Noah Beck Responds to Being Labeled a 'Heartthrob' — and Reveals What He “Really” Thinks About the Title

The content creator who skyrocketed to fame on TikTok made his movie debut in 'Sidelined: The QB and Me,' a Tubi original film that premiered on Nov. 30

Noah Beck is finding a new rhythm.

The content creator, who was among the initial wave of influencers who went viral on TikTok in 2020 and became an instant star upon racking up 20,000 followers overnight (and nearly 33M to date), is taking his talents to a bigger screen.

Now, Beck, 23, is making his movie debut in Sidelined: The QB and Me, a Tubi original film that premiered on Nov. 30. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE ahead of its release, the social media star spoke about his role as Drayton Lahey and the heartthrob title he's been deemed.

"I came into it with this very learnable approach of starting from ground zero — and I liked that," Beck tells PEOPLE exclusively of acting, having had zero professional experience prior to taking classes to prepare. "I totally kind of just threw myself into it... and we all shot the thing and we had the blast."

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Beck's character Drayton is the star quarterback of his high school football team who doubles as both a bad boy and a heartthrob who falls in love with Dallas Bryan, a sweet cheerleader played by Siena Agudong. The actor tells PEOPLE he pulled "bits and pieces" of himself for the role.

"Some things are easier to pull," Beck says of the character traits he aligned with, including Drayton's "family-oriented" nature seen in the film. "I think Noah has an amazing family, and so that was easy to kind of pull that love of that family dynamic if you will," he explains.

Growing up in a football family places a lot of pressure on Drayton, another character similarity that aligns with Beck... to a degree. "The pressure of kind of wanting to succeed, not even for his dad's approval, but just feeling like he needs to succeed," the social media star begins to explain.

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"He's the cool guy in school. He's supposed to not have any problems," he continues. "And so I think that, I can say... I've felt that way before where I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm supposed to act like everything's okay because on the outside, it's supposed to be'," says Beck.

"I think there were things that I pulled where I was like, 'No, things are not okay. I have baggage and I am not always what I seem'," he admits. "I think that was something that was a little bit more relatable, I would say."

While Beck was able to relate to his character on a variety of different levels, there was one trait in particular he couldn't quite nail. That, in part, influenced the renaming of the film's title (which is based on Tay Marley's novel, The QB Bad Boy and Me).

Beck recalled the one "recurring" note he was told by a producer on set: "Lower the tone. Keep it douchey," he says with a laugh. "That was, I guess, my cue to be a bit more arrogant."

The "demeanor" that makes Drayton "who he is" is a trait that Beck says "Noah does not always have." "So much that they dropped it from the title," he quips in reference to the "bad boy" description.

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While the "bad boy aspect was a bit harder to pull," according to Beck, he can get behind the heartthrob label! "It's got a nice ring to it. I can't lie. I will wear it with pride," he says of the title.

Beck, humble when acknowledging the label associated with his good looks and charming demeanor, described the feeling as "out-of-body." He explains, "I haven't really been called that, at least to my face, I guess."

He concludes, "I think it's something that I definitely will wear with pride and I will not take for granted — but I've always wanted to play a role like this, and I'm so happy that this was my first."