Who Is Nicholas Duvernay? Inside 'The Love Hypothesis' Actor's Cozy Circle with Lili Reinhart and Jack Martin

Nicholas Duvernay fans may have mourned the cancellation of 'Not Suitable for Work,' but they surely did not agonise for long. Less than a month after reports that the show would not return for a second season, 'The Love Hypothesis' was released on Prime.

Duvernay played Kel Washington, a medical student who longs to be an actor, on the series. In the TV movie, he played Jeremy Langley, a PhD student on whom the main character, Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart), had a crush.

Who Is Nicholas Duvernay?

Duvernay was born on 10 June 1999 in Long Island, New York. But he was raised in Atlanta, Georgia, where he had his first dreams of being an actor.

'Growing up in the South, the dream for a lot of kids is to become an athlete. For me, that dream was the NFL. But at the same time, I always wanted to be an actor,' Duvernay told A Book Of Magazine. 'I started acting when I was 13, so my teenage years were spent moving between two very different worlds.'

Duvernay played football but a series of injuries made it clear to him that acting was the future path. After graduating from high school, Duvernay moved to Los Angeles at 19 to start making his dream of being an actor a reality.

'I never felt like I was good enough to make it in football, and because of that, acting became the place where I wanted to prove to myself what was possible. I was willing to be uncomfortable, to keep showing up, and to trust that if I stayed committed long enough, I'd come out a working actor on the other side.'

The Big Break

Duvernay, like many Hollywood actors, worked retail and other jobs, including a stint at a Chick-fil-A, to support himself while auditioning for roles. He had steady acting gigs since 2022, but it was his role in 'The White Lotus' that helped raise his profile.

He played Zion Lindsay, the son of Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), in the show's third season. It was not long until Duvernay became one of the leads in the ensemble for 'Not Suitable for Work.'

The show was created by Mindy Kaling and released in June 2026. It also starred Ella Hunt, Avantika Vandanapu, Jack Martin and Will Angus. Martin is the long-term boyfriend of Reinhart, the lead actress in Duvernay's latest project, 'The Love Hypothesis.'

Martin and Reinhart have been together since 2023. It started when Martin made a TikTok making fun of Reinhart's previous show, 'Riverdale.' Reinhart slid into Martin's direct messages and the rest, as they say, is history.

Not a Nepo Baby

Some audiences bristle at 'nepo babies', and Duvernay is sometimes mistaken for one because of his last name. Contrary to what some believe, Duvernay is not related to acclaimed filmmaker Ava DuVernay, whose family name uses a capital V.

His current success as a working actor stems from his hard work. 'You just keep moving around to find ways to make more money...' Duvernay told Bustle about his start as an actor. 'If I make more money, I'll have more free time because I'll have to work fewer days, and then I can go to these acting classes or I can try and make these auditions.'