Photographed by: Ryan Pfluger
Styled by: Grant Woolhead
Written by: Todd Plummer

Rising star Chase Stokes isn’t interested in Hollywood. Well, he’s interested in acting and diamonds. You’ve probably seen his breakout role as John B on the hit Netflix series Outer Banks, and you’re definitely about to see him in Valiant One, a military adventure flick due out in early 2025.

For a leading man with dashing good looks and talent to boot, Mr. Stokes seems all but uninterested in pandering to the scene—the actor divides his time between Nashville and Charleston, far from the glimmering lights of Hollywood. 8 million Instagram followers notwithstanding, this is an actor’s actor. He lives for stunt work, for fine-tuning the details of each performance, and for really getting into a character, as we’ve done with him here for Only Natural Diamonds. 

Adorned with pieces from the likes of Uniform Object and De Beers, styled by Grant Woolhead, Stokes was all too happy to indulge us in a game of dress-up. Like the chameleon that he is, he feels at ease with experimenting with his style. “The styling was just so sick,” he said of our shoot. “There was this [Eva Fehren] bolo tie with diamonds, and I had never seen anything like that. There’s part of me that wanted to ask if I could just steal it.”

Here, we’re peeling back the layers with Stokes. From his unlikely origin story in Orlando, Florida, to his self-care practice, to the treasured keepsake he pilfered from his girlfriend, musician Kelsea Ballerini—he’s laying it all out on the table. 

Only Natural Diamonds: Tell me about your path to acting. Was it always your dream, or did you just fall into it?

Chase Stokes: I definitely fell into it. I played ice hockey for a long time, and I was also taking television production in high school first period, it was solely because I knew that the teacher was a huge hockey guy, so he would let me sleep for the first twenty minutes of class. So, over the two years that I took that class, I ended up becoming a producer. I was producing the morning announcements and producing commercial segments and whatnot. That’s when I fell in love with the idea of working in television.

One of the anchors for our morning announcements was sick one day, and I had to fill in because I knew how to run the show. That led to everybody saying, “You’re kind of funny, you should think about doing the acting thing.” And I thought, we live in Orlando so that isn’t a really viable option. And then the same girl got booked on a Disney campaign, and they needed somebody to fill in as her younger brother. And so, I did, and I made like three hundred bucks, and I got a free Disney ticket. I was like, “holy shit, I can do this in Orlando.” 

OND: So how did you get started?

CS: I made this bold decision to pretend to be a manager, and I went on IMDb Pro, and I emailed every major agency in Hollywood saying, “I’ve got this great young guy from Orlando, he’s kind of green, but if you give him a shot, I think there’s something here.” One thing led to another, an agent responded, and when we got on the phone, within thirty seconds I was like, “I’m lying, I’m not the manager, it’s me.” And he said, “I know what you just did, but the amount of effort that it took to do that tells me you’re going to continue to put in this effort. So come to LA, let’s get you in acting class.” So, I packed my car, and I left. 

OND: How old were you at the time?

CS: I think I was 22.

OND: What was that like as a young person, to uproot your life and move to Hollywood?

CS: So scary, so intimidating. I was sleeping on somebody’s couch for months. I was in a home that was unfamiliar in a city that felt large and very superficial. I’m not the most confident human being, per se. Going into rooms with people you had seen on television or in film and pretending like you had some form of a shot was very, very terrifying.

OND: What drove you to pursue acting?

CS: With hockey, the smallest details can make you great or hold you back, so there’s something I love about detail-oriented work. When I started out, I didn’t have the finances to get into acting classes full-time, so I used YouTube and would watch behind-the-scenes footage, and actors’ roundtables, and I got a sense of how detail-oriented this career is.

The other thing that was so enticing was that for the longest time, I didn’t really know how to present my emotions. I really kept everything in and acting felt like a safe space to express those emotions. It’s a form of therapy for me. This feels like the perfect combination of meticulous work, mixed with allowing my emotions to flow in a way that I just was never able to, and that to me is my drug of choice. I’m not a drug user, so I can only imagine that craving! But, you know, it’s like the morning cup of coffee when you wake up and your eyes are still glazed over. This is exactly what I’m supposed to do. 

