Adam Brody is hardly a newcomer to acting. He made his debut as the lead in the 1996 TV movie Now What, a film that never actually aired but still counts as early experience. He went on to play small parts in films and series — mostly background roles, truth be told — until he gained his first bit of recognition as Zach in the teen comedy series The Sausage Factory (2001–2002), essentially a TV spin on American Pie.

As he grew older, his acting improved, and so did the quality of the roles he was offered: from the dark comedy Damsels in Distress (2012) and rom-coms like In the Land of Women (2007) and Life Partners (2014), to the Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman (2020), and the acclaimed dark comedy The Kid Detective (2020). Brody steadily built his name in the film industry. But it was a television role that finally placed him among Hollywood’s A-listers — or at least among those who have been nominated for a major award like the Emmy, even once. Thank Netflix for that, and especially the scene-stealing, laugh-out-loud series Nobody Wants This, which dominated viewership last year and is currently in season two.

Brody plays a rabbi who falls in love with a non-Jewish sex podcaster — played by the always delightful Kristen Bell. Their relationship begins under a cloud of religious and cultural obstacles, met with disapproval from both of their families and friends. But they persist. “Even if it doesn’t work out, love is worth every effort. You have to follow your heart,” the 45-year-old actor says.

He speaks from experience. For the past eleven years, he has been — by his own admission — hopelessly and irrevocably in love with his wife, Leighton Meester: actress, singer, model, and, as he puts it, the queen of his heart. To the delight of viewers, Meester appeared in an episode of this season’s Nobody Wants This. “Driving to work together, alone in the car without the kids, kind of felt like a date,” Brody said. “And even though we didn’t have many scenes together, I was always on set during her shoots, just to watch her and admire her.”

Love, it seems, remains a beautiful thing — even in Hollywood’s difficult years.