Stranger Things season 4: Who is Leeds actor Charlie Heaton who plays Jonathan Byers on the Netflix sci-fi horror series?

Stranger Things made quite the impression on the public since it first aired on Netflix in July 2016 and broke its own record when season three was released, having been watched by 64 million viewers.

The American science fiction horror series, created by the Duffer brothers, has secured the the careers of its main actors, Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp, who plays Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo, who portrays Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Lucas Sinclair and more recently Sadie Sink, who has played Max Mayfield since the second season.

The secondary characters include Will Byers’ big brother, Jonathan, who is Nancy Wheelers’ love interest, played by Charlie Heaton.

It was announced on Thursday, February 17, that the fourth season of the show will return in two volumes: volume one will be released on May 27, 2022, and volume two will premiere on July 1.

Who is Charlie Heaton?

The 27-year-old actor was born in Leeds and raised on a council estate in Bridlington.

He moved to London when he was just 16 years old to pursue a career in music, where he joined London noise-rock band Comanechi as their drummer.

The band was successful enough that he toured with them for more than a year before joining the London-based psychedelic band Half Loon.

He has a son called Archie from his first relationship with Akiko Matsuura and from early 2016, he embarked on a relationship with his Stranger Things co-star and on-screen girlfriend, Natalie Dyer, who plays Nancy Wheeler in the series.

He is a football fanatic and an avid supporter of Arsenal F.C.

What other movies and TV shows has Charlie Heaton been in?

Before his rise to fame as Jonathan Byers on Stranger Things, Heaton has played a role in the short film Life Needs Courage in 2014.

He made his acting debut in the ITV crime drama series DCI Banks in 2015, where he portrayed the role of Gary McCready.

He went on to appear in the ITV detective series Vera as Riley and guest-starred as Jason Waycott in BBC One’s medical drama series Casualty, the same year.

Since his success in Stranger Things, Heaton has carved himself a decent acting career, having starred in As You Are as Mark and Shut In as Stephen Portman alongside Naomi Watts, Oliver Platt and Jacob Tremblay.

In 2017, Heaton starred as Billy Marrowbone in the English-language Spanish psychological horror mystery drama film alongside Peaky Blinders and The Queen’s Gambit star, Anya Taylor-Joy.

More recently between 2020 and 2021, he has starred in films The New Mutants, alongside Game of Thrones star, Maisie Williams, and Anya Taylor-Joy, and The Souvenir Part II, starring Tilda Swinton and IT Crowd actor Richard Ayoade.