Finn Wolfhard

**Finn Wolfhard** (born December 23rd, 2002) is a Canadian actor, musician, screenwriter and director. He's best known for his portrayal of main character Mike Wheeler in the Netflix original television series Stranger Things.

In 2012-13, Finn Wolfhard got his first acting job from Craigslist.

In 2014, he made his acting and television debut as Zoran in The CW original series *The 100.*

In 2015, he got a short role as Jordie Pinsky in another The CW original series *Supernatural*.

In 2016, he began portraying Mike Wheeler in the Netflix series *Stranger Things*. He auditioned for the role in a video when he was sick in bed after seeing an open casting call.

Stranger Things became a big success Netflix original series in the summer of 2016 and it won a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series with him and the cast. He and co-stars Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin competed against one another in a 2017 episode of Spike's *Lip Sync Battle*.

In January 18, 2019, He's also currently stars in the Netflix animated series *Carmen Sandiego* as "Player", the title character's chief accomplice and friend.

On September 8, 2017, He made his feature film debut playing Richie Tozier in the film adaptation of Stephen King's *It.* The casting of Finn in both *Stranger Things* and *It*, both set in the 1980's, had been a coincidence.  He had been initially cast as Richie when Cary Fukunaga was attached as director and co-writer, but when Fukunaga left the project over creative differences, the role fell through which allowed him to pursue *Stranger Things*. Once Andy Muschietti became attached to *It*, he had to re-audition for the role of Richie.

On October 20, 2017, Wolfhard parted ways with his former agency, APA, and fired former agent Tyler Grasham following allegations that Grasham had sexually assaulted aspiring young male actors. He had not been assaulted.

On January 9, 2018, Wolfhard signed with talent agency, CAA.

In 2018, he played Tyler, an altruistic and thoughtful pizza delivery boy, in the Ken Marino-directed ensemble comedy film, *Dog Days*. In 2019, he reprised his role as young Richie in flashbacks for the sequel *It Chapter Two* (2019).

He also co-starred in *The Goldfinch*, the John Crowley-directed adaptation of the Donna Tartt's novel, playing Young Boris Pavlikovsky, a Ukrainian student and troublemaker. He had not been the director's first choice. He had wanted to cast an authentic Russian actor for Boris, but Finn's near perfect Russian accent in his audition helped him get the role.

Also in 2019, Finn provided the voice of Pugsley Addams in an animated remake of *The Addams Family*, which premiered on October 11. In January 2020, Wolfhard portrayed Miles in Amblin’s haunted house film *The Turning*, an adaptation of Henry James’ novella *The Turn of the Screw*.

Also that month, Wolfhard made his Sundance Film Festival debut with the Miami-set omnibus film, *Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia*, masterminded by filmmaking collective Borscht Corp, which also features Robert Redford.

He will also be making his 2020 SXSW Film Festival debut in March with the Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux directed proof of concept short film, *Rules for Werewolves*, based off playwright and novelist Kirk Lynn's adapted screenplay from his debut novel. It was also announced that the short film was set to become a feature-length film, with he attached to star and production occurring late in 2020 or in early 2021.

On April 1, 2020, he lent his voice to the Adult Swim animated special titled, *Smiling Friends* with his brother, Nick by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack. He is also set to lend his voice as a guest star in the upcoming 2020 animated series *JJ Villard's Fairy Tales* on Adult Swim as Boypunzel, a gender-swapped version of Rapunzel.

On April 9, 2020, it was announced that he is starring and voicing the role of Ziggy in the upcoming six-part Audible Original, *When You Finish Saving the World*, written by Jesse Eisenberg. Additionally, the audiobook will be adapted into a comedy-drama movie, *When You Finish Saving the World*, with Julianne Moore and he's set to star as mother and son, directed and written by Jesse Eisenberg and produced by Moore, Emma Stone and Dave McCary.

On July 2020, he joined the Jason Reitman directed Quibi television series adaptation *Home Movie: The Princess Bride*, to raise money for World Central Kitchen, which was released in July 2020, and then a live reading of The Princess Bride's script, as the Grandson, for a Democratic Party of Wisconsin charity event in September 2020

On July 15, 2020, it was also announced that he and his brother, would be headlining the voice cast of sci-fi animation series *NEW-GEN*, playing twin brothers, alongside The Witcher star Anya Chalotra.

In August 2020, he co-starred in the Audible Original, *When You Finish Saving the World*, written by Jesse Eisenberg. The story is told from the perspective of three family members, at different stages of their lives. He narrates Ziggy Katz, a 15-year-old boy recording audio sessions to a futuristic bot therapist. Additionally, the audiobook will be adapted into a comedy-drama movie, *When You Finish Saving the World*, with Julianne Moore and he's set to star as mother and son, directed and written by Jesse Eisenberg and produced by Moore, Emma Stone and Dave McCary.

