‘Younger’ Star Nico Tortorella on Pride, Sexuality, & Gender Fluidity | Alexa | NY Post Fashion

From '‘Younger’ star Nico Tortorella talks polyamory, hallucinogens and Hollywood'

Though he grew up in a traditional Italian-Catholic family in the straight-laced Chicago suburbs, actor Nico Tortorella bucked convention from the start.

“Even when I was a hockey player, it was always a show for me. I would score a goal and throw my gloves out over the glass — there was so much flair,” laughs the rakish 28-year-old, who stars in the sleeper-hit series “Younger.”

Indeed, whether it’s revealing his tattoos in shirtless Instagram posts to more than 300,000 followers, outing his alter-ego drag queen (Almond Milk), opening up about sex and relationships on his podcast “The Love Bomb,” or dishing with Alexa in a trendy coffee shop near his Williamsburg home — Tortorella isn’t afraid to share.

The son of bar owners, he spent his teens acting in Chicago theatrical productions before moving to LA. “I literally didn’t know a single person in Los Angeles,” he recalls. “Breaking into this industry is one in a billion in the first place, especially if there’s no nepotism involved — you get told ‘no’ over and over again.”

But he managed to bounce from Ashton Kutcher’s short-lived “The Beautiful Life” (a show about aspiring models) to Wes Craven’s franchise-ending “Scream 4” to Fox’s gory “The Following.”

Tortorella’s big break came when he landed TV Land’s “Younger” (created by Darren Star of “Sex and the City” fame). On the show — which debuted in 2015 and returns for a fourth season on Wednesday — he plays Josh, the handsome hipster boyfriend of Liza (Sutton Foster), a 40-year-old who pretends to be in her 20s to score a job in book publishing.

The actor is also making scenes in real life. Last June, he drew attention for revealing he is sexually “fluid.”

“I fall somewhere under the bisexual umbrella,” Tortorella explains. Previously paired with hairstylist Kyle Krieger and actress Olesya Rulin, he says he’s also in a long-time open relationship with fitness instructor Bethany Meyers while exploring polyamory. “There are a few people in my life right now,” he says. “Men, women, and there is space for others.”

Appropriate, then, that his chest bears a scrawled tattoo reading, “not this, not that, beyond definition,” a mantra gleaned from an LA yoga teacher (though he chuckles at the cliché).

Under Tortorella’s bad-boy exterior is a veneer of vulnerability. He’s been sober for 2½ years and has tried reiki for physical and emotional healing. Over Christmas, he traveled to Peru with shamans and experimented with the herbal hallucinogen ayahuasca.

The actor’s unconventional stances haven’t jeopardized his leading-man status on “Younger” or alienated the legion of fans who are “Team Josh.” “I am a white, cisgender-passing bisexual man, and I realize that not everyone has that privilege,” he concedes. “At the end of the day, will it affect my career? Possibly.”

“I don’t think there have been positive bisexual role models in the world — especially in Hollywood,” he continues. “If you have a story that’s different than what you’re seeing out there, just get it out there.”

To that end, he spent last year’s Pride parade atop the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” float; this week, he hosted a frank conversation with intersex model Hanne Gaby Odiele on his podcast.

As Tortorella continues to shoot “Younger” in New York and Ireland through July, his daily routine involves concocting his own version of “bulletproof” coffee (involving coconut oil, maca root and cinnamon), working out and toting his new puppy, Sun, around town. (The 1-year-old Chihuahua was an unexpected gift from an Instagram follower.)

Cradling the 2½-pound canine in the hem of his black tank top, Tortorella coos: “People and energies come into your life when you least expect them.”