Even with his Brat Pack looks and gift for digesting extreme emotions, it took American Midwest actor Evan Peters a soul-searching decade to hit the big time. Now, he’s firmly embedded in superstar showrunner Ryan Murphy’s cabal of actors, alongside Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson, appearing in American Horror Story as a rotating cast of eccentric characters — and even sawing off limbs with Lady Gaga. He embodied conflicted masculinity in the fabulously heartfelt ballroom-scene drama Pose and last year he anchored his biggest feature film yet as real-life criminal Warren Lipka in heist caper American Animals. Peters is an actor who can do both cult TV and bona fide blockbusters: this summer he’ll be donning a blue rinse as Quicksilver in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, reprising a role in the action franchise he’s held since 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Later this year, he’ll star in the Australian biopic I Am Woman as feminist icon Helen Reddy’s husband and manager Jeff Wald.

For one of two GQ Style SS19 covers, Peters is shot in LA by Jackie Nickerson and styled by Senior Fashion Editor Gary Armstrong in Dior SS19 — Kim Jones’ first collection as artistic director of menswear. In a low-key LA lunch spot, he opens up to writer Eve Barlow about the pressures and perils of his ascent to fame and candidly details his journey from life as a Midwest kid who worshipped the Disney Channel to being billed alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender. Read on for an exclusive preview of our in-depth feature with Hollywood’s new stargazing dreamer.

On the pressure to play a leading man

"I’m trying to ﬁgure out what vulnerability is. It’s such a crazy feeling that I can’t even describe it. Playing Stan [in Pose] was hard. Very hard. But it was a learning experience. I take all these roles as learning experiences. I’d hope that nowadays there’s more freedom to explore, tell great stories and play whatever part you want. Now more than ever people shouldn’t be pigeonholed."

Pink technical film transparent coat, black nylon jacquard bomber jacket, black flower print shirt (just seen), black cotton drill chinos and black stone and metal link bracelets, all by DIOR. © Jackie Nickerson

On taking a sabbatical after giving negative quotes in 2018

"I think it was a full-on burnout. I’m going to take a break, regroup, decompress, get back in touch with what I feel like I want to do. Not that I didn’t want to do any of those roles – they’re exactly what I wanted to do. It was just zero to 100 instantaneously. I want to play music."

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