{"id":659327,"date":"2026-09-10T15:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/659327\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T15:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:45:20","slug":"off-campus-star-belmont-cameli-nhl-phenom-macklin-celebrini-inteview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/659327\/","title":{"rendered":"Off Campus Star Belmont Cameli & NHL Phenom Macklin Celebrini Inteview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m not a hockey player, but I play one on TV,\u201d could be the calling card for several of today\u2019s hottest young actors. Belmont Cameli<\/a>, the 28-year-old star of Prime Video\u2019s Off Campus, falls into that group \u2014 but more impressive is how quickly he\u2019s distinguished himself within it. Ask any Hollywood casting director to name the top up-and-coming talents, and Cameli will almost certainly be near the top of that list.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, playing a sexy hockey player on TV and being an actual player in the NHL are very different jobs, performed by very different types of guys. That\u2019s what we assumed, anyway, when we brought together Cameli and Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, the San Jose Sharks\u2019 wunderkind center, for THR\u2018s Game Recognize Game video series. As their conversation reveals, the pair have a lot more in common than we could have expected.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOn Cameli: Saint Laurent shirt, pants; Calvin Klein tank; IWC watch; Jack Spade belt. On Celebrini: Won Hundred shirt; Madewell tee.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Amanda Pratt<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, we did know that both are in the midst of meteoric rises. Off Campus is hardly Cameli\u2019s first project \u2014 the Chicago-area native has worked alongside Robert De Niro and was a series regular on the Saved by the Bell reboot \u2014 but his role as college hockey star Garrett Graham has completely changed his career trajectory. He\u2019s currently shooting the show\u2019s second season in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\n\tCelebrini also has been spending his summer in his hometown of Vancouver, much of it at a training rink. Only 20, Celebrini is already a bona fide NHL superstar. He earned his first Olympic medal this year, winning silver with Team Canada after falling to the U.S. in the gold medal game. And in July, he inked a five-year, $94 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid player in the league at the time (a one-of-a-kind version of his rookie trading card recently sold for $1.28 million at auction).<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile this is the first time Cameli and Celebrini have met, they had a previous close call. Celebrini was asked to make a cameo appearance in Off Campus. \u201cCan you tell me why the shoot time was from midnight until 3 a.m.?\u201d asks Celebrini, jokingly incredulous. Learning about the brutal production schedule of an actor has him wondering whether he actually has it easy. Cameli is quick to set him straight: \u201cNobody\u2019s hitting me at full speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cEvery day, there are kids around watching the practice,\u201d\u00a0says Celebrini. \u201cThey want their stuff signed, and for me that\u2019s really cool because I was that kid hanging around.\u201d Won Hundred shirt; Madewell tee; Our Legacy track pants; Celebrini\u2019s necklace.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Amanda Pratt<\/p>\n

\t\t\u201cI ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT I COULD SORT IT OUT\u201d\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBELMONT CAMELI Do you know that we share a common trainer? Barb [Underhill].<\/p>\n

