"Is this the kid from The IT Clown?"
Finn Wolfhard (born December 23, 2002 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian actor and musician.
He is best known for his roles as Mike Wheeler in the Netflix series Stranger Things, and Richie Tozier in the 2017-2019 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel It.
Wolfhard was the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band Calpurnia, which was formed in 2017 and disbanded in 2019. He later formed a new band titled The Aubreys with Malcolm Craig, a former bandmate from Calpurnia.
Filmography
As actor
- The 100 (2014, episode "Many Happy Returns"): Zoran
- Supernatural (2015, episode "Thin Lizzie"): Jordie Pinsky
- Stranger Things (2016 — present): Mike Wheeler
- It (2017): Richie Tozier
- It: Chapter Two (2019)
- Dog Days (2018): Tyler
- Howard Lovecraft and the Kingdom of Madness (2018): Herbert West
- The Addams Family (2019): Pugsley Addams
- Carmen Sandiego (2019 — 2021): Player
- The Goldfinch (2019): Boris Pavlikovsky
- Home Movie: The Princess Bride (2020): Inigo Montoya
- The Turning (2020): Miles Fairchild
- Omniboat A Fast Boat Fantasia (2020)
- Rules For Werewolves (2020): Bobert
- Smiling Friends (2020, episode "Desmond's Big Day Out"): Man Living in Wall and Bliblies
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021): Trevor
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
- When You Finish Saving The World (2022): Ziggy Katz
- Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022): Candlewick
- Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023): Teen Scott Pilgrim
As director
- Night Shifts (2020) (also writer)
His career provides examples of:
- Promoted Fanboy:
- He's a huge fan of Ninja Sex Party and the Game Grumps in general, and not only has he appeared on the the show three times (twice in Guest Grumps and once on Ten Minute Power Hour), but he also got to play young!Danny in the music video for "Danny Don't You Know". Arin and Danny also happen to be fans of Stranger Things, so it's a win-win situation.
- He's also a big fan of Jake and Amir, to the point he was a few times to their If I Were You podcast and eventually appearing in a Headgum sketch
. - Finn was obsessed with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World as a child. He provides the voice for Young Scott in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which he describes as fulfilling "a childhood dream"
- Typecasting:
- He seems to have a knack for playing kids/teens caught up in the supernatural. Besides his most famous role, one of his earliest roles was in Supernatural, and he's also appeared in the 2017 version of It and its sequel, The Addams Family, an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
- A shockingly large number of his roles are strongly associated with The '80s: Stranger Things and the first It movie are both set entirely in The '80s and Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a sequel to a film released in 1984 and which made an indelible mark on '80s pop culture (as referenced in Stranger Things). He also appears as a young Rivers Cuomo in the music video for Weezer's cover of "Take on Me", set in 1985. This apparently partly reflects personal preference, though—by his own account, he's a big fan of '80s culture and fashion, and so is completely at home taking '80s roles.
- His character in It is revealed to like other boys, in The Goldfinch he kisses another boy, and the makers of the new Power Rangers reboot are looking to cast him as an openly LGBT Blue Ranger. Inverted by Stranger Things, where his character is unknowingly the target of another boy's affection but is himself dating a girl.
- ThrowItIn:
- Wolfhard has repeatedly been praised by cast and directors as being a rather good improviser and the one most likely to go off script.
Trivia
- Finn Wolfhard has social anxiety and has admitted to having difficulty with large crowds of people.
- Wolfhard started acting to build credentials for a future career in directing.
- Wolfhard owned a VHS player until he was 9, despite the dominance of DVDs at the time.
- On the set of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Wolfhard was allowed to make his own jokes rather than use ones provided to him by the director.
- Wolfhard's father is a lawyer specializing in indigenous land claims, and Finn Wolfhard started a campaign to bring awareness to difficulties faced by First Nations people in Canada.
