Gabriel Basso, whose films include "Super 8," "The Kings of Summer" and "The Hive," just landed a potentially star-making role.

He'll play the lead role of J.D Wade in "Hillbilly Elegy," which Ron Howard is directing for Netflix. He joins Oscar nominees Amy Adams and Glenn Close in the adaptation of the best-selling memoir by J.D. Vance.

J.D. is based on the author's own upbringing in Middletown, Ohio, where he was raised among working-class "hillbillies" dealing with poverty, alcoholism and abuse.

Inspired to pursue an education and dream big his by his larger-than-life grandmother (Close), he eventually joined the Marines and graduated from Yale Law.

Basso's most recent film was the legal drama "The Whole Truth" with Keanu Reeves. He also starred for three seasons as Laura Linney's son on "The Big C."

His biggest film so far has been J.J Abrams' "Super 8," when he was only 15.

And you might have caught him in the indie "The Kings of Summer," with future "Love, Simon" star Nick Robinson.

[Via Deadline]