Taking on a summer job as a lifeguard is a rite of passage for many suburban teens, and Noah Schnapp wasn’t going to miss out on it just because he stars in one of the most popular TV shows in the world. The Stranger Things actor said in a new profile with Flaunt that he’s been spending the warmer months keeping a watchful eye on swimmers as a side hustle.
Of course, 17-year-old Schnapp doesn’t need a lifeguard job for the extra cash — but he finds it’s a nice way to spend his time outside of the acting world. “It’s kind of a ‘just for fun thing,’” he explained. “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.”
But soon, Schnapp will trade in his whistle and red swim trunks for a shiny new student ID when he starts classes at the University of Pennsylvania this fall (a heartwarming TikTok captured the thrilling moment when the actor and his family found out he’d been accepted to the Ivy League school). He plans on having a “normal” college experience, too, including a shared dorm room, shower shoes, dining hall food and all. Even his major is extremely normal; rather than the seemingly no-brainer choice of studying acting, he’ll be working towards a business degree.
“I was thinking of going for acting,” Schnapp said. “Acting was just kind of repetitive, and I wanted to try something new,” he says. “Millie [Bobby Brown] is doing the same thing with her schooling — she’s kind of learning about other things. I thought it would make more sense to do something different. And business was a pretty clear next thing for me.”
You can see Schnapp either by disobeying pool rules or by watching the latest season of Stranger Things, which you can stream in full on Netflix now. The actor also recently confirmed the long-running suspicion that his character Will “is gay and he does love Mike.”