Nicholas Alexander Chavez Talks 'Monsters' and 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'

Elle

22-05-2025

Justin French
Jacket, shirt, tie, pants, belt, Gucci.
Five years ago, the pandemic was in its early stages, and with acting jobs drying up in Los Angeles, Nicholas Alexander Chavez found himself selling cars and doing door-to-door insurance sales in Florida. Four years later, he looked out onto Los Angeles's Sunset Boulevard to see three enormous billboards for
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
, the Ryan Murphy and Netflix series he was starring in.
Before the turn of events that led to his role as Lyle, the now 25-year-old Chavez says he had been grappling with the idea that his life was not how he thought it would be. Something, he acknowledges, a lot of people experienced during COVID. He had acted in school drama productions like
To Kill a Mockingbird
, and the positive response had pushed him to consider it as a career. That, coupled with a love of Shakespeare, led him to Rutgers University, where he studied drama for two years, before moving to L.A. to pursue acting full time.
Justin French
Coat, track jacket, track pants, loafers, Ferragamo. Socks, Falke.
Soon after, the pandemic struck, and he moved to Florida. Although he was grateful to have a paycheck, something told him that acting wasn't quite out of the picture just yet. 'I knew that deep down I was an artist, and I was trying to figure out how that could be let out,' he says over a Zoom call, reminiscent of the pandemic past.
'I knew that deep down I was an artist, and I was trying to figure out how that could be let out.'
Chavez credits a 'mindset shift,' brought on by advice he received from someone close to him that turned things around. 'I realized that whatever you're doing, you should just give it 100 percent, because you're there anyway,' he says. He started showing up to work with the idea that he wanted to 'be the best at selling cars today' so he could 'be the best actor tomorrow.'
Before long, he had auditioned for and booked
General Hospital
, the long-running soap opera for which he won a Daytime Emmy, and the roles have kept coming ever since.
Justin French
Jacket, shirt, tie, pants, belt, Gucci.
The two and a half years he spent on
General Hospital
proved pivotal to his future success. The grueling schedule, something he likens to 'exposure therapy,' instilled in him the work ethic needed in a demanding industry. He remembers at one point having to learn '80 pages of dialogue in a single day.' But those lessons would help him hold his own when he played alongside Chloë Sevigny and Javier Bardem in
Monsters
, and later when he starred opposite Niecy Nash in another Murphy production, the horror/drama
Grotesquerie
.
He calls Murphy 'one of the most prolific television creators alive today'—and when asked if he'd be open if the producer were to come calling a third time, his answer is 'of course.' But he's also intrigued by 'the dark comedy space' and would like to star in a historical drama, saying there are 'so many interesting people who I'm personally fascinated with, and I'd love to tell their stories at some point in my career.'
Justin French
Coat, track jacket, track pants, loafers, Ferragamo. Socks, Falke.
Right now, Chavez is gearing up for the July release of
I Know What You Did Last Summer
, the latest sequel to the 1997 iconic horror film of the same name. The production, which he promises packs a lot of 'shock factor,' features a large ensemble (including fellow ELLE Hollywood Rising member, Sarah Pidgeon) and sees the return of two of the franchise's original stars, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Justin French
Jacket, shirt, tie, pants, belt, Gucci.
For someone who feels happiest when he's working, becoming an actor wasn't something Chavez always saw for himself. As a child, he loved to pretend to be a priest. He would perform for his family, complete with bread and cranberry juice. And while he didn't necessarily take inspiration from his youth when he played Father Charlie Mayhew in
Grotesquerie
, he did say, 'Little me would be so proud if only he knew.'
Reflecting on his time in Florida selling cars, he has no regrets: 'The universe just takes you on the journey that you need to go on,' he says. 'It was a weird journey that I didn't expect, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.'
Hair by Sami Knight for Rehab; makeup by Alexandra French at Forward Artists; manicure by Jolene Brodeur at The Wall Group; produced by Anthony Federici at Petty Cash Production; photographed at Malibu Creek Ranch.
A version of this story appears in the Summer 2025 issue of ELLE
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