Nick Robinson

NICK ROBINSON IN NEW YORK, MARCH 2015. T-SHIRT (VINTAGE): CALVIN KLEIN UNDERWEAR. JEANS (VINTAGE): RAF SIMONS. BOXER BRIEFS: SUPREME. SNEAKERS (VINTAGE): NIKE. GROOMING PRODUCTS: DIOR, INCLUDING DREAMSKIN. STYLING: ANDREW MUKAMAL. HAIR: ADAM MARKARIAN FOR RENE FURTERER/BRYAN BANTRY AGENCY. MAKEUP: GEORGI SANDEV FOR DIOR/STREETERS. SET DESIGN: WHITNEY HELLESEN. SPECIAL THANKS: ROOT BROOKLYN.

“I get to go from dinosaurs to aliens,” says Nick Robinson of his current career trajectory. “I’m not sure what follows logically from that.” The dinosaurs, of course, are the CGI creatures of Jurassic World, this summer’s addition to the Jurassic Park series. “In a weird way, it’s a coming-of-age film,” says the 20-year-old actor, who has to avoid getting eaten while awaiting rescue by the park keeper, played by Chris Pratt. “Every impression you have of [Pratt] is probably correct,” says Robinson, who recalls the star entertaining the crew between takes by eating giant tropical insects. “Imagine the most likable guy you know, and then double it.”

Robinson grew up in Seattle with five siblings and parents who were wholly supportive but taken by surprise when their son caught the acting bug. “They were like, ‘What the fuck?’ ” he says. At 14, he was discovered by Broadway director Adam Guettel while acting in a local theater production. “He came to one of my plays and was like, ‘Hey, you don’t suck.’ ” Guettel recommended him to a talent scout he knew in Los Angeles, who recommended him to a talent agency, and Robinson was on his way, soon landing a role on the ABC Family sitcom Melissa & Joey, and then at 17, starring in the coming-of-age indie comedy The Kings of Summer, which received raves at Sundance in 2013.

For Robinson’s next project, an adaptation of the YA science fiction novel The 5th Wave, he and Chloe Moretz lead a troop of child soldiers who must save the world from an alien invasion (call it the Divergent Insurgent Games). After that, he’s set to play a troubled teen in a Rob Reiner film that shoots this summer. “What I’d really like to do is move between the two realms,” he says, sounding like a Hollywood veteran. “Independents give you freedom. Bigger films give you freedom too, but in a different way.”