First, they were stories born in silence on platforms like Wattpad, the go-to platform for teenage readers where unknown authors write their books to be read for free. Soon they jumped to bookstores and, later, to the screen. These stories, which found an inexhaustible niche in adolescent plots, have now found new stories that captivate readers and viewers in the literary subgenre hockey smut —romantic novels starring ice hockey players—. First it was the series Más que rivales and now it’s the turn of Off Campus, premiered on Prime Video on May 13 and which tells the love story of Hannah Wells and Garret Graham. Based on Elle Kennedy’s books, published in 2015, the fiction —as happens with this type of project— has brought the protagonists into the media spotlight: Ella Bright (New York, 19 years old) and Belmont Cameli (Naperville, 28 years old).
Both have been working as actors for years, but it wasn’t until now that they shot to fame thanks to the series’ virality. Their official Instagram profiles have not stopped growing in recent weeks, as more viewers joined the phenomenon. At the time the official trailer was released on March 19, he had 200,000 followers on Instagram and she had 132,000. More than two months later, the numbers are very different, and they increase daily: Cameli has 4.3 million and Bright, 3.9 million. They were two unknowns whose chemistry has transcended the screen. What story lies behind each one?
Belmont Cameli and the change in his life
Acting was never in his plans as a child. He grew up in a Chicago suburb, where he played three sports —none of them ice hockey—. He enrolled in Business Administration at the University of Illinois, but only completed the first year. “I didn’t want to graduate in Finance, move to the big city, and work in corporate America,” he explained in late May in an interview with WWD. “I quickly decided I wanted to be a filmmaker. That was the idea, and it still is. Acting is really the first step to achieving that dream, but I felt it was the first thing I needed to learn,” he added. His decision to drop out of college didn’t please his mother much, even though he knew he would be unhappy if he didn’t: “She wanted me to have a plan B, and it took a lot to convince her that if I had a plan B, I would resort to it,” he said last year in Flaunt.He already knew he wanted to follow that path that motivated him so much, as his late father taught him: “He always told me that if you set your mind to it, you can achieve it, and he really believed in me in that sense.”
This change in mindset first led him to accept modeling jobs and sign with a Chicago acting agency. In 2019, he moved to Los Angeles to be closer to job opportunities, although this new life seemed “intimidating” and “terrifying” to him. A year earlier, he had debuted as an actor with a small role in the series Empire. Since then, his career has continued to quietly climb. He participated in Saved by the Bell (2021), Along for the Ride (2022), and The Alto Knights (2025) alongside Robert De Niro. “When I started, I immediately had a lot of work. I started on a very good foot. Then I feel like I went through a learning phase and had a really hard time for a couple of years,” he recalled in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Then came the opportunity to bring the character of Garret Graham to life. “As soon as I got the role, I didn’t waste any time and started ice skating because I knew I had a big challenge ahead of me to be able to portray him convincingly in games,” he recalled in the aforementioned interview. “I’ve waited a very long time for the opportunity to be the lead in a TV series. I hope the audience sees that I’ve worked very hard. The most important thing for me is that the people I’ve worked with see me as someone they can trust to take on that kind of responsibility.” He is so happy with his work that, he assures, “I would do it for free”: “I would do it every day if I were lucky enough to do so.” For now, his job is secure: Prime Video has already confirmed that there will be a second season of Off Campus, although the main couple will take a backseat.
Before rising to fame, Cameli made another momentous decision. It all began in 2018, when a childhood friend suffered kidney failure that required him to be connected to a dialysis machine 10 hours a day, while awaiting a kidney transplant. The actor, who was then 20 years old, offered to be his donor. Tests revealed that they were not compatible and, therefore, he could not help his friend. But he could help other people; so they were included in a cross-donation program with the aim of finding compatible donors and patients, even if unknown to each other. “I was blessed with the opportunity and privilege to save a life. Fortunately, after six years of intense waiting, Brendan [his friend] has been given the organ he has been waiting for so long; and my new friend Clotilde [to whom he donated] will finally have a healthy kidney and a new start in life,” he wrote on his social media on February 23, 2018, along with images of him in the hospital.
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Ella Bright, from thinking of quitting to going viral
Unlike her co-star, Bright knew from a young age that acting was her calling. She was an outgoing child, so her parents enrolled her in performing arts programs to act, sing, and dance. “I was very loud. My parents just said, ‘Let her get into acting so she can scream somewhere else,’” she explained in Variety. “I’m very grateful that everything came about naturally. Nothing was planned. No one in my family is in this business, so everything is very new to us,” she recounted in another interview with WWD.
Although born in New York, she grew up with her family in London. Bright has been working since she was eight years old on minor projects. Her participation —for 93 episodes— in the television series Malory Towers stands out. “I grew up on that show, from 12 to 18, my entire adolescence. I was with a cast of girls, all my age, who to this day are my sisters forever,” she stated in The Hollywood Reporter. She also played Kate Middleton (as a young woman) in an episode of The Crown.
When the filming of Malory Towers ended, the great dilemma of her life arrived: should she continue pursuing acting or focus on going to university? The audition for Off Campus changed everything. If she hadn’t been chosen for the role, she would have set aside her plan to be an actress. “University isn’t going anywhere, but I feel like this series is a godsend and I had to seize it. I’m glad I did,” she explained in Vanity Fair. And she added: “None of this was in my plans. It has turned my life upside down in the best way I could have dreamed of. Things I never thought could happen are coming true for me.” She considers playing Hannah Wells an “intimidating” experience: “I feel like I threw myself into it with all my might. It was a dream come true for me. I have fallen in love with this job, I couldn’t imagine my life without it,” she emphasized in The Hollywood Reporter.
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The actors play a couple who start a fake relationship to make a third party jealous, but whose objective changes as the chapters progress. The fact that the actors are nine years apart has led many to criticize this age difference. “I understand people’s concern, but at no point did I feel excluded for being younger than the others. We are a big family, I couldn’t feel more comfortable on this set with these people,” she defended on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast.
In any case, the fiction has captivated viewers, in part, due to the chemistry exuded by its protagonists. Off Campus reached 36 million viewers in its first 12 days of broadcast. “As soon as Belmont arrived, I felt something very real. We both cared so much about our characters that the relationship formed from there. Since we spend so much time together on set, it’s very easy to become so close. He’s one of my best friends,” Bright described their friendship in Vanity Fair.
