The first four episodes of Bridgerton Season 3 are now available to stream on Netflix, and fans are meeting the newest member of the hit show’s cast — Victor Alli.

Alli plays the Season 3 leading-man John Stirling, an entirely new character to the Netflix series. Prior to the release of these first four episodes of Season 3, very little was known about the season as a whole.

While fans of the Bridgerton book series might recognize John Stirling, Alli’s involvement playing him was kept a complete secret. As such, fans may be interested in learning more about the new season’s star.

4 Fun Facts About Victor Alli

Bridgerton Season 3
There is a lot of excitement surrounding Victor Alli, particularly among Bridgerton fans. The roughly 6′ actor is orignally from London, and has a wide range of previous credits, including (among others) theater, voice acting, and, of course, film and TV.

Alli Planned to Be a Musician Before Becoming an Actor

In a recent interview, Alli told L’officiel that he not only had originally planned to be a musician, rather than an actor, but also that he made the switch to acting accidentally.

He told L’officiel that when he was younger, he went to music school and “played loads of different instruments.” He was particularly interested in the drums, before acting “found [him] in a weird way:”

“I’ve always been quite interested in the arts and music and acting, especially music. I went to music school as a kid and played loads of different instruments and I thought that was my calling. I thought I was going to be a drummer and play for a band. I didn’t go out hunting or trying to have a profession and be like, I want to be an actor. It just found me in a weird way.”

In class, Alli “was quite mischievous,” which led him into many a detention. One such detention was held by a teacher who “was directing a play,” and one of the actors in the play “didn’t turn up.” Alli said the teacher “threw” the script at him, and asked if he could read:

“I was quite mischievous growing up. I wasn’t naughty, I was just mischievous. I was like the class clown. I received many detentions. This one particular detention, the teacher who was conducting it was directing a play. The actor who was in the play didn’t turn up, and so she hands me the script, threw it at me and was like, ‘Can you read?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, of course I can read.'”

He realized he “really, really enjoyed” acting through this experience. He moved to a performing arts school — one with some famous alumni — and “discovered more about acting.” From there, the rest was history:

“I found out that I really, really enjoyed it. From there I then went to The BRIT School, it’s a performing arts school. Amazing musicians and actors have gone there, Amy Winehouse, Adele. There, I discovered more about acting and Shakespeare and I loved it. It just happened.”

Alli Performed in 3 Shakespeare Plays at RADA

Alli studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art between 2016 and 2019. During his time as a student there, he performed in several academy productions, including three different plays by William Shakespeare.

At RADA, Alli played Buckingham in Richard III, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet.

He has several other RADA credits outside of Shakespeare’s writing, including The Wolf/Narrator in the musical Into the Woods, and Achilles in Iphigenia in Aulis.

Alli recently told Rolling Stone UK that in his time at RADA, he learned that “acting is more about what you don’t say than what you do:”

“At RADA, one of the things that really resonated with me is that despite what people think, acting is more about what you don’t say than what you do. There’s something quite special about communicating with someone with no words.”

Alli Has Many Passions, Ranging from Jazz to Architecture

In an interview with Flanelle Magazine, Alli spoke about his passions outside of acting.

He started off with Jazz music, telling Flanelle that he goes the Jazz club Ronnie Scott’s “at least once a month” to hear “the sweet sweet tones of a jazz band:”

“Other than acting, I have loads of other interests, such as music – jazz in particular. At least once a month, you can find me in Ronnie Scott’s, sipping a Negroni and listening to the sweet, sweet tones of a jazz band.”

Alli then discussed his passion for visual art. He talked about seeing artist Frank Auerbach’s charcol paintings recently, calling the work “incredibly, brutally, shockingly beautiful:”

“I also love art. I recently went to see Frank Auerbach’s: charcoal portraits at The Courtauld Gallery. It was incredibly, brutally, shockingly beautiful.”

He finished by talking about his love of architecture. His dad was an architect, he told Flannelle, and Alli said he thinks “that sort of rubbed off on me:”

“Or sometimes I just hop on my bike and cycle through London taking in the people and architecture. My Dad was an architect and I think that sort of rubbed off on me. Buildings, structures, edifices – I do enjoy them.”

Alli Had to Lie to His Friends About Being in Bridgerton

Alli kept his Bridgerton role a complete secret, even from his closest friends.

He told Tatler that his involvement was his “own dirty little secret,” and was “really, really hard” to keep from those he is close to:

” I can count how many people I’ve told. It’s been really, really hard.”

Once photos of Alli on set started making the rounds, his friends started to recognize him. They would ask him about it, and he would say things like, “I wish I was in Bridgerton,” insisting it wasn’t him in the photos:

“I had loads of messages saying, ‘Is this you?’, and I just had to lie and deny it. I had to say, ‘That is not me.'”

“I would say to close friends, ‘I don’t know who that is but he looks just like me. I wish I was in ‘Bridgerton,’ that would be so, so cool.'”

He did admit that he finds it “funny” that “they all believed it.”