The “Red White & Royal Blue” actor is featured in PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive 2024 issue, out Friday.

Taylor Zakhar Pérez is a homebody at heart.

“I firmly believe that to have an extraordinary career, you must have an ordinary life,” says the Red White & Royal Blue actor, who appears in the PEOPLE’s 2024 Sexiest Man Alive Issueon newsstands Friday.

His favorite type of date? “I’m so relaxed with cooking at home, putting away cell phones, walking (there’s probably a dog in the mix) and being outside,” says the chiseled 32-year-old star.

“There is always so much noise in everything we do, whether it’s a beep on our phone, an email sent to our computer, or Spotify playing in the background. I think it’s just about connection,” he says.

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The Indiana-raised star gained fame at the supermarket level starring in Red, white and royal blue as the charismatic son of an American president (Uma Thurman), based on the bestselling 2019 novel by Casey McQuiston,

As the first son, Perez enters royal life after falling in love with a dashing British prince named Henry (Nicolas Galitzine) in the hit romantic comedy.

“The best part of Alex’s role is his eternal optimism,” says Perez. “But as an actor who had that experience playing Alex, those were definitely the locations we were able to shoot in because it really made you feel like a royal, or you’re in this world in having access to these properties really helped.

But in real life in the United States, “the funniest thing is when people call me Alex in a grocery store,” he says with a smile. “I was in Erewhon picking out some prepackaged food and a girl walks by and says, “Alex Claremont-Diaz!” “

The next step is Red, White and Royal Blue 2, which was given the green light in May by Amazon distributor MGM Studios. On his wish list for the sequel, filming of which has not yet started?

“I feel like we solidified the love part, but we didn’t really see them live together,” he says of Alex and Prince Henry, whose relationship is tested when It is made public at the end of the first film.

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“We saw what they could do individually, but now we get to see what they can do together, which is exciting.”

And for the young politician he plays, “I just want to see what Alex’s political life is like without being under his parents’ roof and what he learned from watching his mother.”

Perez – whose favorite cheat meal is pasta (“I make a vodka sauce, (with) really good rigatoni noodles and just parmesan from the farmer’s market”) and whose travel bucket list involves cage diving with great white sharks – says he has also felt a noticeable change in his career since making the popular film.

“I just have a better idea of ​​what I want to do next, and I don’t really want to do any rehearsals,” explains the actor, who is currently undergoing vocal training. “Nothing scares me more than learning music that is beyond my reach.”

Credits

PhotographerIsaac Antoine

Groomer Rachel Burney / The Wall Group

Stylist Jason Bolden