The actor spoke to 'Flaunt' about his second job.
Noah Schnapp is taking no time off. Despite having a hectic schedule while he's filming Stranger Things, the 17-year-old actor is using his time in between seasons to work as a lifeguard -- and he's got a few good reasons why.
"It’s kind of a ‘just for fun thing,’” he tells Flaunt in an interview published earlier this week. “I’ve kind of grown up with a normal life and normal friends and stuff outside of Stranger Things, so it’s kind of kept me grounded."
Schnapp's summer gig at the pool isn't the only refreshingly normal thing he's doing while balancing being an actor on one of the biggest shows on Netflix. The teen is gearing up to attend The University of Pennsylvania where he'll live in a dorm with a roommate and experience all that college has to offer.
"I was thinking of going for acting,” Schnapp tells Flaunt, adding that he's since decided to attend the private Ivy League’s business school. “Acting was just kind of repetitive, and I wanted to try something new."
"Millie [Bobby Brown] is doing the same thing with her schooling—she’s kind of learning about other things," Schnapp adds of his Stranger Things co-star. "I thought it would make more sense to do something different. And business was a pretty clear next thing for me."
As for what kind of business ventures he'll focus on, Schnapp says it's all about sustainability. “It’s always been a passion of mine—health, and the planet, and being environmentally conscious," he explains. "It’s always been something I’ve cared about."
Schnapp -- who has starred as Will Byers on the science fiction drama series since 2016 -- says the experience is like no other. “It’s just crazy,” he says, “because I get to watch not only this character, but myself grow up onscreen. Now I’ll be able to always have this archive of me as a 10-year-old actor, and me now, and I’ll be able to show that to my kids, and it’s just crazy that that’ll live there forever."
As for working on the series while going through natural adolescent changes, Schanpp says it wasn't always easy.
"It was the peak time of change, and puberty and growing up and just everything was changing with all of us, and the directors were just not loving it,” Schnapp recalls. “And I remember one of the producers coming up to me and telling me, ‘Noah, is there any way you could just speak in a higher tone and just slouch a little bit? Like, we need you to keep that season one innocence that you had.’ That was like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you. My voice is dropping. I don’t sound young anymore.'"
While his character is much different than who he is in real life, Schnapp says he likes the challenge. "I like to snap in and out of it in like two seconds,” he says. “Will is so separate from me, and just so different for me, which is so fun to play on set. And I love that challenge of putting myself in a completely different set of shoes."
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