Technically, Kingston Rumi Southwick made his debut at the age of four in the 2013 romance drama 9 Full Moons. Spiritually, the young actor has been a creator all his life. The 16-year-old’s mother, a producer, and father, an acting coach turned interior designer, nurtured his creative side from a young age. Influenced by devoted artists including his grandparents, Kingston developed a love for music and began creating short films. Like any typical high schooler, he hates science class, loves baseball, and spends much of his time hanging with friends. In recent years, he’s shifted his attention to acting, and he’s not turning back.

Over the summer, Kingston appeared in all eight episodes of Apple TV’s well-received series, Presumed Innocent. Based on the novel by Scott Turow, the show stars Jake Gyllenhaal as successful Chicagoan prosecutor Rusty Sabich, Ruth Negga as his wife, Barbara, and Peter Sarsgaard as rival lead prosecutor Tommy Molto. After Rusty’s colleague Carolyn is found brutally murdered, he attempts to seek out her killer only to become the primary suspect. Kingston played Rusty’s son Kyle—between schoolwork, music making, and sports practices, he poured his soul into the role, mentored by his older castmates. On set, he brought with him a lightness that balanced out the show’s weight, often playing soccer with his co-stars between takes.

He’s next on screen in the second season of Peacock’s dark comedy series Based on a True Story, along with two other projects that are still in the works. “My personal journey through all of this is just my love for it,” he tells me during our interview, and I catch a glimpse of that sparkle in his eyes through my laptop screen. Here, the up-and-comer discusses his role in Presumed Innocent, his relationship with his family, manifestation, and his excitement for the future.

Growing up in LA, I’m sure you were surrounded by Hollywood and that affected you wanting to become an actor. What else in your childhood led you down that path? 

I am absolutely a nepo baby. My mom is a producer, my dad used to be an acting coach and now he’s an interior designer. Growing up in LA you cultivate that love for cinema, and I always loved to perform. I loved music, I loved theater, I loved anything that showed my creative side. I also have a lot of friends who love to make short films. I gravitate towards anything that shows a creative part of my personality.

How did booking Presumed Innocent alter your life? Are you balancing your career with school? How did you deal with that shift?

I was at public school, and I hadn’t done any huge productions. I had gotten an agency, but I didn’t know if it was going anywhere. I did the audition [for Presumed Innocent]. It was a self-tap. I sent it in, and I waited less than a week. Four days. I was at school, and I remember I was in science class—I hated science class. My teacher was like, “Your dad’s here to pick you up,” so I went down, and he goes, “Oh, you have a callback.” So I get into the car and both my parents are there and my agent’s on the phone and they’re all like, “Congratulations, you booked Presumed Innocent.” I freaked out. One audition. I was the last person casted. They had been looking for my character for so long, and they said they looked through thousands of kids and just couldn’t find Kyle. Then they saw my audition and they were like, “Book him! Just do it!” I’m freaking out, I’m crying, and they’re like, “Your table read is in two hours.”

That same day?

The same day! I had to go home and take a cold shower because my eyes were all puffy from crying. Then I went to the table read and I met everybody. I met JJ [Abrams] and David [E. Kelly] and I talked to them and laughed and it was just the best. And then I started shooting two weeks later. It changed my life. I was at public school, I was on the baseball team. We were D1. That was a big part of my life, but I love acting and it’s always what I’ve wanted to do, so I was like, “Okay, I’m going to side with that right now.

Within two weeks, I had to leave school and go to an online school, and I’ve been there ever since. I thought that I would go back, but right after Presumed Innocent ended, I booked something else and then I started shooting that and then I just booked more things. So I’m not able to go back to school, but I still go to baseball games and the dances and all that stuff.

Did you do any research to prepare for the role? Did you read the book or watch the movie?

‍Yeah, I watched the movie and I read parts of the book, but my character wasn’t in it as much. What I love about David is that he wasn’t writing to make everything super connected to the movie or the book. Scott Turow was on set, and he was kind enough to be like, “Go with it and make it into something beautiful and new. Because the episodes were written as we were shooting, we didn’t know the ending, so we were all in the dark for the entirety of the shoot. I think it worked very well because we had no idea what was going on, and I don’t think the audience did either. What I really like about David’s writing and J.J. Abrams’ production is that it’s like moving chess pieces together. We talked a lot about how the audience was going to take it. We wanted everybody to have their own ideas and thoughts on the characters and the script, and I’m glad we had those conversations because I feel it shows.

As a young up-and-coming actor, what is something you want to bring into the acting world, whether that be a quality you think you possess, a motto, an inspiration, or a role model?

‍As a kid, I was a complete cinephile. I remember watching movies and it gave me such a good feeling, such a different feeling, from anything I had ever felt before. That’s why I gravitate towards shooting short films and doing movies or acting in any way that I can. Whenever I do it, I get that bliss. I would love to give other people that feeling. I can’t wait to continue showing characters or ideas or creative synchronicities in everything that I do.

Do you have any actors or directors who you’d want to work with in the future?

‍I’m open to anything. I love working with whoever has their own love for it. I love Quentin [Tarantino’s] movies, I love James Cameron’s movies, I love Wes Anderson’s movies. My friends and I do little films at each other’s houses, and the last one we did was Wes Anderson- themed. So I guess it’s whatever I can connect to. It doesn’t matter what director or what actors I work with, I just want to love what I do.

I’ve heard that you play guitar and piano. Are you a songwriter? Would you ever consider releasing music?

‍I write songs all the time with my friends so that would be awesome. I can’t sing...but I did classical piano when I was younger for about three years and then I stopped and taught myself guitar for a year, then took lessons for a year, and now I’ve been playing for around three years.

FLAUNT is, among other things, a fashion magazine. Do you have any interest in that world? 

I love fashion so much. I’m telling you, that is my life. I grew up with a lot of friends and family who were in the business. My mom used to write for fashion magazines and my dad used to model. That’s a big part of what I want to do in the future. I just did a photoshoot two days ago with my favorite stylist, and I love working with her. I feel like being able to express myself through clothes and fashion is very important—just as important as expressing myself through acting and movies.

Can you share anything about a project you’re working on or anything you have planned for the future?

‍I have two projects in the future that I don’t know if I can talk about, but I just finished a show called Based on a True Story. It’s the second season of it with Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina. Jason Bateman produced it and he’s awesome. That was a really fun show. I had to play tennis for it, and I had never played before. I did the audition and they loved me, and then I went in for a chemistry test and they’re like, “That’s great. Can you play tennis?” I was like, “Yeah, I’m the best tennis player.”

My friend, he’s really good, taught me to play and I took videos. I remember sending it into them and they were like, “That was great. Don’t worry, we’ll get you a teacher.” I trained for a month and a half and I got to do it in the show. It looks badass.

What is something you’re obsessed with right now?

Meditating. I cannot stop. My dad is obsessed with it—manifesting and stuff. Before I booked Presumed Innocent, he told me I could manifest whatever I wanted. I was like, “Yeah, right. I don’t believe you,” and he goes, “Just try and do it. Just try.” So I did it for about a month and a half...I was very specific. And I got every single thing I asked for and more when I booked Presumed Innocent. Then I did it again and I booked another thing, and so now I do it all the time. Meditation and manifesting are huge parts of my life right now, and I’m definitely going to keep doing that. It’s literally magic. 

Photographed by Michael Muller

Styled by Luca Kingston and Amanda Lim 

Written by Emma Raff

Grooming: Sonia Lee at Exclusive Artists Management

Production: Selah Tennberg

Flaunt Film: Cooper Davis