Not Your Average Heartthrob

Nicholas Galitzine can play himbo, Prince Charming, and Gen-Z queer iconsometimes all at once. Now, he's coming

- Lauren Bans

NICHOLAS GALITZINE used to hate his lips. "I thought they were very girlie," says the 29-year-old English actor, who has a pair that would be the envy of any Los Angeles dermatologist's waiting room. "People used to say I looked like a fish." He hated his under-eye circles, too, which always made people worry he wasn't sleeping enough. He blushes when I point out he's objectively handsome. "I have what I call a 'broken sponge," he explains. "I find it impossible to sponge up compliments. But I do like hearing them." Galitzine lifts his cappuccino and sips. "I think I've always tried to detach myself from a self-image because as soon as I landed in L.A., everyone's so beautiful here," he says. "I decided the only thing that would nourish me was putting all of my effort and energy into just trying to be a great artist and a great performer."

It’s two days after Valentine’s Day, and we’re at an outdoor café in Larchmont, the hollywood sign visible on the hill to the north. It’s slightly chilly, but he’s doing fine in a fitted Acne Studios black sweater. More than once, I catch other patrons stealing glances at the actor, whose big hazel eyes and lullaby of a British accent make him seem like a time-traveling Jane Austen suitor with an eyebrow slit. Twice, an eager dog hops onto his knee. (Both times, he bends down to pet it affectionately.)

In two projects this spring, Galitzine plays a certified Lust Object so irresistible that falling in bed with him upends entire lives. There’s The Idea of You, the film adaptation of the horny Harry Styles fanfic novel of the same name by Robinne Lee, in which Galitzine portrays a passionate poet type in a teenybopper-bait boy band who falls for a fan’s divorced mom (Anne Hathaway). And in the historical drama