Courtesy of KJ Apa/Instagram; Katie Yu/The CW; MEGA

20 Times ‘Riverdale’ Star KJ Apa Was Shirtless, Because We Deserve It

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Jun 17, 2019 9:00 am·

By Jaclyn Roth

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Twist of Fate

The actor almost wasn’t cast as Archie Andrews in Riverdale. “I passed on him the first time he came in,” casting director David Rapaport told Entertainment Weekly. “He didn’t seem prepared.” Come on, Archiekins!

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Sun God

Luckily, the New Zealand native pulled in together. “He came back and his read blew me away,” David explained. “Sometimes people have bad days and you miss something.”

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Handsome Hunk

The A Dog’s Purpose alum is obviously very good looking, and it’s not something KJ is one hundred percent comfortable with. “It’s always strange to play a sex object; it’s never a natural kind of feeling,” he told Vulture in 2017. “But when I read the script, it was not hard to tell that was how they were taking it. So, I prepared for that, and I knew that people were going to take it like that as well. But yeah, it is strange. I don’t think it’s anything I’m ever going to get used to. As soon as you get used to becoming a sex object, that can be dangerous.”

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Multiple Layers

The musician wanted to make it clear that Archie has more to him than a banging body. “When people look at you as a sex object, that’s not how you’re defined. I think you just need to come back to the heart of it,” he said. “There’s more to Archie than abs and his body and getting with girls and stuff like that. He’s a humanized character, and people should see past that, you know what I mean? I think people do, but initially, at first glance, people are going to have that first impression of sex object.”

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Loyal Fans

Well, it definitely helps his fan base when they’re starring at the TV screen. “Someone has to have abs on the show,” he confessed. True that!

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Work It Out

So, how exactly does the red-headed stud get into shape? Alex Fine is the man behind KJ and other Riverdale cast members bodies including Mark Consuelos and Charles Melton. “I was at a gym in West Hollywood, and he was in town for the weekend,” Alex exclusively told Life & Style about how he met Mark. “We kept in touch. Then, a couple years later, I met Charles [Melton] through a mutual friend, and then we became close.”

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In It to Win It

“A lot of people complain about not having enough time. That can be the easiest excuse in the book,” Alex said. “The easy solution is just to wake up one hour earlier. It all comes down to self-motivation.” Clearly, KJ has that down!

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Work Hard, Play Hard

“The Riverdale guys are one of the hardest [working], most competitive group or collectives that I’ve gotten to work with,” Alex told Men’s Health.

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Hair Today, Hair (Color) Gone Tomorrow

Oh, and if you’re wondering what color KJ’s hair really is — we’ve got you. It’s actually dark brown, and it’s a lot of work to maintain. “It’s pretty gnarly, man. I had to go to the salon every two weeks to get it dyed and bleached and stuff,” he told Vulture. “So, yeah, it’s not my favorite thing to do, but obviously, I’ve got to do it because the roots keep coming up and my hair grows really fast.”

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Hair Routine

He added, “So, two weeks max I can go shooting, and then I have to get it dyed again. I’m sitting there for at least two and a half hours, so I’m on my iPad, and I read some scripts and stuff. I keep myself entertained.”

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Hey, Mate!

The Hollywood A-lister is not American, but he can fake it pretty well. “I never actively went out and studied the American accent,” he revealed. “I just came over here to the States, and it was something I was able to do. Like, I never struggled with it. I used to talk to myself as a kid in an American accent.”

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Fake It ‘Till You Make It

“Other than that, I don’t actually know why I can do it,” he added. “It’s an easy accent to do, I think, in terms of accents. It’s harder for Americans to do a New Zealand accent than it is for a New Zealander to do an American accent. I think that’s also because of how popular and how just broad all American culture is around the globe.”

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Goals

It seems like KJ wants to accomplish a lot more in his lifetime. “Being an actor isn’t just being an actor,” he said. “You have all these other responsibilities that you’re responsible for because when s—t hits the fan, people are looking at the guys onscreen to be accountable for stuff.”

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He’s Sticking Around

Get ready to see a lot more of KJ, too. “At the moment, I really want to do action. I feel like I really want to be more physical. And I feel like action movies will give that to me,” he admitted. “I definitely want to make movies after doing A Dog’s Purpose. I was thinking to myself, even while I was doing that, imagine if I could do this forever.”

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Lights, Camera, Action!

“Making movies is definitely something that I want to become more experienced at doing,” he continued. “I want to get away from the high school jock.”

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Best Buds

He’s tight with his fellow costars including Charles, Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart, but that wasn’t the case at first. “I was fresh out of New Zealand, no one understood what I was saying, and they were hanging out all the time,” he said. “They thought I didn’t like them. We laugh about it now, but I really was in my own zone.”

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Like Father, Like Son

KJ also has an adorable relationship with his father. “My dad is my biggest role model,” he told Cosmopolitan. “His legitimate favorite thing to do is hang out with his kids and his wife.”

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Getting Into Character

“When I need to get emotional in scenes, all I need to do is imagine my dad sitting at a café alone, drinking a coffee.” Awww.

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Celebrations

Well, we hope that you have a great day, KJ! Hopefully, you’ll be rocking out with your guitar or hanging with your friends.

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Too Cute

Oh, and did we mention KJ loves to posts puppy pictures on Instagram? Um, shirtless guy + puppies = heaven? Now, we’ll leave you with this.

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