Nicholas Duvernay plays Kel Washington in ‘Not Suitable For Work.’ Disney/Krista Schlueter Logo text “This is my first real, true press run,” Not Suitable For Work star Nicholas Duvernay says on a Zoom call from New York.
The 27-year-old actor, who broke out as a supporting cast member on season three of The White Lotus, is experiencing several firsts as he promotes his first series regular role in the new Mindy Kaling comedy Not Suitable For Work. The Hulu series that premiered last week centers around a gaggle of overworked 20-somethings who live across the hall from one another.
Duvernay plays Kel Washington, a medical student and aspiring actor. Duvernay stars alongside Avantika Vandanapu, Ella Hunt, Will Angus and Jack Martin, with Jay Ellis rounding out the main cast. “We actually all love each other,” Duvernay says. “It’s such a tight-knit group.”
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Below, the actor digs into booking Not Suitable For Work, reflects on how The White Lotus changed his path and teases his next project: the adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s romance novel, The Love Hypothesis.
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What stood out to you about Not Suitable For Work?
I read the pilot. I thought it was hilarious and refreshing. I feel like a lot of the comedies put out nowadays are so angled at Gen Z to the point where it’s like scrolling on Instagram. It’s simply pop culture references. There’s no point in watching TV when you could on TikTok if you’re going to get the same thing.
What makes this one different?
It has that vintage … not to make the comparison, but from the jump, it’s always had a bit of a Friends vibe. That’s a giant to compare it to, but that’s initially how I felt being part of it. It has a more modern take on it. It’s work-obsessed kids trying to make their way in New York. They do a really good job of merging the world and making it relatable because a lot of people don’t know how to navigate their 20s, especially when in this society everything is expensive. You have to work and you have to have friends who you can hang out with on the weekend or when you’re off to make it through your work week, and it’s just what that balance looks like.
What was the process like?
I did a Zoom with [the team] for my read. Then I had a chemistry read with Avantika [Vandanapu], who was amazing. I loved working with her. She’s brilliant. From there, I booked it. I’d been working on a movie, The Love Hypothesis, with Lili Reinhardt. Jack [Martin] actually already had the role [in Not Suitable For Work] and came to visit [Lili on set], so I had met Jack the day I got it but before I got it. I told him, “Hey man, we might be working together.” Then a few hours later, I got the call. It was great. I feel like I’ve had a lot of those crazy stories, where I feel [they’re] just out of a storybook, and I really don’t believe them. So much of your life as an actor is proving you’re worthy of something and then when someone sees you so vividly and clear that they would rewrite something for you, it’s just unbelievable.
What do you think you learned from this experience? A coming-of-age story almost feels like a rite of passage for an actor.
This was my first series regular role, really my first opportunity to lead. Obviously, it’s an ensemble, but it was a very clear storyline through and through and know that storyline from the jump and start of production. I expected the workload to be a lot. It was definitely a lot; the memorization and how fast we filmed. We did it in two and a half months. It’s nine episodes, but the first one’s an hour, so essentially 10 episodes, running around New York, some of it on a sound stage. It was a crash course. It’s something I’ve obviously prepared for my whole life.
The White Lotus did change things for you. Do you think it was about visibility?
One-hundred percent. I got picked up by UTA before the show came out. They represent so many people who all gave me good feedback when they heard I was with a smaller agency. Immediately, that bumps you up into a different tier of even what you’re receiving in terms of tapes.
I can imagine.
Then it becomes more about just being a warm, kind person and being collaborative. That’s where the art resides. It’s not about putting in the best tape — when two people want to make something brilliant together and they agree on that before anything else is kind of attached to it. I think having those more creative opportunities knock on the door without having to pawn for my self-worth and favorability, it’s collaborative.
Can you tell me a bit about The Love Hypothesis? What that experience was like?
That one was fun. I really enjoyed everyone on it. Lili is amazing and so good. Rachel Marsh is phenomenal. Tom Bateman is brilliant. Jaboukie… the cast was so fun. It was my first time in Canada. We did a lot of hanging out. Claire Scanlon directed, and she’s one of the rom-com veterans, so there was a trust that we knew she was going to accomplish her goal, and it really changes it when you can trust your director.
Totally.
Sometimes you’re on jobs and you’re like, I know you want this, but sometimes I feel like it should be this. The rom-com, there’s a formulaic aspect to it. She’s done it so many times before, and so you have a trust that she’s not going to steer you in the wrong direction. It was great. It was partly a connective tissue to getting Not Suitable. Those jobs are kind of all connected to me because honestly, I went straight from Montreal to New York. To do them back to back, it’s kind of like one period of time me. [They’re] both equally special. I saw a cut of The Love Hypothesis, and I really enjoy it. I really enjoy it. I like the classic rom-coms. I haven’t been a huge fan of a whole lot of the new rom-coms…
We’re were a bit of a slump, but I think we’re getting out of it.
We are. It’s always nice when you have a good book to base it off of. It features a classic trope that I think people are going to eat up. Some good drama. It’s really funny. I think a very easy watch for viewers.
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Not Suitable For Work airs weekly on Hulu, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday.
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