Brayan Nicoletti might be a fresh face to daytime soap operas, but before making his The Bold and the Beautiful debut as the recast R.J. Forrester, he was already building quite the resume. You might recognize him from his role as Anthony in the 2024 film Woodbridge, or maybe you caught him during his early days on TikTok when he was around 11 or 12 years old.
Now, Nicoletti is tackling the bright lights of daytime royalty. He recently sat down on the Soapy podcast with his B&B colleague Rebecca Budig (Taylor) and Days of our Lives star Greg Rikaart to talk about his journey. While stepping into a high-profile gig comes with plenty of public attention, chasing online approval was never his goal. In fact, stepping away from posting on TikTok—where he now boasts over 200,000 followers—was the exact turning point that transformed his career.
Key Takeaways
- Brayan Nicoletti says quitting TikTok helped him focus on acting.
- He realized he was relying too much on online validation.
- Nicoletti pursued acting and attended film school in Los Angeles.
- Thorsten Kaye helped calm his nerves during his B&B audition.
- Nicoletti says joining The Bold and the Beautiful is a dream come true.
Ditching the Algorithm: Why He Walked Away From Online Likes
During the podcast episode, Nicoletti opened up about his early start as a content creator and why he ultimately decided to stop churning out short-form videos. As his online presence grew, he realized his underlying motivation was slipping into a bad place.
“The realization that I came to is the love that I have for it is the idea of creating—it’s not the response I’m getting. I found myself in a place where I was relying on the response to validate my feelings. So even if I created something that I enjoyed, if people didn’t like it, [I felt like] it was a bad idea. Or if it was something that I didn’t really like doing, but people were loving it, [I thought], ‘Oh, I should do more of that.’ I don’t think that’s a healthy space to be in.”
Instead of letting thumbs-up counts dictate his self-worth, he chose to completely reframe his mindset.
“The flip for me was: okay, how do I validate myself? That’s a very tough thing to try and take on when you’re young. But the realization I came to is… I felt like I could be creating something more impactful and something bigger.”
Trading Quick Likes for Complex Scripts
That deep desire for meaningful creative expression is what ultimately pushed Nicoletti away from social feeds and straight toward dramatic storytelling and film school in Los Angeles.
“That’s where I started leaning towards acting, movies, and shows, because I felt like that was a bigger way for me to express myself—to take it to another level where you’re creating something complex and something with levels. With social media, it was very quick, and you were just doing it for the likes and the response. For me, I felt like it was an unhealthy space to be in, because I’m letting a number of likes value [things] rather than my feelings.”
Ridge to the Rescue: Calming Nerves in the Audition Room
That major perspective shift clearly paid off when Nicoletti landed the role of R.J. Forrester. Looking back at his high-stakes audition in executive producer Brad Bell’s office, he gave major props to his on-screen father, Thorsten Kaye (Ridge Forrester), for helping him navigate the pressure.
“Thorsten really took me under his wing. We had maybe 20 minutes before we went in and saw Brad, and that whole time it was me and Torsten breaking down the scene and trying different ways. It was good to have someone that I got to test it out with before going up in front of everybody. That eased my anxiety.”
Now that he’s fully immersed in the fast-paced world of daytime drama, Nicoletti couldn’t be more thrilled to trade TikTok comment sections for the soundstages of Forrester Creations.
“I don’t think I’ve been happier. Every day on set, I’m living my dreams.”
How are you liking Brayan Nicoletti’s spin on R.J. Forrester so far—do you think he’s bringing the right energy to the Forrester family dynamic?
You can watch Nicoletti’s interview below, which also features a segment with his B&B co-star Sydney Bullock, who plays Melissa Dylan, aka Miss Dylan.
Photo Credit: CBS Broadcasting Inc.
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