On August 19, 2020, it was announced that he had joined director Guillermo del Toro's stop-motion animated musical feature, *Pinocchio*.

On September 9, 2020, he and his *Ghostbuster: Afterlife* co-star Billy Bryk host this podcast discussing and dissecting their favorite movies, tv shows and movies and tv shows that do not exist, also podcast is available on Headgum website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and RSS.

On October 8, 2020, *The Addams Family* (2019) sequel is scheduled to be theatrically released on October 8, 2021 with original cast back but Javon Walton replaces Finn Wolfhard as the voice of Pugsley.

In June 2021, he will star with Carrie Coon in Jason Reitman's *Ghostbusters: Afterlife*, as Trevor the son of Coon's single mother, and Mckenna Grace also starring as Phoebe his younger sister.

## Personal life

He graduated from St. Patrick Regional Secondary School in 2020.

## Music

Finn Wolfhard had met drummer Malcolm Craig in 2014, on the set of the music video for "Guilt Trip" by PUP, while guitarist Ayla Tesler-Mabe was a friend from rock camp and bassist Jack Anderson was recruited for a charity fundraiser. The band officially formed in 2017, with their first release being a cover of "Wanted You" by Twin Peaks.

The band signed with the Canadian independent record label Royal Mountain Records in November 2017 and began recording an EP, with Cadien Lake James of Twin Peaks producing and engineering.

In January 2018, the band performed at the Rough Trade in New York City, covering "Here She Comes Now" by The Velvet Underground, "Where Is My Mind?" by Pixies, "El Scorcho" by Weezer and "Butterfly" by Twin Peaks.

On 7 March 2018, he made debut with his band by releasing their single "City Boy". It was the lead single of their then-unannounced *Scout* EP released their debut extended play "Scout". The single debuted at No. 23 on the *Billboard* Alternative Digital Song Sales chart with sales of 2,000 units.

On 12 April 2018, The second single, "Louie", was released by the band with announcing the forthcoming release of the *Scout* EP, slated for 15 June 2018. The band made their television debut on 23 July 2018 as the musical guest on *Jimmy Kimmel Live*.

In February 2019, Weezer featured the four members of Calpurnia as the stars of their new music video for their cover of the a-ha track "Take On Me," from the album *Weezer* (The Teal Album). The video takes a trip back to the 1980's, paying tribute to the original music video by a-ha and Finn playing as young Rivers Cuomo. The decision to have Calpurnia participate in the video was solidified after Weezer had requested the band cover their hit song "Say It Ain't So" for Spotify's *Under Cover* podcast in 2018.

On November 8th, 2019, Calpurnia announced they broke up.

A few weeks later it was announced that Finn is in a new band, The Aubreys, are due to debut on the soundtrack of his movie, *The Turning* and the song was called "Getting Better (otherwise)".

On March 10, 2020, The Aubreys released their single, "Loved One" and their debut EP, *Soda & Pie*, through AWAL, on March 13, 2020.

## Directing

In 2017, he had co-directed his first music video with his best friend Josh Ovalle for the band, Spendtime Palace's "Sonora" and he was only 14-years-old when he directed it.

On December 10, 2019, he launched a fundraising campaign to produce the short film through Indiegogo, offering various incentives to those who donated and attained its goal of $26,000 Canadian dollars in a day. The short was shot over the span of 12 hours in a Vancouver convenient store. During filming, an attempted robbery occurred. *Night Shifts* is a 2020 Canadian short comedy film written and directed by himself.

On August 24, 2020, the film premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 24, 2020. It had its American premiere at the 11th Annual Atlanta Shortsfest on August 29, 2020. The film is also an official selection for the 2020 Calgary International Film Festival. The film received the silver Audience Award for Best Canadian and he won Best Director award for *Night Shifts* at the 2020 Atlanta Shortsfest.

## **Filmography**

### Podcast

 2020
 2020

## Trivia

* Wolfhard auditioned for *Stranger Things* shortly after he auditioned for the 2017 film "It". He was able to star in Stranger Things due to the movie being pushed back.
* Because of being very sick, Wolfhard had to film the entire audition tape for *Stranger Things* from his bed.
* For the first and second seasons of *Stranger Things*, Finn along with his co-stars earned $20,000 and $60,000 per episode respectively. However, for the third season, the majority of the cast including Finn got a raise, with him receiving approximately $250,000 per episode.
* He has never considered Millie Bobby Brown as his first kiss because his kissed a girl when he was in kindergarten.
* His great-great-aunt, Rita Jolivet was silent film and theatre actress and his great-grandfather, Alfred Eugene Jolivet was Rita's brother.