How Teen Boys View Male Celebrities, From Ryan Reynolds to Timothée Chalamet

“I picked LeBron,” 17-year-old Jackson tells us when asked which of our male celebrity lineup — including stars from Jacob Elordi to George Clooney — represents a traditional embodiment of masculinity. “He’s a great athlete; strong, fit, successful at what he does. And I think that kind of represents what the traditional sense of masculinity is.”

Masculinity means a lot of different things to different people, but one thing all the teen boys involved in SheKnows’ ongoing Be a Man series are embracing is how views of traditional masculinity are changing.

Traditional masculinity places emphasis on physical strength, as 19-year-old Lincoln notes when he picks Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as his example of stereotypical masculinity. “It’s all the name, isn’t it?” he says. “He’s very masculine and he’s loud. I mean, he kind of puts on a show of strength.”

For these teens, however, traits like physical fitness and brute strength aren’t what they’re focused on when it comes to picking celebrities they aspire to emulate.

Jackson, for example, chooses Timothée Chalamet as a star he would want to be similar to. He explains, “I think he’s stylish, he’s a good actor, he’s comfortable in his own skin. I feel like he’s very much his own person and has his own unique style and presence.”

Xavier, 17, admires Ryan Reynolds not because of his physical strength in movies like Deadpool or Green Lantern but because he seems like a “really genuine, nice guy.”

Similarly, Lincoln highlights Kumail Ali Nanjiani’s gentle, kind demeanor as something to aspire to. “He’s just very charming, and he’s kind of a dork in a way,” he notes. “He kind of endears himself to you in a way that I find very comforting.”

When it comes to who Gen Z is crushing on, the teens named Elordi, Chalamet, Jeremy Allen White, Michael B. Jordan, and Paul Mescal, all of whom have featured on lists naming “Internet Boyfriends” that TikTok users can’t help but fawn over.

The boys note that these celebrities are known for being “genuine” and, in Mescal’s case, “tough but sensitive” — more adjectives that encourage a wider perspective on how masculinity can look. While some critics might be calling to “bring back manly men,” these boys don’t seem to be held back by having a more diverse vision of masculinity — and that’s a good thing.

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