Most people stumble out of an overpriced Uber on the way to their 18th birthday – actor Mason Thames pulled up to his on a dragon.
It’s the day after Mason Thames’s 18th birthday. You might imagine he’s bleary-eyed after a wild blowout. In reality, the bright-eyed Texan actor – all tousled brown hair and easy grin – spent it at the zoo with his dad. “We got some smoothies, went to dinner, and attempted to ride a mechanical bull,” he laughs. “I wasn’t allowed to do that until I was 18.”
Granted, most people aren’t quite this chipper the day after stepping into adulthood. But if Mason’s childhood is anything to go by, he’s never been one for the conventional route. From an early age, ritual Friday night trips to the cinema sparked a full-blown obsession. “I’ve always loved the movies. Me and my family used to go every Friday and it would be the best time ever – I was in awe,” he says.
While other kids were pacing playgrounds, Mason was already turning that awe into action. At 13, he landed on “the very serious” set of the blood-curdling, hair-raising supernatural horror The Black Phone – his first leading role. As Finney, a boy trying to escape Ethan Hawke’s sadistic kidnapper The Grabber, he set pulses racing and announced himself as one to watch.
The debut lit the match. But the flames really caught at 15, when he was cast in Universal Pictures’ hotly anticipated live-action How to Train Your Dragon. Mason strapped on the boots of the adorably awkward Viking Hiccup, destined to be a dragon-slayer until he forms an unlikely friendship with wounded dragon Toothless – his fate, and that of Viking-kind, altered in the process.
Three years later – after months of blacksmithing, dragon-riding, and daredevil stunts – it stormed the box office. Since its June release, it’s become the fifth highest-grossing film of 2025.
“It’s so weird because this movie has been such a big part of my life for so long and it’s kind of felt like a secret,” he says. “Now it’s everybody’s. It’s really awesome to see their reactions…my favourite is when people say, ‘I didn’t think I’d like a live action, but I loved it.’ To see people change their minds means a lot to me.”
Critics have praised its faithfulness to the original; kids are starstruck meeting a real-life Viking. One demanded he recite lines at a Universal event. Another encounter was less glamorous. “I was at Billy Bob’s in Texas, I was peeing in the urinal and this dude next to me looks over and goes, ‘Hey, are you that kid who rides the dragon?’” Mason grins. “I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘What the heck are you doing in Billy Bob’s?’ I said, ‘Probably the same thing you’re doing.’ He’s like, ‘Good answer.’ Then he took a picture with me – in the bathroom.”
Bathroom selfies aside, he’s handled the “pressure” of reviving a beloved animation and is already signed on for round two. “There’s not much I can say [about How to Train Your Dragon 2] but I am very excited about what we’re gonna do with it,” he teases of the sequel, which begins shooting in January 2026. “If fans enjoyed the first, they’ll really enjoy the second.”
In the meantime, Mason’s calendar is stacked. First up: Regretting You, the Colleen Hoover adaptation following the blockbuster success of It Ends With Us. Co-starring Mckenna Grace, Willa Fitzgerald, and Dave Franco, Mason plays Miller Adams, who brings equal parts tragedy and swoon to the big screen. “It’s heartfelt, sad, sweet and cute. Go to the movies, take a blanket, get some popcorn, expect to cry, expect to be happy. It’s everything you’d look for in this kind of movie,” he says.
Then it’s back to where it all started with The Black Phone 2 – yes, Ethan Hawke’s villain returns from the dead to torment a grown-up, trauma-laden Finney. “There’s a lot of anger towards what happened and he doesn’t really know how to deal with it,” Mason says. “Seeing how he’s evolved with that trauma was a lot of fun.” Expect more gore than before when it hits cinemas on 17 October – just in time for spooky season.
It’s a filmography that reads like a scrapbook of his adolescence. “There were a lot of moments where I was upset because I was missing out on childhood things,” he admits. “But I’d have given anything to be doing what I’m doing now. This is my dream. I went to the zoo for my 18th birthday, so I’m still living out my childhood fantasies.”
For all the hype, the wildlife parks of Southern America – and his family – keep him grounded. “I go home and my parents make me do the dishes and take out the trash… so I’m not very special in my home,” he laughs. “I may be the youngest child. I may get a little extra LEGO, but that’s about it.”
He might be the face of a billion-dollar franchise, but back in Texas, he’s just the kid who rides the dragon – and still has to take the bins out.
Welcome to adulthood, Mason.
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Photography by @kevin_amato
Styling by @orettac
Words by @ericarana
Grooming by @nataliabruschi
Videography by @xingerxanger
Special Thanks to @amato_studios
