When the cast of “Stranger Things” sat down for their first table read over a decade ago, they couldn’t have known that their time exploring the Upside Down would turn their own lives upside down. Here, the young actors populating the supernatural realm of the critically acclaimed Netflix series provide advice suitable for actors at any stage of their careers (no battle royale with Vecna required).
Don’t get stuck in the Upside Down—live in the real world, too.
“You have so much time to decide to pursue acting as a career. Do it for fun as long as you can. Do local theater. Make your own movies. Make it a hobby. Make friends. Enjoy it, because there are always going to be opportunities to jump in and make it your work. We’ve been lucky enough to love what we do. But we also know a lot of people who are our age, who have a lot of similar situations, who I think really resent the process of taking on the brunt and responsibility of making a career out of something when they were so young. We got very lucky, and others haven’t.
Just develop a love for it. Because, also, you could end up leaving college and be like, I don’t necessarily know if that’s what I want to do for work. Absolutely put everything you have into it, if it’s something that you want, but do it for fun.” —Gaten Matarazzo
“I had been home-schooled for a really long time, and the show [‘The Audience’] was closing when one of the associate directors told me, ‘Go and be a kid.’ He said, ‘You have to have life experiences in order to really understand characters in the future. If you’re not living, what experiences do you have to pull from?’ ” —Sadie Sink
“I think a skill set in acting is…something that embodies your life experience. Like, I think if [I] had booked a job at 17, I wouldn’t have been ready. I didn’t have the emotional maturity to step into [the business] or even the work ethic that I feel like I do in some respects now. And you’re forever learning; I’ll be learning until the day I die.” —Dacre Montgomery
“Go to more parties. Don’t go 100% all in and think that just because you have this really exciting part of your life where you’re so lucky to be getting flown around and the show is really big…. At the end of the day, it’s only a part of your life. That can’t be your whole life or else you kind of stop being a person or stop developing.” —Finn Wolfhard
Rejection is your Mind Flayer—face it head-on and don’t let it possess you.
“Something I’ll always remember is that unsure feeling from when I was first auditioning…for years to no avail, three, four times a week. I knew casting directors by name enough to give high-fives and hugs when I went and saw them. And yet I still wasn’t booking. There’s that frustration of: Is this going to keep working? Is it going to work at all?... So if there was one thing that I could say—this is never a good industry to look toward a specific end goal of: ‘As long as I do this, then I’m set.’ There’s no promotion system with this type of job. It really is something that you will probably only enjoy if you can specifically live in the present moment.” —Gaten Matarazzo
“Rejection is redirection. You’re going to get rejected 1,000 times and 1,000 times again, and that’s just part of the business. You have to trust and accept that and know that those roles maybe weren’t meant for you, and you follow that to what eventually will lead to where [you belong]. Who would have ever thought that we stepped into that room for ‘Stranger Things’ and that changed our lives. You just never know when you’re around the corner from it.” —Noah Schnapp
“You’re going to get rejected a lot. I still will get rejected…. It took me a while to get where I am now. What people really think is it happened overnight—it didn’t. It took a few years and discipline. It happened quicker with my positive energy. You can’t always think negative; I always thought, I’m gonna get that. Your competition is yourself. Don’t think about anyone else because when you think about someone else, you go to the other track, and that’s not yours.” —Caleb McLaughlin
“I think sometimes being told you can’t can fuel the fire. There are some people who are resilient in a certain sense that being told no—like, I failed drama. I got asked to leave school three times. I think my biggest obstacle was actually getting over myself, getting over my ego, and growing up. And all three of those things played into the craft portion of my career.” —Dacre Montgomery
Courtesy Netflix
Channel your inner Eleven: Trust yourself and be present.
"What we did and the choices we made were right for that time in the character. I know I could tweak a few things, but I could truly do that about everything. I could have a conversation with you right now and go, 'I wish I actually said that instead.' I could walk through life doing that, but it’s just not worth it. —Millie Bobby Brown
“The main thing you can do is be confident in what you’re giving them. The trick for an actor is: This is me, this is my version, take it or leave it. It’s a hard thing to do.” —Natalia Dyer
“It’s important to stand out and make bold decisions. There’s not enough people in the world who encourage that for artists…. [Y]ou have to kind of take a leap of faith, especially in a self-taping world with those parameters.” —Dacre Montgomery
“I don’t want to ever play a character who doesn’t challenge me. If I’m just doing the same thing, I don’t think there’s a reason to do it…. You have to trust yourself and your intuition. Know what’s going to make you excited to get up and go to set. At the end of the day, that’s how it started for me, and that’s how it should remain.” —Sadie Sink
The Party sticks together, onscreen and off.
“What’s most lovely about pretty much any set you’re working on is you know the people who are there love what they do, they love this lifestyle and there’s a real sense of community there.” —Natalia Dyer
“I’m not going to let anything get in the way of me feeling centered and loving of this room and this piece of paper and everybody here that’s reading this, because this is family.” —Gaten Matarazzo
“We get along very well. We have a group chat…. It’s very cheesy and fun. So yeah, we text every once in a while: ‘Hey guys, how ya doing? We love you guys.’ ” —Caleb McLaughlin
“I remember leaving the screen test with Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo and thinking, I just had so much fun. I can leave this experience and be really happy about it, regardless of the outcome.” —Sadie Sink
“You want everyone to feel as comfortable as they can because that’s how you’re going to get the best performance out of them. It’s about having their back and making them feel like they’re not alone and that you understand what they’re trying.” —Finn Wolfhard