\n\tMACKLIN CELEBRINI She\u2019s teaching you how to skate? She\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI We came here for two weeks in March for a boot camp during the offseason, and that\u2019s when we met Barb. We have a few mutual friends, actually, because you know [New York Rangers defenseman] Vincent Iorio.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI He\u2019s your double. I played with Vinny on the San Jose Sharks for a couple of months.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI I want to ask you the same question I like to ask anyone who plays hockey. What\u2019s the greatest in-game moment you\u2019ve ever had?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Stepping onto the ice at the Olympics was one of the coolest things I\u2019ve ever done. Representing Canada, knowing how global that is and how big that tournament is. That was one of the most special moments for me.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI I feel that when we\u2019re shooting, and I got the Garrett Graham jersey on, I step out and it\u2019s a mostly empty rink that they will fill in with fans later with special effects. (Laughs.) It\u2019s kind of something like that. Maybe not completely.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Very similar. Lots of cameras.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI What is something people constantly assume about you that is completely wrong?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI I think hockey players in general have a bad rap of not having much personality. It\u2019s just what the culture has always been with hockey, but if you meet some of the guys that play in the NHL, they\u2019re some of the funniest guys. I feel like that really doesn\u2019t get portrayed very well on camera.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI There\u2019s something about the locker room interviews in hockey that are pretty fucking serious. We have tons of doubles who\u2019ve grown up playing hockey and they are a bunch of goofballs.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou were drafted first overall. What was draft day like?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI I thought I was going to be super nervous and a little panicked. You walk up in front of all those people, and it\u2019s a real raw moment for you. The thing that surprised me most was that I was very calm. When I got picked, it was more exciting than anything. Mine was at the Las Vegas Sphere. It was such a big production that I think it was one of the coolest drafts that they\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI When did you start playing hockey? How old were you?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI I was 3 years old when I put on skates and started skating around the rink. Not long after, I started playing hockey.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI I was 27.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Really? You were 27 when you started acting?<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI No, when I started skating. (Laughs.) I was 20 or 21 when I started acting. I hadn\u2019t been a performer. I was an athlete before that. I played football, wrestling and volleyball. When you were a kid, was your dream always to go to the NHL?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI That was always my dream. Growing up here, watching the NHL all the time, put it in my head that it was bigger than something that I could do. I was just dreaming about it.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen did you know you could act professionally? For sports<\/a>, it\u2019s a little bit easier because you see all the guys you\u2019re playing against and there\u2019s rankings.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cYou can say whatever you want about me or people in my life, but it\u2019s not going to affect me because I\u2019m fully aware of what my reality looks like and feels like,\u201d\u00a0says Cameli. Saint Laurent shirt, pants, loafers; Calvin Klein tank; Maor ring; Cameli\u2019s necklace; IWC watch; Wander socks; Jack Spade belt.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Amanda Pratt<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Full honesty, I thought I could act professionally before I ever acted. I was a college student and was studying business. I realized that\u2019s not what I wanted. I arrived very quickly at the dream of being a filmmaker. I hadn\u2019t done it before, but I thought I could figure that out. I didn\u2019t know for certain that I would have success, and I imagined it would take quite some time, but I always believed that I could sort it out.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the first time I actually felt like a professional actor was when I shot a horror film in Budapest. It was a really fun shoot for a movie called Until Dawn, which was based on a video game.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen was the first inkling that you could get drafted and could compete in the NHL?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI I did a lot of interviews from when I was 14 and on. The biggest question was if I thought about playing in the NHL one day. My answer was always that I didn\u2019t think about it very much because I was trying to focus on what I was doing. Obviously, I thought about it. I watched NHL games and dreamed of playing in the league and achieving that goal. But I think juniors \u2014 I was 16, so two years back from my draft year \u2014 was the first time I started thinking I could actually play in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI How old were you when you got drafted?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI I turned 18 on June 13, and then the draft was June 30. I played my first NHL game three months later. That summer was insane. It moved so fast.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Amanda Pratt<\/p>\n

