'Euphoria' Star Jacob Elordi Says Zendaya Is Like His Sister: 'She's Super Dope to Work with'

Jacob Elordi has nothing but brotherly love for his Euphoria castmate Zendaya.

In an interview with GQ Australia — which named both stars among its 2019 Men of the Year honorees — the Brisbane, Australia, native, 22, gushed about his costar in the hit HBO drama series, saying that the entire cast shares a familial bond.

“She’s like my sister,” Elordi told the magazine of Zendaya, 23, following rumors of a romance between the pair.

“Zendaya is an amazing creative, you know? She’s super dope to work with,” he continued. “She’s an incredible artist and a very caring person to all of us.”

He added: “But we’re all really close. There is not one weak link in that show. We’ve spent so much time together and everyone is just so cool to work with.”

Prior to landing his breakout role on Euphoria, Elordi was ready to give up on his Hollywood dreams, struggling to stay afloat in Los Angeles on his own.

“I’d been in L.A. for about a year, I didn’t have any work and I had no money,” he said. “I didn’t really have anywhere to live and I was in my car and on mates’ couches. My visa had like two weeks before it expired, so I was going to dip out and go back to Australia.”

The actor had already had exposure appearing in Netflix’s 2018 teen comedy The Kissing Booth, where he met his ex Joey King, but work didn’t immediately follow.

“It was one of my first movies and your money runs out pretty quickly in Los Angeles,” he said. “I had my mom and dad making sure I was eating and I had a lot of support from friends, so I was very lucky. I was never down and out. But in terms of America, I was done.”

Elordi and King, 20, dated for over a year before they split in 2018, but when it came time to film the upcoming sequel to their popular high school romantic comedy, it wasn’t too awkward between takes for the costars.

“It was crazy. It was a wild experience. But honestly, it was a really beautiful time because I learned a lot about myself and I grew as an actor,” King said on the podcast Mood with Lauren Elizabeth in October. “I grew as a person on this.”

Aside from shooting Kissing Booth 2, Elordi is also set to reprise his villainous role in a second season of Euphoria, a show he hopes continues to resonate with young-adult viewers who feel seen by the series’ diverse and honest representations of modern teens.

“It is really nice that as a result of your work, maybe some kids can watch that show and feel like they’re a little bit more at home, that there’s people like them,” he told GQ Australia. “That’s really important because I think that when I was a teenager I would have been looking for the same kind of thing, if I could relate to a character.”