“Monsters”' Nicholas Alexander Chavez Is 'Bowled Over' by Viral Fame: 'I Could Have Never Predicted That' (Exclusive)
The 25-year-old, who broke onto the scene in 'General Hospital' before starring in two Ryan Murphy shows this fall, tells PEOPLE he's having a hard time processing it all
Nicholas Alexander Chavez is coming off a crazy month, but really, he's had a crazy year.
The actor stars in two of Ryan Murphy's latest projects — first as Lyle Menendez in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and then as the latest "hot priest" iteration, Father Charlie Mayhew in Grotesquerie — and between getting cast, filming and releasing both shows, it's only been a year and a half.
"How could you ever keep track of it all?" Chavez, 25, ponders aloud as he tells PEOPLE about the meteoric rise to fame he's had since the premiere of Monsters on Sept. 19, followed by Grotesquerie just six days later.
"Honestly, to be direct with you, it's very cool, and more than anything, it's cool to get those signals from people that they're responding to the work," he says. "But it is strange to see the response."
The response he's referring to is his status as the newest Internet Boyfriend. One particular edit of Chavez as Lyle Menendez in Monsters boasts over 52 million views on TikTok. Known as "the Nicholas Chavez edit," the video has circulated well enough that it's reached the actor himself.
"My girlfriend and my brother and my friends, they send me the ones that they think are funny, and those are the ones that I watch," he says of the clip, which has been liked by close to 5.5 million people. "I could have never predicted that."
"What blows me away is [my girlfriend] Victoria showed me a video of a bunch of people in a college classroom, literally hundreds of people gathered in a college classroom, watching this edit, which is so funny to me. I'm bowled over by the whole thing," Chavez continues. "But it's cool. And more than anything, I'm glad people are having fun."
The Houston-born, Denver-raised actor has also seen impressive growth on his own social media accounts. Between talking to PEOPLE at the Grotesquerie premiere on Sept. 24 and Oct. 11, Chavez's Instagram following increased by over 1 million, which he says is "just wild."
He's admittedly having a hard time putting it all into words, though. "It's interesting for the first little bit," he says, before adding, "The feelings of excitement — they're very cool. And more than anything, I guess, what I really want to say is: I really appreciate that people are responding to the work. And whenever I see comments from people who found the show meaningful, or entertaining, or whatever it might be — that's what we set out to do."
Chavez broke out onto the scene as Spencer Cassadine in General Hospital in 2021, after he says he "got interested in acting very slowly" following a slightly impromptu school performance of To Kill a Mockingbird.
"The faculty responded in a really positive way, told me that I should just do that as my job. And I was like, 'Wow, that's really cool.' Because not many kids in Denver get told that they should be an actor for a living," he recalls. "Then I started to go down that rabbit hole [and] I realized it was really, really hard. But I also realized at that point that it was my purpose in life, and that I wasn't really going to be able to do anything else."
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After a stint in Florida during the pandemic "selling cars and life insurance," the soap opera audition came along, and one thing led to another. From General Hospital came Monsters, and then came Grotesquerie, but the reality of it all didn't really hit Chavez until the last few weeks — if it's even hit it all.
"It's a surreal experience. You know what I mean? I think multiple times [Cooper Koch] and I would just look around," he says of his Monsters costar and onscreen brother. "We would just say, 'Is this real life right now? It's actually happening?' Because it's a crazy thing to process."
"Monsters was many things, but I think it's fair to say that it was, at the very least, a commercial success. And it got a lot of people's attention. And when you're in a project that does that, it does afford you the opportunity to have a lot of conversations with people that you just don't necessarily get to have [otherwise]," he surmises of how life has already begun looking different career-wise over the course of the last month.
He's visibly exhilarated as he shares that he's "starting to get a small taste" of "the best artists in the world...inviting you into a room to have conversations with them, to talk about what you want to create." Chavez admits, "It's the best feeling in the world."
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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is now streaming on Netflix, and new episodes of Grotesquerie premiere Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX and stream the next day on Hulu.
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