Ask any fan of hit Amazon Prime show The Summer I Turned Pretty what one of the main reasons they tune in every week is and many will have the same answer: getting to swoon over one of the main male leads Conrad Fisher.
Played by actor Christopher Briney, 27, the brooding and sexy character has captured the hearts of millions of fans of the show which is currently airing its third series weekly.
The basis of the series centres around main female lead Belly Conklin (Lola Tung) choosing between two brother Conrad and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) – sparking a fierce online debate over whether as a viewer you are ‘team Conrad’ or ‘team Jeremiah’
But in real life Christopher is worlds away from his typical handsome TV heartthrob persona – instead sporting a more grungy look and dedicating his time to his long-term partner.
In the show Conrad yearns for his ex Belly – who he previously dated in series two – as she prepares to marry Jeremiah.
And while it appears for the first half of series three that Belly is fixated on a future with Jeremiah, Conrad has most definitely emerged as the fan favourite out of the brothers.
The real Conrad Fisher! How The Summer I Turned Pretty actor Christopher Briney is worlds away from his sexy all-American Mr Darcy character in real life with grungy look and long-term partner
Played by actor Christopher, 27, the brooding and sexy character has captured the hearts of millions of fans of the show which is currently airing its third series weekly
Many have been particularly taken with his obvious good looks, mature manner and gentlemanly tendencies towards Belly despite her brusqueness with him.
And while he appears every girl’s dream in a stereotypical handsome sense in the show – in real life he has a much more low-key quirky style.
The difference was particularly striking when he posed backstage at the Jimmy Fallon show back in July sporting long locks and a quirky, fashionista style look.
And Christopher himself is also worlds away from his Mr Darcy type character in the show in real life as he is dedicated to his long-term partner fellow actress and dancer Isabel Machado.
The pair met years ago at Pace University when they started out as just being friends.
Christopher said of his girlfriend during a 2023 People interview: ‘We were friends first.
‘We went to college together and we lived together. We knew that we could do it.’
He opened up more about how he and Isabel got together during a 2024 interview with Teen Vogue and said they lived together platonically with two roommates in college, and then got together about a year after.
The basis of the series centres around main female lead Belly Conklin (Lola Tung – centre) choosing between two brother Conrad and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno – left)
And while it appears for the first half of series three that Belly is fixated on a future with Jeremiah, Conrad (seen) has most definitely emerged as the fan favourite out of the brothers
Christopher himself is also worlds away from his Mr Darcy type character in the show in real life as he is dedicated to his long-term partner fellow actress and dancer Isabel Machado
While he appears every girl’s dream in a stereotypical handsome sense in the show – in real life he has a much more low-key quirky style
Christopher Briney, Lola Tung, Gavin Casalegno and Sean Kaufman from The Summer I Turned Pretty
He added: ‘Eighteen-year-old us would be so confused if they just looked into a window.
‘They’d be like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait! What’s going on? What are you guys doing? Stop it!’ But it feels right. Your friends know you, and you know them.’
They then started dating romantically in 2021.
He celebrated their one-year anniversary with a cute Instagram snap which he captioned, ‘A whole year!? I could never want anything else.’
They have since appeared on several red carpets together looking loved-up and regularly feature on each others Instagram accounts.
Aside from his breakthrough role in The Summer I Turned Pretty he has also starred in the musical film Mean Girls (2024).
Christopher was born in Connecticut to two actor parents and studied in New York where he met his current partner.
Just last month the creators of The Summer I Turned Pretty were forced to take action after its lead actors were viciously bullied online.
Fans are watching the love triangle come to a close – and some have taken to leaving abusive messages on the actors’ social media accounts, blaming them for their characters’ actions in the show.
The situation has gotten so bad that producers posted a message pleading with fans of the show to ‘act normal’ after some bombarded the actors with violent messages and death threats.
The Prime Video show’s official Instagram account shared a reel that simply read: ‘The summer we started acting normal online.’
The real was captioned: ‘The show isn’t real but the people playing the characters are.’
A similar message was shared ahead of the launch of season three, with bosses warning: ‘We have a ZERO tolerance policy for bullying and hate speech. If you engage in any of the following you will be banned.’
They said this policy involves no ‘hate speech or bullying” ‘targeting our cast or crew’ and ‘harassing or doxxing members of the community.’
This sentiment was also echoed by the show’s executive producer, Jenny Han, 44, who wrote the books the that inspired the series.
She said: ‘I know fans of the show are passionate and no one has bad intent, but even in jest, posting images of a woman being slapped or choked is not funny.’
Fans agreed that the reactions of some viewers had gone too far on the show’s Instagram page, writing: ‘Separating characters from actors is so important!!!!’;
‘THIS! People are hating on Lola & Gavin so aggressively. It’s weird. They are actors… it’s a job. If you hate them they are doing a good job.’;
‘This means the next episode about to be crazy omg.’
Set four years after the events of season two, the latest instalment in the story sees Belly struggle to decide which of the two brothers truly has her heart.
In the show, she has just completed her junior year at Finch University and initially appears to be on track to marry Jeremiah.
Christopher and Isabel met years ago at Pace University when they started out as just being friends
Aside from his breakthrough role in The Summer I Turned Pretty he has also starred in the musical film Mean Girls (2024)
The pair are long-term loves and met at university in New York. Christopher was born in Connecticut
They have since appeared on several red carpets together looking loved-up and regularly feature on each others Instagram accounts
However, at the eleventh hour, Conrad makes her second-guess her choice, with Belly expected to make a final decision by the end of the season.
The show has been a hit since it first began airing back in 2022 and has an impressive viewer score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.
One fan wrote in her Google review: ‘I adore this series so much.
‘I only saw it on Prime Video today and watched all 7 episodes in that entire night and went to bed at 6 am but it was totally worth it.’
The final episode is set to drop on September 17.
