Who Is Gossip Girl Star Eli Brown?

The Gossip Girl reboot is almost here, and it is full of both new actors and familiar faces. Fans who watch other teen dramas are sure to recognize at least one actor from the new HBO Max series: Eli Brown, who played cello prodigy Dylan Walker on Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.

In addition to starring in the 2019 Freeform series, Brown starred in the 2020 Netflix movie The F**k-It List as Brett Blackmore, a high school senior who iss accepted to seven Ivy League colleges, only to realize he "did nothing but study for four years" and gets involved in a prank gone wrong. (Think Booksmart meets The To-Do List.) Brown is quickly cementing his spot as a rising star in teen TV shows and movies, and his upcoming role as wealthy Upper East Sider Otto "Obie" Bergmann IV further secures his title as a Gen Z-er to watch. Here's what you should know about the up-and-coming actor.

Eli Brown has 120,000 Instagram followers, but he has only shared two posts on the social media app so far. One is, in true Gen Z form, a photo dump, complete with shots of the outside of a deli, a bodega cat, and himself on set with fellow Gossip Girl actor Evan Mock, just to name a few. There's also a photo of him playing the saxophone, but he does not look like he's in character in that picture. Brown has played the cello and the clarinet in his previous roles, but the sax is one instrument he plays in real life.

In July 2020, Brown told Entertainment Tonight that, while he plays "mostly guitar, but a little bit of piano," he has also "been trying to teach [him]self some saxophone," which he describes as "a very interesting process." The actor is making the most of his downtime during quarantine, at least.

The actor's second Instagram post is a photo booth-style collage of him with some of the other Gossip Girl actors. It's clear the stars are having a ton of fun shooting the new series — they will likely end up being a lot closer IRL than Blake Lively and Leighton Meester ever were.

Brown told Popsugar in 2019, "I don't like being the center of attention," so it's not too surprising that his social media presence is sparse. But he's sure to gain plenty more fans after Gossip Girl premieres, even if he does not share everything online.