F  L  A  U  N  T

What’s that in the sky? It’s a bird! No, it’s a plane! Wait a minute… it’s… Tanner Buchanan! And the actor has graced our company by way of that age-old scenario: you randomly stumble upon a gold, jewel-encrusted gravy boat. But it’s no regular gold-plated gravy boat, no no. Housed inside is a genie. You have three wishes. Anything you can dream of is now attainable with the snap of a blue finger. “I want superpowers,” the 22-year-old Buchanan chuckles. “I would say I want telekinesis, because not only can you move stuff with your mind, you can also fly. Telekinesis is one of those superpowers that you can actually do multiple things with. I feel like you could do a lot of good with that. So I don’t even think I would need three wishes.”

It seems a bit absurd for someone to not use all three of their wishes. After all, it’s not all the time you get an opportunity to experience a scenario as mystical as the one I’ve just proposed. Well, it’s not all the time unless you’re Tanner Buchanan. “Every day is kind of magical,” he says during our Zoom call, just days after his latest movie He’s All That premiered on Netflix and reached number one within hours. “It almost feels like a dream, because I’m doing what I love and I get to learn things that most people don’t get to learn, and I get to travel to places that most people don’t get to travel. It’s just a crazy life. I think just my life, in general, is pretty magical.” 

The magic started in the most enchanting city of all—Lima, Ohio. Growing up, Buchanan did all the typical things you’d associate a kid from Ohio doing; playing sports, showing dairy cows for 4-H, and spending time around horses (no wonder why he looks so comfortable on that horse in He’s All That). Being the only male dancer in his small town, his knack for performing was evident from a young age. When he wasn’t dancing or hoping to earn a blue ribbon with his cow, he was asking strangers, Is this your card? “I actually used to perform magic,” he says. “My grandpa actually introduced me to magic. I practiced for many, many years, all the different card tricks and coin tricks.”  

With this secondhand knowledge passed on from his grandpa, not only was Buchanan able to make strangers wonder how he pulled a quarter out of their ear, he was able to build up his confidence performing. “At a young age, it opened up for me to be more confident. You have to be so confident, because you know how it works, but you have to fool everybody and make sure that they know it doesn’t work, or it’s not possible, and only you can do that.” After a couple of years and a six-hour plane trip to none other than Los Angeles, he was using that confidence to sell luxury vehicles. “It was an Acura commercial, I remember that,” he says, thinking back on the first role he booked out in sunny California. “All I did was smile and ride a bike all day. That was my job.” 

The confidence that once exuded from a bike-riding child magician now exudes on-screen. There are a lot of expectations to live up to when you’re starring in a movie remake, especially when it’s a remake of something as popular as She’s All That. Alongside on-screen love interest and TikToker Addison Rae, Buchanan plays Cameron Kweller, an angsty, high school mophead who seems to hate everything and everyone. “I went in and had an extreme amount of fun just playing the role. I know that we all kind of just tried to do our best and were hoping that everybody would like it and it’d be received well, and that seems to be what is happening.” If you consider a movie staying number one on Netflix for multiple days, then that is exactly what is happening. 

Not only did Buchanan get to be a part of the reimagining of an iconic film, he also got to be a part of his favorite genre. “I’m a big rom-com guy. That is my guilty pleasure, that’s what I like to watch constantly.” When I ask if He’s All That was his first role in a rom-com, he takes a few seconds to reflect. “You know what… I think so. I didn’t think about that. It is my first rom-com! I’m very happy with that. The fact that I got to be in a rom-com that was loved in the 90s is incredible.”

It does seem like Buchanan loves becoming a part of classic movies that originally screened before he was potty trained, or before he was even born. In addition to He’s All That, Buchanan will be returning to Netflix later this year for the highly anticipated fourth season of Cobra Kai. Since 2018, Buchanan has played Robby Keene in the dramedy martial arts sequel series of 1984’s The Karate Kid. Although he has to keep things quiet about the contents of the forthcoming season, he promises that things are cranked up a notch. “The fighting is way crazier,” he says, careful not to spoil any details. “I’ll leave it at that, the fighting is definitely way more intricate.”  

Obviously a fan of intricacies, Buchanan shares that he is planning to step behind the camera soon. “I’m starting to jump on to the producing side of everything,” he says, his eyes lighting up. “That’s probably my favorite thing that I’ve gotten to work on. It’s so personal in a way, because I’m doing everything myself and also with my team.”

We live in an age of multitudinous pursuits, and surely the future has much in store for this illusionist from rural Ohio. Let’s just all hope that he never runs into that genie, because if he does, you may see him flying in the sky instead of playing shaggy-haired characters on your screen, though something tells us he’d find a way to combine the roles and score even better ratings. 

Photographed by: Doug Inglish at Atelier Management
Styled by: Avo Yermagyan at Forward Artists
Groomer: KC Fee at Forward Artists
Written by: Audra McClain