Jonathan Daviss Is Done Living Up to Expectations

Jonathan Daviss knows what it's like to carry expectations. He spent much of his formative years, especially during five (the fifth season is set to release later this year) seasons of Outer Banks (OBX), with audiences watching him bring Pope Heyward to life as the smart, moral, careful friend who constantly balances loyalty, ambition, and a fear of disappointing others. But for Daviss, playing Pope was never just about stepping into character. It was also about dealing with many of the same questions teenagers ask themselves: who they want to become, what success looks like, how to have ambition, and whether to prioritize education or adventure. In many ways, Pope's growth mirrored Daviss's, but only one side played out in front of millions of viewers.

For Daviss, the connection to Pope was immediate. When the first season of Outer Banks began filming, the two were close in age—around 18—so Pope's behaviors, emotions, and anxieties felt very organic. As his character struggled with expectations surrounding academics, responsibility, and success, Daviss found himself confronting many of the same stresses off-screen. "What really stood out to me about Pope in season 1 was this idea of expectations and pressure that gets put on a lot of young Black teens and teens in general," Daviss tells me over Zoom from his house in L.A. "There's this pressure to succeed, and it was something I truly have been through."

Even amid those heavier themes, Daviss says what drew him to the world of Outer Banks was the closeness among the characters, the freedom, and the sense of young people trying to find themselves. "It captured the feeling of being young and part of a close-knit group of people," he says. "It was about going through moments of fights, wins, losses, and unforgettable memories and how, over time, through it all, those friends become family." Plus, every season brought a different adventure and a new treasure to hunt down. Who wouldn't want to be a teenager, leaving your schoolwork behind to hang out with your best friends and explore the sun-drenched, mysterious Outer Banks of North Carolina?

Like Pope, who felt pressure to not waste his intelligence and fail himself and others, Daviss navigated a similar tension between escapism, responsibility, and success while growing up in Conroe, Texas. "I wanted to be free and have my friends and not have to worry about 'You gotta do this' and 'You gotta make sure you have As in school' and 'You gotta make sure you go to college,'" he shares. Although his parents didn't place heavy expectations on him, he still internalized pressure to do well, especially in his AP classes in high school.

As the show went on, the connection between the actor and the character grew even stronger. The emotional attachment deepened, too, through the parasocial relationship audiences formed with Pope over the years. For many viewers, the line between Daviss and the character blurred—a reality he initially resisted. "As actors, we're really afraid of being slammed into boxes because we want to show our range," he says. "So when I was young, I thought, 'No, I can't be [seen as] Pope' because I wanted to try other things and be different characters. However, I now really embrace him because I've learned that his character means a lot to people—and a lot to me. [Pope] is so much of me."

What resonated most with Daviss and OBX fans throughout Pope's arc wasn't just the pressure he carried. It was how he learned to trust himself. Rather than constantly seeking external validation before committing to a decision, overanalyzing everything, and second-guessing himself, Pope became progressively more decisive—even in moments of uncertainty. This was especially apparent in season 2 after he abandoned his prestigious interview to help the Pogues, his friend group, with the treasure hunt, ultimately costing him the scholarship that he and his parents had tied to his identity. "[Pope] goes through a lot of loss," Daviss says. "Knowing that it's okay to make mistakes but keep going, learn from it, and try to be better was an important through line." So much of Pope's storyline and the entirety of Outer Banks was about perseverance and "the idea of the little guy punching up and constantly getting knocked down and then clawing his way back," Daviss explains.

Being resilient was something Daviss had to learn long before Outer Banks premiered in 2020 and made overnight stars of its young ensemble cast. Like many actors trying to break into Hollywood, Daviss became familiar with near misses and almost opportunities. There were moments when he felt emotionally exhausted by the constant need to prove himself as an actor. "I remember I was kind of getting burnt," he recalls of his early audition days. "I was broke, broke. I ain't got no money in my pockets."

Growing up in Conroe, Daviss didn't have industry connections or even the option to attend acting classes. However, he did have ambition and discipline, so he created opportunities for himself. "In my small town, there wasn't really much to do, so a lot of my time was spent watching movies with my dad," he says. "That's what made me develop a love of film. But since there were no acting classes [to get my start], I read poetry and created seven-minute monologues that I would perform and then compete with others. That's how I gained a lot of my performance and public-speaking experience."

That passion for the arts—and possibly the escapism that it provided—eventually carried Daviss through long drives from Conroe to Austin for auditions and, later, to L.A. at a very young age. He sacrificed much of a traditional adolescence to build his future and chase his dreams amid uncertainty. "You only lose when you quit," he says, echoing the mindset that motivated him through those years.

