especially given how new this all is to you still?There’s a scene with Jack in the finale that’s a silent scene. There’s no speaking. It was a lot of eye work. God, I was going cross-eyed. And it was really challenging for me because I kept wanting to laugh or fill the space and I couldn’t. The director was like, “No, this is a silent moment, Owen. You have to actually appreciate this.” And that was tough, but I’m proud of how it turned out.How’s Jack as a scene partner? You went full love triangle this year, a sitcom rite of passage.I’m so lucky that Anton and Paul Baker have a fling because I get to be opposite him all the time. He’s wonderful. I was actually in a square because there was a possum involved, too.It’s been a lot of fun. Also, it feels like it’s made by people my age who actually understand this age group and what's going on. It just feels very real to me.Would you ever consider getting in the writing room too?They won’t have me. Hey, Ben and Rebecca, why won’t you include me in the writer’s room? I’m trying to get in there. I would love to actually, but I do think what's so fun about this is I get to go and read the best scripts and just act and not have to worry about anything else.So if we do get a season three, what’s your dream arc or character you want to play off more that you don't always get to spend so much time with?Well, I think Michelle Obama should play my mom.Sure.I just think Raven-Symoné playing my sister, Michelle Obama playing my mom, maybe Denzel playing my dad. I think there should be no stunt casting other than Anton’s family. Honestly, I think the best moments and the most fun I have is being with the [full group]. So I hope we have more episodes that are just the five of us on an adventure.People are really mad that you didn’t hook up with the guy in episode two.People are really mad I didn't kiss Isaac Cole Powell for longer. It’s like, you guys, I can’t do it all. I can’t kiss every hot man. Hollywood won’t allow it. They’ll come after me.How aggressively are you pursuing other acting jobs at the moment?You know what? I hope we get another season of Adults because it’s my favorite thing to do.Is that still not on the books yet?The third season hasn’t been confirmed.That feels like a must.Come on, GQ. Tell them. And I’m excited to build my relationship with Sarti. It’s so funny when you actually try something, when you become an ambassador for something, you have to actually like it.Well, in theory.In theory. And I know a lot of people that don’t. And I’m calling them out. Hey, famous people, some of you don’t actually try these things. I actually tried Sarti Spritz, loved it, loved the color. It all just aligns with me. And I’m like, Fuck, it's so great when things actually work out like that.So if you didn’t love it, you would’ve walked away?[Ed Note: words can’t accurately express the hilarious dramatic effect and comedic timing he deployed to say this] Nooooo! I’m not insane. But it just so happens that I do.Fair enough.