"That kind of fed into Hannah being a fan of Justin," Bright tells PEOPLE of how her real-life admiration for Heuston helped her play up the onscreen crush
Credit: Vivien Killilea/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- In Off Campus, Ella Bright plays Hannah Wells, a songwriter who enlists the help of star hockey player Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) to capture her crush’s attention
- Life imitated art for Bright, who tells PEOPLE she was already “such a big fan” of Josh Heuston, who plays her character’s crush, Justin Kohl
- Off Campus premieres May 13 on Prime Video
There was definitely some fangirling during the Off Campus chemistry reads for Ella Bright.
The British actress, 19, plays Hannah, the quiet songwriter who unexpectedly finds love with all-star hockey player, Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) in the new Prime Video series.
Hannah's initial relationship with Garrett, however, is part of a plan to attract the attention of her longtime crush, musician Justin Kohl (Josh Heuston) — an onscreen dynamic between Bright and Heuston's characters that partly mimicked their real-life one.
"Josh, I was such a big fan of his, from previous work," Bright tells PEOPLE on the red carpet at Amazon Upfronts 2026 on Monday, May 11. "So I felt like that kind of fed into Hannah being a fan of Justin."
While she says she was "fast friends" with both Heuston, 29, and Cameli, 28, as her two love interests on the show, Bright had "different friendships with both of them and different relationships," partly given that she was already a fan of Heuston's work.
Credit: Liane Hentscher/Prime
"Obviously, huge fan of Bel now, but I knew of [Heuston] from Heartbreak High, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh!'" she says, referring to the Australian Netflix series that Heuston starred in alongside Ayesha Madon, Thomas Weatherall and Chloé Hayden. "So that was really funny for me."
Did she confess that secret to Heuston? "Oh, yeah, I told him in the chemistry reads when I met him," Bright says. "And he will not let me live that down."
"But he's one of my best friends now, so it's actually so chill," she adds.
Heuston's memory of meeting Bright at the chemistry reads is a little different. "We got along really quickly," he tells PEOPLE. "And I think you can see it onscreen that we both like each other and it's nice."
"She's impossible not to fall in love with. She's such an adorable human," he adds of his costar. "And we spent a lot of time, I guess, in music classes and playing the piano together and all sorts of things like that, so [creating chemistry] was pretty easy."
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Credit: Liane Hentscher/Prime
Off Campus — an adaptation of the first book in Elle Kennedy's bestselling series, The Deal — "follows an elite ice hockey team, and the women in their lives, as they grapple with love, heartbreak, and self-discovery—forging deep friendships and enduring bonds while navigating the complexities that come with transitioning into adulthood," per its official synopsis.
In season 1, the "sexy and fun 'opposites attract' romance" unfolds between Hannah and Garrett.
Bright also revealed to PEOPLE that she was drawn to play Hannah because of her "quick-wittedness," but also, "her banter [with] Garrett, I was in love with."
"I thought that was going to be so fun to play, and it is really fun in the show. We had a lot of fun scenes with Belmont and I," she says. "Also, I really admired how there is so much heart and depth to these books that are so fun and they're sexy and they're exciting, but there's also real, complex storylines, that I was surprised by."
"I feel like the show did really well in translating that, for sure," Bright adds.
Off Campus premieres Wednesday, May 13 on Prime Video.
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