I've been watching Best Medicine (2026) on Netflix: Josh Charles plays a gruff physician in a small town in Maine, where there are a surprising number of diseases with weird symptoms. Turning blue? Suddenly seeing birds? I like the gay characters fully integrated into the community, like sarcastic teenager Liam (Josh Hoon Lee).
In most episodes, Liam hangs out with two girls, Harley and Amelia. But in Episode 1.9, at a high school "sleep-in," Amelia is replaced by Kyle (Cal Tolentino), joining them for a giant-sized Connect Four and a "Skeeter" game.
In Episode 1.13, Kyle appears as the third of the rude teenagers again, protesting the plan to bring a salmon farm to the city, which would destroy the ecosystem. They're arrested for trespassing, which they find thrilling. Later, they sit together at the wedding of the gay couple Greg and George.
I couldn't figure out why the showrunners replaced the girl in the trio with a boy, except to imply that Kyle was dating one of the other two. In my headcanon, he's dating Liam.
When I started researching the actor to see if he is gay in real life, I got a surprise:
The dude is built.
Cal grew up in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, about an hour west of Philadelphia. He competed on American Ninja Warrior Junior, a reality show where you race through a multilevel obstacle course, beginning at age 11, then switched to the teen version, where he was a national finalist three times. But he really wanted to be an actor, so the minute he got his driver's license at age 16, he started training at Playhouse West. Also he changed his name from Caleb Plohoros to Cal Tolentino. From Greek to Italian?
While training, Cal was in three plays: A South Philly Christmas, Meisner, and Savannah.
He broke into on-screen acting in 2025, with four short and a tv spot:
Hundred Dollar Brawler, about boxing. Cal plays the Hype Guy.
Guardians of the Outward Plain: A boy and his lion pal try to make human connections. Cal plays a Mechanic.
Godhead, not to be confused with the other 2025 Godhead short: A man searching for his lost brother stumbles into a sinister drug den. There are four characters other than addicts: Adam, Judas (Cal), and a Preacher (Sullivan Vaughan, left).
My Teenage Great Grandma, a vertical-format drama streaming on NetShort. A scientist dies in 1945 and re-animates as a teenager in 2025. Sounds wacky. Cal's character appears halfway down the cast list.
Plus Cal and Peyton Carson wrote, directed, and starred in 4 AM: After a "rowdy Memorial Day Weekend," two guys try to go back to life as usual, but a text message results "in a painful test of trust." It's not available to stream, and I can't tell from the description and photos if they're buddies or boyfriends.
In 2026, Cal appeared in two episodes of Good Luck, Baby Girl, a short-form vertical series streaming on TikTok and Instagram. It's about three girls trying to make it in L.A.
Two episodes of Best Medicine.
And the movie Roommates. This photo is misleading: Cal and Martin Herlihy aren't the stars. It's a comedy about girls who become roommates in college, and have increasingly dark adventures. I went through on fast forward, and couldn't find Cal, but his sister posts a clip: he walks down the dorm corridor with his shirt off, and shakes hands with one of the girls while she gazes lustfully.
Aidan Langford plays the high school-aged brother of one of the girls. He is outed as a prank.
More after the break.
