Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton has joined the cast of Peaky Blinders as Charles Shelby.
As Charlie Heaton joins the Peaky Blinders universe, fans want to know more about the Stranger Things star.
Charlie, who will play 32-year-old Charles Shelby in the new BBC spin-off set in the 1950s, rose to fame as Jonathan Byers on Netflix sci-fi series.
Since then, he has starred in BBC and HBO’s Industry as journalist James Dycker and as Sam Guthrie in The New Mutants.
Now, he will portray the son of Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby in the show set 10 years after the events of the recent Netflix film, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
But who is Charlie away from the spotlight? Let’s take a closer look at the actor’s life off-screen.
Charlie Heaton’s real accent and Yorkshire upbringing
While many Stranger Things fans might think Charlie is American, given his convincing accent on the Netflix show, the actor was actually born in Leeds.
He was raised by his mother on a council estate in Bridlington, a seaside town in Yorkshire. Speaking to i-D about his childhood, he reflected: “I was brought up by my mum on a council estate.
“My mum worked really hard, we had a fine upbringing, but there was always this sense of having to get on with things and not complain about anything.
“I’ve had to grow up quickly and deal with things myself. Jonathan has this responsibility to his younger brother, he works two jobs; he also just has to get on with things.
“I think you learn a lot of life lessons when you grow up in slightly difficult circumstances, where you don’t necessarily have everything and you have to make your own way.”
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Charlie Heaton’s music career and dropping out of school
Aspiring musician Charlie left school at the age of 16 and moved to London to join a band.
He previously told Flaunt Magazine: “I’d kind of come out of college and Comanechi asked if I would play drums for them.
“I’d only maybe played in front of like 20 people in a bedroom or 20 people scattered around a venue at a club before.
“And then they asked me if I would go on tour; the first tour they had was supporting The Gossip and I had two weeks of rehearsals and then the first gig was like 2000 people.”
Asked if he regretted dropping out of school, he confirmed that traditional education wasn’t for him as he was “quite a naughty kid” and “sent out of class all the time”.
In the end, Charlie stumbled into acting by accident after appearing in a view adverts to try and make some money after his tour had ended, eventually landing a role opposite Naomi Watts in the 2016 film, Shut In.
Charlie Heaton’s son and becoming a father at 20
Stranger Things actor Charlie became a father at the age of 20, welcoming a son named Archie in 2014.
Archie’s mother is Charlie’s former Comanechi bandmate, Akiko Matsuura, whom he fell in love with after touring with the band for over a year.
The singer and drummer, who was in her 30s when she gave birth to their son, has since gone on to join rock band The Big Pink.
Charlie made a rare comment about fatherhood in an interview with Wonderland Magazine, saying: “Being a young father, you have to grow up very fast.”
Charlie Heaton’s romance with Stranger Things co-star Natalia Dyer
Charlie first got to know his co-star Natalia Dyer on the set of Stranger Things in 2015, and the pair apparently already had chemistry before the cameras even started rolling.
In an interview with GQ, Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer said: “That first audition, we did a chemistry read with [Heaton and] Natalia, and sparks were flying.”
Charlie played Jonathan Byers, the older brother of missing boy Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), and Natalia portrayed Nancy Wheeler.
The characters were in a love triangle with Nancy’s boyfriend Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), with fans rooting for the pair to get together by the end of season 1.
While it is unclear exactly when Charlie and Natalia started dating, reports suggest it could be as early as 2016, with the romance going strong for nearly a decade.
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