Japanese-American actor and writer Darren Barnet (NBC's "This Is Us") takes his place among the next generation of Hollywood heartthrobs with a starring role in Netflix's highly anticipated coming-of-age comedy "Never Have I Ever" (premiering Monday, April 27th), created and inspired by executive producer Mindy Kaling's childhood. "Never Have I Ever" centers around the complicated life of 'Devi' (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), a modern-day first-generation Indian American teenage girl. Barnet will soon heat up televisions across the nation as Devi's love interest 'Paxton Hall-Yoshida,' a popular upperclassman with a heart of gold. If that's not enough, Barnet is also set to star as the male lead of the latest installment of the American Pie franchise titled, American Pie Presents: Girls Rules (slated for a 2020 release).
Born in Los Angeles, California, Barnet attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida, in its prestigious Center for International Studies magnet program and was captain of the Varsity Lacrosse team. He received a full academic scholarship to attend Berry College in Rome Georgia. At Berry College he was actively involved in theater and film. Darren starred as Joe Farkas in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and as Bernard in Boeing Boeing, while simultaneously producing various student films, as well as writing and anchoring the campus news show, titled Beyond the Bubble. Barnet started his entertainment career off on a high note when he booked the role of "Young Jack Pearson" in NBC's award-winning series "This Is Us." From there, he went on to making guest appearances in everything from CBS' "Criminal Minds" to Netflix's "Family Reunion." Barnet also starred as a series regular on a variety projects including 'Hot Seth' in "Turnt" for Facebook Watch, 'Chase' in the VICE Blackpills series "Simi Valley," and finally as 'Joey' in the Lifetime original movie Instakiller.
Passionate at honing his acting skills, he is currently studying at Will Wallace Acting Company. Barnet also studied languages, Japanese and French, and speaks conversational Spanish. His love for languages has given him an innate gift at accents, from the Bronx to Ireland, and most in-between. In Barnet's spare time he writes screenplays and music, and raps for fun. Barnet's workout regimen consists of Calisthenics and martial arts.