Sometimes an actor must suffer for their art. But being a part of a TV sensation on the 2026 TV schedule can make it all worth it. So, to that point, to play Briar University’s most charming playboy Dean Di Laurentis, Off Campus star Stephen Kalyn is keeping his hockey skills sharp, his six-pack abs toned, and his hair blonde. That blonde hair is where the suffering potentially comes in, because it's no easy feat for him to keep up, seeing as he's a natural brunette.
Unlike Dean Di Laurentis, Stephen Kalyn is brunette, which means he spends a fair amount of time in a chair with bleach on his head. During a panel at Prime Video’s Obsessed Fest in Los Angeles, he joked with co-star Belmont Cameli about the struggle to strip the color from his hair. According to EW, he said:
It takes like four and a half, five hours in the chair, just kind of sitting there. And we do it like every three weeks-ish. And we just kind of touch it up here and there.
After sprinkling Dean and Allie’s relationship into Season 1 (which you can stream with an Amazon Prime subscription) and giving viewers a taste of where things could go next, Off Campus is jumping into the deep end with a blonde Kalyn.
In Episode 6 of this sexually explicit Prime Video program, we got to flash back to what Dean and Allie had been up to while Hannah and Garrett were falling in love with each other, and audiences were falling in love with them. Multiple sex scenes and a moment in a bathtub rounded out their fling, covering a lot of ground from their novel and laying the groundwork for their season.
With more screentime focused on Dean and Allie in Season 2, and the opportunity to really dig deep into the unspoken emotions between them, Stephen Kalyn will have to keep every inch of Dean on point, including the color of his hair.
As a natural brunette myself, who has spent time in a hair salon chair to get my hair bleached blonde and then dyed raspberry pink, I feel his pain. It’s a lot of work, and you have to treat your hair right. Kalyn confirmed this when he said:
And then needing to hydrate this thing, because it gets dry. Like, it’s so hot. So, just always constantly conditioning it. And yeah, they take good care of me though.
Thankfully, Kalyn does not have to stay blonde all the time. Between seasons, the cast went on a massive press tour to promote the series, during which the Dean actor clearly took a break from the bleach. To illustrate the difference between Kalyn’s natural hair and Dean’s hair, check out this clip of him talking about the show during an interview with CinemaBlend:
Off Campus never feels gratuitous, but it is also not the type of show that shies away from getting its cast naked and sharing intimate moments. That means Kalyn will also have to keep up Dean’s physical appearance as well. And yes, that means his blonde hair routine will have to stay in place.
Neither Rome nor Dean Di Laurentis were built in a day. From getting out on the ice for hockey scenes, to always being ready to take his shirt off, to keeping his hair bleached the correct shade of blonde, you can’t accuse Stephen Kalyn of not being all-in on what it takes to play Dean authentically.
