The Prince of Peoria (2018-19) was an attempt by Netflix to break into the teencom market with a Hannah Montana-type premise: Emil (Gavin Lewis), the young prince of a ridiculously over-the-top country, goes undercover as an ordinary exchange student in Peoria, Illinois.
I grew up near Peoria, so I was hoping for shots of local landmarks. But, except for the opening montage, you might as well be in Albuquerque. No Peoria landmarks are mentioned in the two episodes I reviewed.
An unbridled id, Emil forms an "unlikely" buddy bond with overachieving superego Teddy (Theodore Barnes, the one who doesn't have his shirt off). Emil teaches Teddy not to be so uptight, and Teddy teaches Emil to be more responsible.
The gay subtext is played with, as in "The Bro-Posal," when Emil proposes (asks Teddy to make their relationship official), and is rejected.
And in "Robot Wars," advertised as "Emil develops an instant crush on Ryan, Teddy's long-time rival." Turns out that Ryan is a girl with a boy's name! Fooled you!
You probably didn't watch, but you'll certainly be interested in Gavin Lewis now, at age 21.
After Peoria, Gavin got a starring role in Little Fires Everywhere (2020), a Hulu drama about: "the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger in believing that following the rules can avert disaster." Geeze, just tell us what it's about. Does anyone start a fire?
And Jordan Elsass reputedly has a j/o video somewhere online.
In the Western Old Henry (2021), a farmer and his son (Tim Blake Nelson, Gavin) take in an injured man (Scott Haze) with satchel full of cash. He claims to be a lawman who was ambushed by bad guys, but the posse that arrives claims that he is the bad guy. Who to believe?
Head of the Class (2021), the remake of the 1986-1991 classic about a group of overachieving high schoolers, might be worth a look. Gavin plays politician/schemer Luke, the remake of Tony O'Dell's Alan Pinkard. Tony O'Dell is gay in real life.
Wait, not gay-vague, canonically gay. In Episode 10, "the gang advises Miles on how to ask Griffin to the Spring Formal."
I checked: Griffin is a boy, played by Jonathan Charles (left).
But Head has been removed from HBO/MAX, so there's no way to get to the episode, just like in the old days when you had to watch when the episode aired, or miss it forever. I remember when they pre-empted the series finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show for some game. Fans were outraged!
Back to Gavin Lewis: Next he played Matthew in two episodes of Walker: Independence (2023), a Western with no connection to the classic tv series, Walker: Texas Ranger.
Quentin in The Book of Jobs (2024) -- that's Jobs, as in former Apple CEO, not the Biblical book. More misdirection: it has what looks like a pride flag on the icon, but apparently has no connection to LGBT people. The synopsis on IMDB says that it's about a girl who grew up in Silicon Valley "in the shadow of Steve Jobs." No other synopses or review are available.
Connor in Shrinking (2023-25), one of those dramas that tries to fool you into thinking it's a comedy: Jimmy (Jason Segal, below), a therapist with the ultra-cliched Dead Wife, decides to tell his patients what he really thinks, causing a firestorm of controversy among his colleagues: "Dude, you have to lie to them! Our profession is built on misleading patients! If you reveal that our therapy sessions are useless, they'll stop giving us money!"
Gavin plays Connor, son of Jimmy's next-door-neighbor, who had sex with his daughter Alicia once and now is obsessed with her, not taking "It's over!" for an answer. Maybe you need therapy, buddy.
There's a gay character, Jimmy's best friend Brian, a lawyer ("Dude, if you tell your patients that they're insufferable jerks, they'll sue!"). His boyfriend Charlie (Devin Kawaoka) appears in 13 episodes; they get married at the end of Season 1.
I don't have much more information for the guy with no social media presence and a common name. Who's Dating Who says that he's single, but I can't tell if he's gay or not.
Several n*de photos in my collection may be Gavin. This one comes closest, but it's professionally done, not what I'd expect from a Mormon guy, and his abs are sub-standard.
After all, most guys have d*cks, but not one in a thousand has abs like this.
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