NEED TO KNOW
While Jack Innanen has millions of fans — many of whom have been following him on TikTok before he broke out on the FX series Adults — none of them outshine his No. 1 supporter: his mom.
In fact, she’s taken her support of his new role as Paul Baker — the newest addition to a group of twentysomething roommates living in New York City who is as charming as he is aloof — to the next level thanks to some custom threads she’s been wearing since the series made its debut in May.
“My mom, she got custom-made T-shirts,” Innanen tells PEOPLE, revealing that they have “Paul Baker for President” and “Paul Baker’s Mom” written on them. “I’ve called her three times in the past week and she’s been wearing it every time I call her.”
“So, she’s just wearing that around town,” he continues, adding that she is “very proud. Everyone’s just so proud, and yeah, I’ve been getting a lot of edits sent my way from loved ones, which is fun.”
David Urbanke
Also fun for Innanen is the new followers he’s been gaining on social media ever since they discovered him on Adults.
“I’ve been trying to make an effort to keep the facade of Paul Baker alive but also show some of my real personality, which has been interesting,” he says of playing with his different personas online, especially now that he’s added “actor” to one of the many hats he wears in his professional life.
In fact, he’s hopeful the “acting title sticks around for a while,” revealing that he wants the FX series — which admittedly is very Gen Z-centric — to run for a long time. “My biggest goal is to do [many] seasons of Adults, until we’re all geriatric seniors,” Innanen quips.
But when it comes to his TV and film career, Innanen has “set my scopes on rom-coms.” As he explains, “Comedies, but especially rom-coms, I think are so funny and a genre that I just love to watch and would love to act in.”
That or anything Paul Rudd has done on screen. “Someone whose career I love is Paul Rudd,” Innaen says. “Like, just who he plays is so fun. So anything that Paul Rudd did, I would love to do.”
Rafy/FX
With the debut of Adults, which continues to garner attention as fans binge the first season, it’s promising to be quite the year Innanen.
Things are off to a good start in 2025, especially since he just turned 26 in April.
“It’s so funny because with Adults being out and the reception that we’ve had, I feel like I’ve achieved [a lot],” he says, reflecting on the journey that it took to get to this point. “It’s so funny that when I auditioned for this and got the part, I was 24. It takes a while for it all to [come together]. And so it’s been our little secret for so long.”
“I remember when we did the premiere, I actually turned around to watch the audience ’cause I realized it was the first time that just not the seven of us had watched the full thing — so that in itself has been really special,” Innanen continues. “And I hope that there’s more to come. So far, it’s been a big year.”
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Season 1 of Adults is now streaming on Hulu.