OND: What do you love about the work you’re doing now?

CS: I grew up loving Indiana Jones, so for me, I’m kind of living out my childhood fantasy. I wanted to have the whip and the cowboy hat and be in Raiders of the Lost Ark… And Outer Banks is the most physical show on TV. I love the physical element of it. Doing stunts brings out this crazy level of performance, and forces people to act on instinct and be really authentic.

OND: Sounds like you’ve been on a wild ride!

CS: You know, in the first scene of the first season of Outer Banks that I shot, I was coming out of a house on the marsh with a beer in my hand. And now we’re shooting in Morocco. As an artist, you never know where a story is going to take you, but I’m just very thankful that the stories continue to go in that direction. 

OND: Your new film Valiant One sounds like it was a thrill to shoot, as well. 

CS: It’s so cool, it’s based on true events, and it’s a spinoff of the hero’s journey with this modern soldier. In the blink of an eye, my character goes from being a guy who’s supposed to be on the compeer to being responsible for a lot of people’s lives. It was one of the most invigorating experiences I’ve ever had. We had this military consultant on set who helped with everything, from the way I’m dressed to the way my boots are tied, to all this detail-oriented stuff. 

Doing Stunts brings out this crazy level of performance and forces people to be really authentic.

OND: And you love details.

CS: I do, yes. 

OND: How do you relate to your fame? Has it been challenging for you?

CS: Fame has been the hardest component of this chapter of life. I do a pretty okay job of navigating it myself, but it’s hard to see how it has shaped and shifted life for my family. But it’s a necessary component. It’s part of the growth, and sometimes growth is uncomfortable for all parties. This is a byproduct of creating something that people connect to, and if that is a component of doing good work, then I think I’m doing my job well. You know, fame is like an old, stinky pair of shoes. It’s something you have to have, and it’s a part of life, and it’s a part of who you are—but it’s not definitive. 

OND: How do you balance fame with your mental health?

CS: I started to dip my toes into therapy when I was 18, and that’s become a safe space to understand myself better. Mental health is never about reaching the top of the mountain. I think it’s about finding safe spaces, practicing mindful time with yourself to process the things that you need, and having a great support system. I’m very lucky that I have a partner and a family who understand mental health in the ways that I do and see me not just as the artist that the world sees me as, or as John B from Outer Banks.

OND: Tell me about your self-care practices.

CS: I love my skincare routine. I have a Therabody mask that makes me look like I’m Darth Vader. [My girlfriend] Kelsea [Ballerini] and I sit in bed at night, both of us with our masks on, and it’s nice to have a moment to disconnect. Or in the mornings, lathering up with my favorite serum and taking a second to not be on my phone and just take care of myself for a second. I like finding those moments throughout the day where I can disassociate from the world and connect with the things that are super important for me and my mental health.

OND: Do you have any jewelry or heirlooms that are meaningful to you?

CS: I have a ring. It was a cufflink of my great-great-grandfather. He had these tiger’s eye cufflinks, and after he passed my mom had them into this beautiful ring. And I also have this little necklace that was Miss Ballerini’s, and it just says “Virgo” because we are both Virgos. I stole it early on in our relationship, and it literally only comes off for work. There was a cute little diamond in it, but I’ve worn it to the point where the diamond fell out. So that was a big discovery recently where I was like, “Oh shit, I’ve got to do something about that!”

I’ve also worked with David Yurman a lot over the last few years, and from that, I have a platinum Cuban chain that has diamonds in it. It’s kind of insane, kind of bougie, but I love wearing it.

OND: How do you select jewelry pieces to add to your collection?

CS: When I’m shopping for jewelry, I never look for something specific. I don’t go into the store and say, “Okay, this is a piece I’ve been looking at.” It’s always kind of a browsing experience, and I’ll find something I gravitate towards, and I’ll do it. Like, randomly, when we were shooting the new season of Outer Banks in Morocco, I was with one of my co-stars Drew Starkey, and we were walking through the Medina and met a jeweler from the Sahara Desert. He had a bunch of handcrafted sterling silver pieces. I saw this cool ring and immediately bought it, and it’s become one of my staple pieces.