Heartstopper actor Kit Connor attended his first fashion week this season. Here he tells GQ exclusively why he thinks fashion gives him superpowers and why he’s excited for what’s next.

A little under a year ago you likely wouldn’t have known who Kit Connor was, but now he’s undeniably one of the world’s buzziest young actors. While had a minor part in Rocketman, it was his role in Netflix’s coming–of–age, LGBTQ+ miniseries Heartstopper, which released in mid–April, that thrust the 18–year–old into the spotlight.

Consequently, the Croydon–born actor has got a massive social media following comprising 4.1 million Instagram followers, while he regularly tweets about his life, work and interests to 897,000 Twitter users. Stands to reason that the young talent, who has just finished his A–levels and is taking a much–earned break before filming series two of Heartstopper later this year, is getting attention from some of the biggest brands in the world. Case in point: this week he was flown out to Paris by Spanish label Loewe, who in the past has dressed thesps such as Josh O’Connor and Anthony Hopkins, to see its creative director Jonathan Anderson unveil the brand’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection.

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At just 18 years old, Kit Connor has amassed the kind of online attention that one could only gain from starring in an explosively popular Netflix series. Heartstopper, which places Connor in one of two lead roles, was adapted from the webcomics created by Alice Oseman, and as a series (also written by Oseman), it cuts to the core of queer connection in optimistic and surprisingly delightful ways. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly juvenile setting of the show, though – Heartstopper may take place in a high school at sweaty rugby matches and after–school parties, but its central relationships can warm the iciest of hearts.

Joining the cast of promising young actors, Connor plays Nick Nelson, a high school jock who begins to unearth his true feelings for protagonist Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), and with it, a reckoning of his friendships and sexuality. On a Zoom call from his home in the U.K., Connor tells W he is in the midst of studying for his Advanced Level qualifications, while sitting in front of a bright pink poster scribed with the words “Gonna Be Okay.” He shares a sense of immense gratitude for his Heartstopper role, adding that after originally auditioning for the part of Charlie, landing Nick turned out to be “a match made in heaven.”

Wearing a short–sleeved, beige button–up, Connor is relaxed and articulate. In our conversation, he embodies a level of introspection and self–reflection about his role and the landscape of queer representation in media that seems rare for such a young actor. When I tell him that Heartstopper made me feel very single as an elder Millennial, he jokes that this was the plan all along, for everyone to “feel very, very sad and jealous of Nick and Charlie” – and that it must be “bittersweet” for older queer viewers to experience Heartstopper when they were more limited in their options of queer–centric television growing up.

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