How TikTok Star-Turned-Actor Noah Beck Fell In Love With Acting After His First Lead Role
Noah Beck isn’t slowing down anytime soon. The 23-year-old, who rose to fame during TikTok’s golden age in 2020, is now carving out a path in acting, proving he’s more than just viral dances and trending sounds. With his movie debut in Quarterback: A QB and Me, he is showing that his hustle translates to the big screen, too.
In the Tubi original film, which premiered on Nov. 30, Noah plays Drayton, a bad-boy football star. While Drayton’s athletic drive mirrors Noah’s real-life ambition, the actor’s journey from social media star to lead roles in movies is a story of reinvention and grit.
Noah’s original dream was a far cry from Hollywood. “Professional soccer was Plan A, and there was really no Plan B,” he told PEOPLE. A former Division 1 soccer player at the University of Portland, Beck dropped out when COVID-19 hit, pivoting to social media content creation as the world shut down.
What began as lip-syncs, collaborative skits, and trending dances quickly snowballed. Beck became a core member of the Sway House — dubbed the “One Direction of TikTok” — alongside stars like Josh Richards and Bryce Hall. The group’s success led to massive brand deals and modeling gigs for Noah, but something new started calling his name: acting.
He knew nothing about acting, as he admitted. But through his role in Quarterback: A QB and Me, he found a passion for the craft. “I genuinely fell in love with it through this project,” he said. “So yeah, I really hope that there’s acting in my future.”
While Noah dreams of landing more acting roles, he acknowledges the unpredictability of Hollywood. “I’m not naive to the fact that it is one of those things where I would love to continue doing and I’ll keep working on my craft and I’ll keep being a student to it. And if the right role comes or if I book something, I will be happy to do it,” he stated.
Despite his acting ambitions, Noah isn’t turning his back on the platform that launched him into stardom. He envisions a life where he balances both worlds. “I would love to continue to work as an actor and have fun with social media on the flip side,” he said.
Reflecting on his social media journey, the actor shared how the unstructured nature of content creation can be both freeing and exhausting. “It’s your own hours… and you can choose to make content today, you can choose not to. And that, at times, can be a bit exhausting,” he said.
In contrast, acting offers a structure he finds refreshing. “With acting, you check in and then you check out. It’s a job…and I like the idea of having the structure,” he stated.
