Early life, family, educational background
American entertainer, television and film actor and activist, Casey Morton Cott, was born on 8 August 1992, in Michigan, USA. His mother is Lori Cott (neé Morton), and his father is a former fighter pilot in the US Air Force and investment manager, Rick Cott. He has an older brother, Corey Michael Cott who is also an actor and a younger sister, Carly Megan Cott.
He grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and attended Chagrin Falls High School. He then moved on to study at Boston University for two years before transferring to Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from where he graduated in May 2016 with a BA in acting.
His passion for acting came inadvertently from his mother, after he appeared in his school’s musical because she offered him $50 to do it. His interest grew after he failed at sports – he told Out magazine, ‘I always wanted to be good at sports, but I just wasn’t, my dad always says I’m a late bloomer.’
Family’s personal life
Casey’s brother, Corey, is a singer and actor best known for his role in the Broadway musical “Newsies” as Jack Kelly. He auditioned for the role while he was still a student at Carnegie Mellon University. He returned to Broadway in 2015 in the revival of “Gigi” the musical, as the role of Gaston Lachaille. He starred in the Broadway original musical “Bandstand,” the original actor for Donny Novitski.
He has also appeared in television series such as “Filthy Rich” as Eric Montreaux, in “The Good Fight,” and as Townsend Martin in “Z: The Beginning of Everything.”
Casey’s Career
Theatre
In junior year of high school, Casey participated in his first school production. Afterwards, he performed in local theatres within Ohio, starring in plays including “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and “Romeo and Juliet.” At the New Hazlett Theatre in Pittsburgh in 2014, he starred alongside some of his Carnegie Mellon classmates in “Parade in Pittsburgh”, and later appeared beside them again at Barebone Productions in “Small Engine Repair.”
He played as Moses, opposite John Cariani and Shuler Hensley, in the August 2016 premiere concert reading of Stephen Schwartz’s musical project at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, New York, in the stage production of “The Prince of Egypt.”
In March 2019 it was announced that he would star opposite Christian Borle and Mandy Gonzalez as Tommy in the Kennedy Center Broadway, “The Who’s Tommy.”
Television Series and Film
While in his last year at Carnegie Mellon, he was cast as Kevin Keller on 12 March 2016 in the CW drama series, “Riverdale,” based on the Archie Comics universe. A day after receiving the role, he flew to Vancouver to begin shooting for the show. He spoke with Out magazine about his experience on set, saying that he was excited to have a job in acting, and to be on television, ‘I remember sitting there, knowing I’m going to be there for six months and thinking, like, holy smokes…’
He said that it was nice to work with such good actors and he still can’t believe he gets to be on a show that is watched by millions of people, ‘I geek out about it,’ he added.
Kevin was the first gay character in the Archie Comics universe, created specifically to bring diversity to the comics. Casey knew the importance of the character and that he would have to perfect his role, so he asked the show’s director and writer, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, for advice. Casey spoke with Elite Daily and shared that his favourite thing about Kevin is that he is openly and proudly gay, ‘He’s an incredibly dense character, and I think it’s really important that it’s just a part of him.’
He has received a lot of praise for his portrayal of Kevin, who he considers to be the best character he has ever played. He told Teen Vogue that he was elated by the support shown to him by the fans – ‘I think the reaction has been overwhelmingly just amazing, from friends of mine to fans, to other actors in the industry.’ When speaking about being part of the show and playing Kevin, he expressed, ‘I will always love playing the character. It’s the biggest joy of my life right now. I love it more than anything.’
He released a video on his Facebook page in March 2017, wherein he shared that he had initially auditioned for the roles of Jughead Jones and Archie Andrews before being cast as Kevin; as from season two, he became a series regular.
He appeared as Lucas Hale in the episode “Conversion” of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” in 2017, and in the music video for “Why” by Sabrina Carpenter later that year. At the SXSW Festival on 12 March 2018, he announced “The Mascot,” an upcoming film directed and written by Matthew Perkins, which Casey plays the main character in. The lead role is ex-quarterback turned mascot, Nick Shepherd, but in early 2019 the film stopped production.
Later in 2018, he was cast in the supporting role of Trever Olsson in the film “All the Little Things We Kill.” That year he also appeared in the television show, “Instinct” as Dino Moretti. Alongside Amandla Stenberg and Anthony Ramos, he graced the cover of the September 2018 issue of The Faces of Fall magazine.
Sign up for tomorrow!https://t.co/Ey8zGNxjt3 pic.twitter.com/V05i2BgRJq
— Casey Cott (@CaseyCott) April 10, 2020
Personal life
Although his character is gay in “Riverdale,” Casey is straight in real-life. He dated fellow actor, Kristin Serafini, who is best known for her roles in 2006’s “Pittsburg” and “After Hours” from 2013, but the couple split in 2014. In October 2015, he began dating Stephanie Styles, but it seems that they are no longer together.
After playing Sabrina Carpenter’s love interest in her music video for “Why,” it was rumoured that the two were an item, but in Zach Sang’s 2017 interview with Sabrina she cleared the air, ‘He’s such a great actor… with music videos, it’s kind of last minute… it was like, ‘Okay. We’re shooting this in three days, and we don’t have someone.’ And I was such a fan of him because I know he’s such a good actor.’
She admitted that although they had good chemistry on-screen, Casey had a girlfriend. Sabrina said that their chemistry was thanks to Casey because he made her feel comfortable and they got along from the first-day on-set. It appears that the girlfriend she was referring to, was Stephanie.
At this time, Casey is reportedly in a relationship but has not shown his girlfriend’s face, name, or any other information about her life or occupation. He has uploaded photos of her kissing him to his Instagram.
He currently lives in New York City.
Appearance
He has dark brown hair and green eyes. He is 6ft (1.83m) tall and weighs 172lbs (78kgs).
Net worth and salary
According to sources, he earns approximately $55,000 per episode, and his net worth is estimated at $300,000 as of early 2020, which would seem temporarily conservative!