“Stranger Things ”Star Charlie Heaton Shares Rare Comments About Becoming a Dad at 20

Charlie Heaton is opening up about fatherhood.

The Stranger Things star, now 31, shared rare comments about becoming a father at 20 years old in an interview with Wonderland Magazine, published on Tuesday, Nov. 25. 

Heaton shares son Archie, 11, with musician Akiko Matsuura. They were previously in the band Comanechi together.

"Being a young father, you have to grow up very fast," the actor told the outlet. "You have to also learn ethical priorities, too, and you’ve got to look after somebody."

"That’s a big thing," Heaton noted. "You want to give them good experiences and a lot of love and the hard part obviously is distance. But that’s part of the sacrifice."

Heaton spoke with GQ in 2022 and recalled transitioning from music to acting around the time Archie was born in 2014. He was first cast in an ad for a Swiss insurance company, and then found success in his following auditions. 

Heaton played small roles in the television shows DCI Banks, Vera and Casualty, before landing his breakthrough role in Stranger Things.

As for his success in the Netflix show, which premiered in 2016,  he said at the time, "It can get extremely overwhelming. I remember the first season coming out and, like anyone, I remember reading a lot about what people thought – you’re getting used to people looking at your work."

Heaton is currently in a relationship with his costar Natalia Dyer. The two play on-screen couple Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler, respectively. 

Dyer and Heaton first met on the set of the Netflix series in 2015. Within months of the show’s release the following year, fans began to speculate that they were dating. They made their red carpet debut as a couple in December 2017. 

They will both star in the show's anticipated fifth and final season, which premieres its first four episodes on Thursday, Nov. 26.

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Heaton raved about Dyer in the Wonderland interview, saying, "It’s been a gift to work with my best friend."

"To be able to have a shared experience with your partner about the anxiety when you don’t get a job – I know what that feels like, she knows what that feels like. You can be there to talk about it, or when you have a s--- day at work, or come away from a scene and you didn’t think it worked. To be able to both understand each other on that level is great," he said.