In case ya didn't know, Riverdale star Camila Mendes has with Guy Who Can Do It All™️ Rudy Mancuso for over three years. The celebs went public with their 'ship in November 2022 (in a v ~sneaky~ Instagram post Camila uploaded, might we add 👀) and now they're officially engaged!
Here's everything we know about Rudy, from how he got his start on Vine (take a shot if you feel old just reading that sentence 😭) to how he managed to be an opener for *the* Justin Bieber and how he and Camila met on the set of his film Música.
He got his start on Vine
Today's kids will never know the chokehold Vine had on us, but luckily I do! And so did Rudy, who got his start on the social media app (namely with his *chef's kiss* video productions). Eventually, the creative moved on to greener, more lucrative pastures (aka YouTube)‚ where he gained a large audience thanks to his musical and comedic vids.
Enter: His forever iconic series Awkward Puppets, which features convos with major stars such as Justin, Mike Tyson, and Hailee Steinfeld.
Oh, and...HAILEY BIEBER?!?!
All that hard work quickly paid off, and Rudy eventually began appearing in large-scale television and movie projects, including 2023's The Flash.
He’s since expanded to other areas in entertainment
Case in point? His incredibly successful music career. Back in 2017, Rudy released his first single “Black & White” featuring songwriter and producer (*and* frequent Justin Bieber collaborator) Poo Bear.
And then, in 2018, he put out three more songs: “Magic” with Maia Mitchell (aka Rudy's ex-girlfriend!), “Mama,” and “Lento.”
Rudy wound up continuing to release a buncha hits, but it was in 2020 when he finally dropped his debut album, bored at home., which features one track for every day of the week.
And if you're wondering just how Rudy seems to have infinitely more talent than the average person (me), I'm just gonna leave you with this quote from a 2017 interview he did with Billboard: “My parents say I walked over to the piano when I was just about five and started playing. I think it made sense to me.”
Not relatable at all, but not mad about it!
Oh, and he’s casually toured with Justin Bieber
Yep, back in 2017, Rudy joined Justin for the Brazil portion of his Purpose World Tour, where he served as the celeb's opening act. “We just became good friends, and kind of organically, our brains meshed because we’re both creative, and I was fond of his skill and he of mine, and we just almost accidentally created this friendship and partnership,” Rudy gushed to People that year.
“My friendship with Justin, I've treated it as any other close friendship I have. To be quite honest, I don't have a lot of close friends, and I actually would consider Justin to be one of those friends, and it's only because pretty much after the first time we hung out a couple years ago, he wasn't anything more than 'that cool kid Justin with a good heart,” he added.
'Kay, I've truly never shipped a friendship faster, but here we are! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Rudy and Camila were originally costars when they first met
ICYMI, Rudy and Camila play romantic interests in Rudy's coming-of-age film Música. (Btw, the project was not only the creative's directorial debut, but its original score and soundtrack were also composed by him.)
Per the film's logline, Rudy plays “a young man, plagued by the music in his head, who has to come to terms with an uncertain future while balancing love, family and Brazilian culture in Newark, New Jersey”—a plot that's all too familiar to him since he was born and raised in Glen Ridge, New Jersey and lived in Rio de Janeiro for some time during his childhood.
Clearly, the two found love in a hopeless place (Hollywood), because they eventually began full-on dating and couldn't be any cuter! During a February 2024 interview with People, Camila dished on how she initially had a “crush” on Rudy and how that feeling eventually grew: “I had a little crush, but I didn't know if it was just a work crush or if it was real. And when I met him in person, it became very clear to me that it was real.”
I'm not crying, you are!!!
They’ve shared a buncha cute moments together since publicizing their romance
On November 8, 2022, Camila dropped a truly 🤯 Insta carousel that featured two pics of Rudy: one of him on the ground with his face covered by a jumping dog, and another in a selfie taken in the reflection of a glass door. Obviously, the actor tried to keep Rudy's identity hush-hush, but eagle-eyed fans almost immediately drew the connection.
^ The pics in question...👀
And since then, these two have continued to give the people what they want and deliver the cutest content from their anniversaries and Valentine's Day moments:
The latest? They're engaged!!
Aaaaaand that's pretty much all we know for now! But definitely make sure to check back in for any new intel about these lovebirds. 🥺❤️ Now, if you'll excuse us, we're gonna go manifest a romance like this for ourselves, byeeeeeee!
