Lana Takes The Lead

Ladies and gentlemen of the A-list, meet your competition.

With TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOV ED BEFORE , Lana Condor became an overnight success and the reigning queen of Netflix. Now she’s busy rewriting the Hollywood rules thanks to a big new show, an epic real-life love story, and lots of red-carpet nights that end the way all true fairy tales should: eating pizza in bed.

- Helin Jung

THREE AND A HALF YEARS AGO, LANA CONDOR WAS 18 YEARS OLD AND HAD NO IDEA HOW TO BE FAMOUS.

She’d never been to a splashy industry party, worn designer clothes, or signed an autograph. Every time a flashbulb went off, she flinched.

At this point, she’d just finished shooting her first role (a small part in a big X-Men movie), but it hadn’t come out yet, and she wasn’t sure if acting could be a real career. She’d finished high school and thought she kinda might want to be a journalist like her dad. But at the end of the summer in 2015, her publicist snagged her an invite to a party for Emmy nominees in Beverly Hills, Lana’s first big event. She wore a bright orange minidress, a high pony, and a sparkly clutch. She looked like an impossibly chic tangerine. “Oh my god, I’m so cool,” she thought as she posed for photographers.

And then, just like in our dreams (and at least 80 percent of Sex and the City episodes), Lana had That Moment. She locked eyes with a tall, shaggy haired guy at the bar. Later, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. It was him.

“Hi, I’m Anthony,” he said with an outstretched hand and noticeably sweet eyes. “I thought I would make a friend.”

They started talking but eventually got pulled apart by other conversations, and at the end of the night, with her Uber waiting, Lana panicked about leaving without getting his number. Then right on cue, she turned away from her chariot Toyota Camry, ran back into the party, found him, and asked for his digits.

From the car, she texted him a joke: “What do you call a pile of kittens?” He replied with the punch line: “A meowntain.” The meet-cute was “like a Taylor Swift song,” as Lana puts it. It’s been three and a half years of corny puns ever since.