We present the results from a physics-based model of the trailing-edge (TE) noise radiated by an airfoil, obtained from resolvent analysis of the turbulent mean flow. In our approach, the acoustic model input is reduced to the optimal coherent structures identified by the resolvent. This method has the advantage of isolating the main mechanisms generating noise in the turbulent flow and, unlike empirical models, is applicable to a wide variety of cases. We investigate a NACA0012 airfoil at 3 deg angle of attack, equipped with a zigzag trip to trigger a turbulent boundary layer, which results in broadband TE noise. The analysis is based on a large eddy simulation (LES) for a chord-based Reynolds number Re = 2.105 . The time-averaged flow is used to construct the linear operator underlying resolvent analysis, and a spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) of the snapshots is used to extract the main hydrodynamic and acoustic features of the flow, used as a reference for the resolvent model. The results demonstrate that the resolvent-based model can accurately reproduce both the coherent structures associated with TE noise and the directivity of the radiated sound field when low-rank dynamics are identified with SPOD. Although the region of low-rank dynamics corresponds to the peak of acoustic power, a significant portion of the spectrum is associated with high-rank dynamics, which we do not attempt to model here. Nevertheless, the resolvent model identifies a wavepacket on the suction side of the trailing edge as the main driver of TE noise, and allows us to investigate spanwise wavenumbers which are not resolved in the LES.