Rising Star : Meet ‘The Kissing Booth’ Star Taylor Zakhar Perez: Details on His Upcoming Roles and More

 

Continuing to kill it! Taylor Zakhar Perez made his Kissing Booth debut as Marco in the film’s sequel, which premiered in July 2020. Since then, he reprised his role for the third and final movie before taking on some other major roles. Keep reading for details on the star, including age, upcoming roles and more. 

Who Is Taylor Zakhar Perez?

The actor was born on December 24, 1991, and grew up in Indiana. While he was a competitive swimmer for years, Taylor eventually decided to pursue acting.

“It killed my dad for a long time. I guess a lot of my choices may [have],” he told GQ in June 2023. “If I keep living for people in the past, I’m never going to grow and move forward.”

His rise to fame came following his role as Marco in The Kissing Booth franchise.

“I had expectations of a traditional rollout for a project like this because Kissing Booth 2 was 100 percent my breakout role, and you had seen these breakout … I’d say ‘star’ loosely, but you know what I mean,” the actor said during an interview with WWD in August 2021. “Breakout stars … when it happens, you’re, like, ‘whoa.’ And so when you get a breakout in quarantine, it’s like, ‘All right, everything is just remote from the house, and you don’t really get to interact with people.’ Everyone was, like, ‘Taylor, this is going to be great. This is going to be great for you,’ and then when it came, it was great. But then it just wasn’t the same, I think, as other people experienced, so it’s been very nontraditional.”

In the film series, Taylor plays a student who creates a love triangle between Elle (Joey King) and Noah (Jacob Elordi), but in real life, his high school experience was pretty normal.

“I wasn’t really a dater in high school, so I didn’t really have that side of Elle’s conundrum she’s going through, but definitely just the ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What do I want to be?’ I feel like everyone has that,” he added while chatting with WWD. “I know people peak in high school, people that love high school, and they’re in it to win it, and they talk about it for the rest of their life, high school being the best time of their life. Not me. I wanted to move to a city. I wanted to get out of my town and be like the people on TV.”

What Other Movies and TV Shows Has Taylor Starred In?

Following his Kissing Booth role, the actor has since been cast in the highly anticipated film adaptation of the young adult novel Red, White and Royal Blue. Get ready, because Taylor is about to become a household name!

A Midwest Boy

The actor is originally from South Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. He eventually moved to Chesterton, Indiana.

Past Roles

Aside from his breakout role as Marco in The Kissing Booth 2, Taylor has appeared in Scandal, Embeds, Young & Hungry, Awkward, iCarly, 1Up, Minx and Suburgatory. Before becoming an actor, he also did a bit of modeling and musical theatre.

Other Passions

Well, the actor is a seriously good singer (as we found out in the movie)! While talking to Glamour revealed that, “In the casting breakdown it said, ‘Please submit professional singers and dancers. We would love to consider Eurovision or American Idol stars,’ or something like that.”

But it seemed like both his singing and dancing skills won in the end!

Relationship Status

He revealed that he’s single and also told Glamour in July 2020 that he might date a fan!

“I feel like it’s different if you’re in the same industry with each other and a fan of each other’s work. I don’t want to say no, because you never know,” he explained. “What if you date someone that doesn’t know who you are but then becomes a fan of your work?”

Family Life

As it turned out, the actor actually has seven siblings!

“They always see acceptance and love but know I’m not afraid to speak my mind,” he also told the publication. “They would also say I’m the planner of the family, especially when they come to visit me in L.A. I get a little stressed when plans don’t go the way they’re supposed to.”