But it was really after he moved to L.A., landed his role in OBX, and grew alongside Pope that significant changes took hold. As Pope slowly learned to trust himself, Daviss did too. Success no longer felt like something he had to earn or prove. Instead of questioning where he stood, he began making space for his personal and professional dreams.

Daviss's confidence is no longer on shaky ground, and that's never been more apparent than now as he prepares to step into arguably his biggest project yet: the Snoop Dogg biopic titled Snoop. According to Variety, the film will follow the iconic rapper's humble beginnings, his rise to fame with Death Row Records in the '90s, and his relationships. With the OBX chapter coming to an end, Daviss tells me that he wants to keep pushing himself and telling interesting stories, starting with this one.

Earlier in his career, a role this large—playing an iconic hip-hop artist—might have been approached with hesitation or self-doubt, but discussing this milestone moment with me now, he speaks with palpable certainty. "I'm trusting that I know what I'm doing and what I've done during the audition process was working and my choices were working," he says. "I'm going to keep trusting my instinct and the people around me."

That self-assurance extends to his approach to the role itself. Spending time with Snoop Dogg, Daviss was given access to a world most people don't know exists. "He is so much of who [people think] he is," Daviss says. "He is a light." It wasn't all fun and games, though. They worked, and Snoop assisted in the development of Daviss's portrayal of him, something that not all actors get the privilege of receiving when playing a living person. "He was very instrumental in getting me to where I needed to be performance-wise," Daviss continues. "He told me, 'Come hang with me. Shadow me. Pick up on my mannerisms, how I joke and interact.'"

Through that experience, Daviss became more interested in portraying who Snoop Dogg is at his core rather than relying on imitation. "I didn't want to do a Snoop Dogg impression," he explains. "I wanted to make you [the audience] feel like you're watching Snoop Dogg, a young dude from Long Beach, California, who was in a very specific situation and grew up in a crazy way and did something amazing in a very real way."

Like Snoop, Daviss started out young in his field and had to figure things out as they came, growing and learning from mistakes along the way. Looking back now, he understands that those periods of sacrifice and pressure don't define his story. What has stayed with him isn't the burnout, the lack of money, or having to rely on public transportation and his skateboard to get around L.A. It's what came of those experiences: the lessons.

Daviss learned to never fear the unknown, something his younger self, the one living in Texas, would have done in the past. That fearlessness has led him to pursue things beyond acting—music, in particular. "It's fun to try different artistic avenues," he shares. "Some people might like it, some people might hate it, but that's the journey." He's interested in creating a world for people to step into, a pilgrimage listeners can take. He plays guitar, makes music, and has a finished EP, but there's no set release date yet. "I didn't want to do my music and then have Snoop and make it feel like one had to do with the other and confuse audiences," he explains. "So I put it on the back burner for now."

Even as Daviss looks toward his bright future, he still feels a deep emotional connection to his early roles. "I'll look back on [Outer Banks] and remember it as a beautiful and special time in my life," he says. "Those memories will be there forever, and the people will follow me into the rest of my life. They'll be at my wedding, and they'll be there for my kids, and I'll be there for theirs." He also expresses hope of reuniting with his OBX family and working with them in an entirely different setting. "I want to show that we, as a group, have so much range in what we can do together," he adds.

He hints that the Outer Banks series finale is dark, emotional, and more personal than ever after the devastating events of season 4. "The Pogues are dealing with loss, which is where it starts," he explains. "That bombshell happened, and these characters have to adjust to a new normal now. [Pope's] going to have to make a long journey. Let's just say that."

"Grateful" is the best way to describe Daviss's attitude toward the show that gave him his big break. "I'm from such a small town, so to be able to achieve [all that I have] is such a blessing," he says. "There are a lot of people in my corner, and I don't think I could have done it without relying on the people who truly believed in me." Now, thanks to Outer Banks, that doesn't just include his real family. It also includes his chosen one.

For years, Daviss and Pope struggled with the same question: How do you define yourself when your self-worth is shaped by achievement and external expectations? But somewhere along the way, Daviss moved beyond being defined by others' expectations and began to trust his instincts, embrace uncertainty, and step into the life he has dreamed of—the one he once only saw on-screen.

Photographer: Erica Snyder
Stylist: SK Tang
Hairstylist: Imani Bacon
Makeup Artist: Camille Ariane with Exclusive Artists using Dior Beauty
Creative Director: Amy Armani
Set Designer: Daniel Horowitz
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producers: Lindsay Ferro and Luciana De La Fe