\t\t\u201cNOBODY IS KNOCKING ME OFF MY FEET\u201d\t<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Have you ever had to cry on set? How do you make yourself cry?<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Yes, I\u2019ve had to cry on set. The thing about Off Campus is that it gets pretty heavy. We deal with some pretty serious themes. For me, I don\u2019t have a real good hack beyond the text, so if the script is written emotionally enough, it\u2019ll move me. Some people are better at it than others. There are some actors on this show who are just like, boom. I\u2019m not there. I need to believe it.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Your shoot days are 14 hours sometimes. Do you get coffee or do you do something else to kind of get you through?<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Last year, Ella [Bright] and I were really working close to 80 hours every single week, so when I have big full weeks like that, it\u2019s no coffee in the morning. I\u2019ll probably end up with one or two coffees in a day, but I don\u2019t do the first one until hours into the day. If I start with it right away, I\u2019m going to need another one in two hours. Then I\u2019ll end up having five or six more. Sugar-free Red Bulls are popular on our set. You were almost on our show, right?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Yeah. Can you tell me why the shoot time was from midnight until 3 a.m.? Would that be on a Saturday or what? It was an absurd time to film.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI There is no absurd time to film. You could be filming at any given moment.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Talking about how long your days are, I think being an athlete\u2019s pretty easy. It might be the best job in the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Yeah, but nobody\u2019s knocking me off my feet and hitting me full speed.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI That\u2019s true, you could get hurt.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI What does your offseason regimen look like? Is it up to you? Are you designing it?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI My dad specializes in sports medicine and science. For the past eight years, he\u2019s worked with the Golden State Warriors. I also have a strength and conditioning coach that my dad worked really closely with, so they put their heads together and come up with a program based on whatever I feel like I need to work on and get better at. I trust them.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Are you on a pretty strict diet?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI I try to eat as good as I can. Obviously, I cheat on it a little bit. Throughout the week, it\u2019s more [about the] routine. In the morning, I\u2019ll make eggs and sourdough toast. I bring a smoothie with me, so I always have something. The days are long. I usually get the same stuff because it\u2019s routine, and I like it. It\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI What part of your game are you most focused on getting better and growing over your offseason this year?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Last year, with the Olympics, we played a lot of games. It was the first year where I played way more games than I practiced. In the second half of the year, I didn\u2019t really skate unless it was a game, which was the weirdest thing ever. I\u2019d get off the ice, and I wouldn\u2019t touch the ice until warm-ups of the next game. It was [about] energy. You just don\u2019t have enough energy to even get dressed and get out there. It takes a lot. Especially after the Olympics, that kind of drained you a little bit. That impacts my top speed.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI What\u2019s your top speed?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Last year, I think it was like 22 miles an hour, 21, 20 something. I feel like I got caught, especially with how many games I played. It was tough to feel fresh every night. I\u2019m balancing some of that conditioning with speed work and trying to get faster and have a little bit more pop.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI What I love about hockey is how individual it is in play style. I\u2019m still developing mine.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI If this show runs for 10 seasons, you\u2019re going to get real good.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Amanda Pratt<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI The best thing that would help my game right now is being able to transition from skating forwards to backwards and backwards to forwards while having some speed. Not quite there yet. And stopping. I can skate so fast, but I can\u2019t stop so good. I hit the boards at least once a day. At full speed.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Get Barb on that. That should be the first thing. Starting and stopping.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI I can stop on my right pretty good, but I don\u2019t even really have the left at all. Sometimes we\u2019re shooting, and for the camera, I have to do it on the left side. I\u2019m like, \u201cYou guys have to move the camera to the other side because I can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI want to ask you about the Olympics. In four years when you win, we\u2019ll do this again. What was it like? You\u2019ve lost other big games, but how did you deal?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Obviously, because of the magnitude of the game \u2014 USA and Canada, that rivalry, and then the history that went into it. I don\u2019t know if you saw it, but I had a lot of chances in that game. I had a breakaway. I had a couple chances. Their goalie played unbelievably. [When it comes to losing,] I have a very short memory because I\u2019m not really thinking about anything except for what I\u2019m doing. I forget to text people back. It\u2019s just the way I am. Honestly, I haven\u2019t watched the game back. I can\u2019t really let it eat at me just because in two years we have the World Cup of hockey and then another Olympics.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Is there a part of you using it as fuel?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI That\u2019s the way a lot of people have brought it to me, but you may never get that opportunity again. When COVID happened, NHL players weren\u2019t in the Olympics, and also there was a lockout that made the NHL players not play in the Olympics. For 12 years, those guys that would\u2019ve played in the Olympics didn\u2019t get the chance. You never know what\u2019s going to happen. I think about it all the time. I wish there was a better outcome, but to your point, there\u2019s a reason for everything that happens. I\u2019m a big believer in that. There was some stuff to learn from that.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s like, you do a lot of auditions, how did you handle hearing \u201cno\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI You can\u2019t really let the \u201cno\u201d affect you because it\u2019s just part of the job. My real job is to procure more work. The job happens when I\u2019m at home shooting self-tapes, memorizing lines, reading scripts, building out characters for auditions. You hear \u201cno\u201d on most of those.<\/p>\n

\t\t\u201cTHERE\u2019S ANOTHER LEVEL TO FANDOM THESE DAYS\u201d\t<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Hype is interesting. You went No. 1 overall, you\u2019re leading the team down there in San Jose. You probably started getting attention pretty young.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Hockey\u2019s a little different than other sports in that way. There\u2019s attention around you, but some of the top basketball prospects or football prospects, there are cameras at every high school game. It\u2019s just a different level. I didn\u2019t have that very much. Then you just kind of get used to it. People are always talking about you, and you can\u2019t really pay attention to it because there are so many opinions out there that don\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Especially in sports. You get people critiquing your game, and then on and off the ice. It\u2019s kind of the same with us, too. Being an actor, everybody has something to say about your performance, but then they also have everything to say about what\u2019s happening in your personal life, too.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI I feel like that\u2019s a big thing for actors. Do you feel like people are too invested in your personal life? How do you feel about that? Do you have paparazzi following you around?<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI There\u2019s been some paps around. That\u2019s all new and kind of strange. Look, if you\u2019re a fan of the show \u2014 the thing that I\u2019m so proud of and pour my heart and soul into \u2014 then that\u2019s fucking awesome. But the way our show popped, there\u2019s another level to fandom these days, especially with the internet. Sometimes there\u2019s a real venom to the way people put you under microscopes. You feel constantly observed. I\u2019ve been pretty good with handling that. You can say whatever you want about me or people in my life, but it\u2019s not going to affect me because I\u2019m fully aware of what my reality looks like and feels like.<\/p>\n

