Charlie Heaton

Charlie R. Heaton (born 6 February 1994) is an English actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Jonathan Byers in the Netflix supernatural drama series Stranger Things (2016–present).

Heaton was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire and raised on a council estate in Bridlington by his mother.

Music

Heaton moved to London when he was 16 and joined London noise-rock band Comanechi as the drummer and toured with them for more than a year. Heaton then joined London-based psychedelic band Half Loon.

Acting

In 2014, Heaton played a role in a short film named "Life Needs Courage". In 2015, he made his acting debut with the ITV crime drama series DCI Banks, playing the role of Gary McCready. He then appeared as Riley in ITV's detective series Vera. He guest-starred in BBC One's medical drama series Casualty as Jason Waycott. In 2016, he appeared in the thriller film Shut In, co-starring Naomi Watts and Oliver Platt, and directed by Farren Blackburn. Heaton also plays Jonathan Byers in the Netflix supernatural drama series Stranger Things. In 2016, he starred in the drama film As You Are.

In May 2017, Heaton was cast to star as Samuel "Sam" Guthrie / Cannonball in New Mutants, a 2020 film based on the Marvel Comics comic book of the same name. In August 2018, the BBC announced that Heaton would be playing Joseph Merrick, commonly known as the "Elephant Man", in a new two-part drama. The casting drew criticism from a disability charity group, the group's head saying that not using a disabled actor was a missed opportunity.

Heaton has a son, Archie (born 2014) from a relationship with Akiko Matsuura.

Since 2016, he has been in a relationship with his Stranger Things co-star, Natalia Dyer, who plays Jonathan's girlfriend Nancy Wheeler on the series.

Heaton missed the premiere of Stranger Things 2 as on 21 October 2017. Heaton was detained at Los Angeles International Airport in October due to possession of trace amounts of cocaine, reports had said. He was not arrested and immediately returned to London. More than a week later, he said in a statement that his planned travel to the U.S. was "affected by an issue at U.S. immigration" and that he "was not arrested or charged with a crime."