My Life With The Walter Boys star Ashby Gentry is stepping into a whole new world. From falling deeply in love with his Gua Sha routine to starting his Invisalign treatments and preparing for a complete personality overhaul for Alex on the popular Netflix YA series, Gentry is going through some pretty big changes this year.
In case you are not familiar, Gentry got his big breakout last year with Netlfix's My Life With The Walter Boys. The series follows 15-year-old Jackie Howard, played by Nikki Rodriguez. Jackie is a Type-A overachiever living in New York City, but after losing her family in a tragic accident, she’s forced to leave her privileged Manhattan life behind and move in with the large and boisterous Walter family in rural Colorado. Their home is overrun by people, mostly boys, so she is now stuck in the Midwest, living with a family of 12.
Throughout season one, we see Jackie fall for Cole (Noah LaLonde), the second oldest brother. But after a tug-and-pull relationship and a textbook situation for any teen show, she finds herself interested in another brother — Alex, played by Gentry. Alex and Jackie begin to date, but all of that unravels at the end of the season. Jackie, feeling emotionally confused, shares a passionate kiss with Cole in their family barn despite still being with Alex. She ultimately decides to return to New York, leaving the love triangle completely unresolved. So this means season two is absolutely going to take its viewers on a ride. Will Jackie ever come back to Colorado? Are Cole and Jackie end game? Does Alex forgive her for cheating on him with his older brother? So many questions, it’s only right we grilled Gentry about what to expect.
Season 2 of the Netflix YA series began filming in early August of this year, and Gentry says season 2 is going to be filled with an entirely new Alex. To learn more, we sat down with the 25-year-old actor to talk about the juicy things to come in season 2, what his beauty routine looks like, and why he started his Invisalign journey.
Ashby Gentry: I first started working with Invisalign when I decided to pursue treatment in the summer of 2023. It was at the recommendation of my doctor. I needed to straighten my teeth for health reasons. And being an actor, Invisalign aligners made the most sense simply because I didn't have to deal with brackets or wires or the look of braces. Simultaneously, I could take them out if I needed to do a take.
[Fun fact:] I had aligners in all throughout the press for Walter Boys season one, so before interviews, I could take them out, I could put them in right after the interview was finished. No one could tell that I had aligners in. It was really, really easy and pretty seamless, too. It's not a difficult process to go through. When I got the request to partner with them, I said yes because I'm behind this and I recommended it to all my friends, so why not?
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AG: I mean, literally, the first thing I do — this is no joke — is I get up in the morning, and I put my Invisalign aligners in the cleaning solution. Then, for skin care lately, and this is because of the show, I've been doing the very bare minimum. I'll do sunscreen in the morning. I'll rinse my face with water — I don't even wash it. I put sunscreen on. And then I've been doing a Gua Sha routine lately.
Nikki goes to a facialist here [in Calgary, where MLWTWB is filmed]. And so the production got Noah, Corey, and me to go as well. I'd been asking Nikki to give me a Gua Sha routine for months, and she gatekept it from me for months. Then I went to her facialist, and finally, she sent me that. So I've been doing that, and I don't know if it works, but I like it, so I'm going to keep doing it. But then, at night, I just put on face cream, and then I go to bed. I go to the gym a lot and try to eat healthy and drink water, and that definitely helps.
AG: I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I was in the Dominican Republic when I booked the job, and so I didn't have access to the book, so I didn't know what it was. I was reading Wattpad…. Or no, I was reading Goodreads reviews, and that's how I found out it was a love triangle. I called my manager and I was like, "I think my part might be bigger than I thought it was at first." Then, the rest is history. I showed up and did it, and it came out, and people really liked it.
AG: The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice.” I had a lot of thoughts about coming back to play Alex again. I kind of resolved that no matter what, it's not the same character. It's a different Alex, right? Like season 2 Alex is different from season 3 Alex, [and] different from season 1, episode six, Alex. Alex, as a person, is constantly changing so it's impossible to interact with the same version of him twice in a row. That's definitely palpable in season 2.
I mean, [Alex] is practically a new person [in season 2], and in a way, it’s great. I sometimes miss season 1 Alex because it does feel a little bit like he's gone. The new person there, I like parts of him and I don't like parts of him — just like I liked parts of the first one and didn't like parts of the second one. I'm a little worried for fans of Alex because he is not the same person anymore. That Alex from season 1 is not coming back. So it'll be interesting.
AG: It's funny; I have a list in my journal of all of these different physical descriptions of Alex from the book and the physical actions that he's described as doing. In season one, I would go over those every day before shooting. And I did that for a while in season 2. And then I got to a point where I was like, “These are irrelevant now because it's not the same person anymore.” And none of those descriptions made any sense anymore. I think it was at that point where I was like, “Oh wow, he's fully a new character.” And that's exciting because it's like going off the hiking trail and solo venturing through the woods. It's risky, and maybe it won't work, but if it does work, how thrilling?
AG: I know the answer to that question so intimately, and I wish I could just say it verbatim, but come back to me after season 2 is out, and then I will tell you exactly what I want for them! But I can say that I don't think I initially knew what I wanted. And now, having done season 2, I'm getting exactly what I wanted, and it's great. Alex gets what he deserves, and so does Kiley. I can put it that way.
AG: Probably Benny because he's the one who has not done anything [wrong] yet. The rest of them, and this is a beautiful part of season 2, are flawed, and you get to see all of them go through screw-ups in season 2. And it's awesome.
It is so boring to me to have picture-perfect characters who do nothing wrong. There was some criticism about our characters being one note or pigeonholed into an archetype. I can confidently say that's completely gone in season 2. And you do get to see their flaws. The Walter boys are all so messed up, and none of them can do relationships right. And seeing that is awesome because it's so true. It's so real. You have those friends that you're just like, “Man, you suck at relationships.”
Well, I'm going to be real. My favorite is Alex. I think Alex is the most interesting character. There are so many layers to Alex. There are so many things he's interested in, people he's interested in, contradictions within him, things that don't make sense, things that seem like they should be opposite but yet exist in the same space. So he'll always be my favorite. If I had to pick one who was not him, I'm going with Benny, the young one, because he's the only innocent one at this point.
