Harris Dickinson Makes Waves in Beach Rats

As a sexually conflicted Coney Island teenager in the daring new indie (in theaters now), the British newcomer delivers a scorching performance and ignites his career.

- Joe McGovern

IF HARRIS DICKINSON’S NAME doesn’t sound familiar, that’s because he’s never been in a movie before. But the 21-year-old appears in every scene of the Sundance prize winner Beach Rats, playing a moody teenager living a double life in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. By day he lazes about with his girlfriend and crew of shirtless bros; at night he’s cruising for hookups in gay chat rooms. “The subject matter fascinated me,” Dickinson says. “I really enjoyed trying to figure the character out, even whilst reading the script.”