Taylor Zakhar Perez

Taylor Zakhar Perez (born December 24, 1991) is an American actor. He began his career by appearing in several series, before his breakthrough role in the romantic comedy films The Kissing Booth 2 (2020) and The Kissing Booth 3 (2021). Perez had a supporting role in the sex comedy series Minx (2022) and a starring role in the romantic comedy film Red, White & Royal Blue (2023).

Early life
Perez was born in Chicago on December 24, 1991, and grew up in Chesterton, Indiana. He attended Chesterton High School and he has been a national level swimmer. Perez has a diverse ancestry, ranging from Mexican and Middle Eastern to Mediterranean. He is partially Croatian through his mother and partially Hungarian through his father.

His mother is an aesthetician and he is the sixth of total eight children. Perez used to change tires at the family auto-body shop on weekends. When he received a swimming scholarship to Fordham University, he turned it down to attend UCLA, where he majored in Spanish culture and community and minored in film and television. Perez started off his acting career by performing at musicals in opera houses at an early age.

Kissing Booth and rise to popularity (2020–2023)
In 2020, Perez played Marco Valentin Peña in Netflix's The Kissing Booth 2, opposite Joey King. For his role, he took choreography and guitar lessons. It became the most-streamed film on Netflix during its opening weekend. The series was the second most streamed during its second weekend, with Forbes noting it as "one of the most popular movies ever on the platform." In October that year, Netflix reported that 66 million households watched the film over its first four weeks of release.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Perez partnered with Variant Malibu, a 3D tech company to make face masks. They cut 90% of traditional manufacturing waste. He also designed masks with The Kissing Booth 2 co-stars Joel Courtney, Joey King, Meganne Young and Maisie Richardson-Sellers. The proceeds went to a Chicago organisation that helps disabled kids, adults and families with disabled kids in the Hispanic community. In 2021, Perez reprised the role of Marco Valentin Peña in The Kissing Booth 3.

In 2022, Perez starred in HBO Max's comedy series Minx as Shane Brody, a firefighter who becomes the frontrunner for debut-issue cover star of the first erotic magazine for women in Los Angeles. Talking about the challenges he faced playing the character, Perez said, "The biggest thing was grounding him, making him likable, and also playing against the line." Perez went on to star in gaming comedy film 1Up alongside Ruby Rose where he played Dustin.

Red, White & Royal Blue and beyond (2023–present)
In 2023, Perez starred in Amazon Prime Video's Red, White & Royal Blue as Alex Claremont-Diaz, the first son of the United States, opposite Nicholas Galitzine. The film was released on August 11. For the first three weeks after its release, it was the top watched film worldwide on the platform and provoked what Prime Video described as "a huge surge" of new subscribers.

The Observer's Wendy Ide praised the charisma of Perez and Galitzine and credited it for the film's appeal: "It turns out that watching two impossibly beautiful boys making cow eyes at each other might be just the escapist pulp we need right now." In February 2024, Perez was appointed the ambassador for that year's SAG Awards ceremony. In March 2024, he signed with talent agency Paradigm. The cast and filmmakers of Red, White & Royal Blue announced that a sequel is in development with Perez and Galitzine set to return for the film on May 9, 2024, at a Q&A session after a screening.