\n\tA lot of people have really nice things to say, and a lot of people have mean things to say. To me, it\u2019s just all noise. When I see people out, and they come up to say they love the show, that\u2019s always really enjoyable. It doesn\u2019t always go that way. Some people will just run up with a camera in your face and ask for a picture. I\u2019ll be like, \u201cNo, hello?\u201d People get excited. Usually, they\u2019re really sweet. What about you?<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Amanda Pratt<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI While you were talking, I was relating to everything you were saying. Maybe not as much as you, but it\u2019s a different feeling when it\u2019s kids or the people who look up to you. I get that a lot with younger kids around the rink. Usually, every summer I skate at a private rink, but this summer I\u2019ve been skating at a very public rink. Every day, there are kids around watching the practice. They want their stuff signed, and for me that\u2019s really cool because I was that kid hanging around. My dad worked for the Canucks for four years, so I was around some of the professional players. I know how much it meant to me. That\u2019s something that I\u2019ll never really get sick of. But there are some incidents where it gets a little weird.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Have you ever searched your own name?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI I have. Just to see what\u2019s going on. I can\u2019t say I do it very much, but I have done it before.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Check the temperature. I\u2019ve done it before, too. Right when we started to do press for this show and the noise started up, I did it. It was mostly good and some bad. I haven\u2019t done it since. I\u2019m really protective of making sure that the choices I make, the things that I do and the people I surround myself with are things that serve me. That type of thing doesn\u2019t always accomplish that task.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou signed a new contract lately. What was that for?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Five years, $18.8 million a year, $94 million total.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI What was that like for you when you signed that big contract?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI It was exciting. The entry-level contracts in the NHL aren\u2019t quite as big as other sports, so this is the first time you make real money. Well, in terms of professional sports. Obviously, a million dollars a year is a lot of money. In terms of the actual contract, it still feels weird because that\u2019s not really why I\u2019m playing. It was a long negotiation trying to figure out what worked best for our young team. Making sure everyone gets paid and where the [salary] cap is going. [It was] figuring out all that data and figuring out what makes the most sense, and we landed\u00a0on that.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Has your spending gone up?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI No. I mean, it\u2019s been a couple weeks.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI No, me neither. What\u2019s the first big thing you want to buy? Boat? House? Houseboat?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI A houseboat would be great. That\u2019d be awesome. Probably a house. I don\u2019t really need anything else.<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI I\u2019m there too, honestly. I still have the same closet of clothes. I probably will still have that same wardrobe for a long time. I drive my Honda, the first car I bought. I\u2019ll drive that puppy until the wheels fall off. Having opportunities to make a good living, doing what I love doing, I\u2019ll never take that for granted. I\u2019m just grateful to be in a greater position to help other people.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI Did you get a bump from season one to season two?<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI Yeah. When you sign an X amount of years for a TV show, there\u2019s one baked in there. It\u2019s commonplace to renegotiate at a certain point.<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI How many seasons do you think Off Campus will run for?<\/p>\n

\n\tCAMELI That\u2019s a question that, from you, I really like. From a journalist, I\u2019d be like, \u201cYou\u2019re trying to dig.\u201d My business answer is Amazon optioned all the books a couple of years ago. There are five books in the first [series]. There are another four [in the second series]. In success, it could run for a long time. We all hope so. Does the kind of money you\u2019re making add pressure?<\/p>\n

\n\tCELEBRINI It\u2019s clich\u00e9, but I have expectations for myself with the way I prepare and how much confidence and belief I have in myself. I want to do as good as anyone else wants me to do. I already put that pressure on myself to perform. [We went] into last year with higher expectations on our team, and then going into this year with higher expectations on our team \u2014 it\u2019s just going to keep building. But it doesn\u2019t really change what we do on the ice. I\u2019m never going to change what I do because of outside circumstances. That doesn\u2019t affect the game at all.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story appears in The Hollywood Reporter\u2019s September 2026 Sports issue<\/a>. Click here to read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m not a hockey player, but I play one on TV,\u201d could be the calling card for several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[64567,5,501,4,43,71702,71703,71704],"class_list":["post-659327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-belmont-cameli","tag-hockey","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-sports-2026","tag-sports-issue","tag-thr-original-video"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117247523555614529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}