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ANYONE WHO WATCHED at least a little bit of Riverdale—the absurdly campy CW teen drama series based on the Archie comics—could tell that Charles Melton had something special going on. When the 35-year-old actor entered that series in its second season, taking over the role of resident jock Reggie Mantle from departing star Ross Butler, he instantly showed audiences a glimmer in his eye and a whole lot of charisma.
Check Out Melton’s Men’s Health Cover Here
Melton’s star power was on an evident simmer for a few years, as Riverdale ran from 2017 to 2023. Guest roles in shows like Poker Face and supporting parts in movies like Bad Boys for Life continued to prove what he could do outside of a world populated by Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica. But it wasn’t until 2023, when he starred in acclaimed director Todd Haynes’s May December—a role that earned him tons of Oscar buzz, but ultimately not a nomination—that he really got noticed. Melton became one of the industry’s buzziest stars overnight, and his combination of physicality and subtle, softly-expressed emotion made him a staple on every director’s casting wish list.
Top and shorts by Orlebar Brown, necklace by XIV Karats, watch by Omega, earrings by Anita Ko, shoes by Adidas.
Major roles have followed, including a supporting part in last year’s Warfare, co-directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza. But perhaps his juiciest role to date comes in season 2 of Beef, Netflix’s anthology series from creator Lee Sung Jin. Melton plays Austin Davis, one of the four leads in the show’s second go-around (opposite Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, and Cailee Spaeny), and he gets to put his unique combination of subtle choices and physical brawn on display.
Read the Full Men’s Health Cover Story Here
And, well, let’s talk about that brawn, shall we? Like Melton himself, Austin is a former college football player (revealed in the series to be a winner of the Dick Butkus Award, the highest honor for a linebacker). To put it simply: he’s ripped. Melton himself is also ripped, as we see in both Beef season 2, and in the photo shoot of Men’s Health’s Spring 2026 cover story. Much of Beef‘s second season finds Austin wrestling with the show’s titular conflict as he’s working through his own career in the fitness and wellness space. As such, he spends a lot of time shirtless.
Shirtless like these additional photos we have of Melton from his MH cover shoot. We know you want to see them, and, so, well, here they are. Enjoy.
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.