Charlie Heaton, 31, has starred as Jonathan Byers in Stranger Things in 2016. And while the actor's life was changed by his nine years on the Netflix sci-fi show, he experienced a seismic shift two years before Stranger Things premiered. Charlie and his former bandmate, Akiko Matsuura, 45, welcomed their son Archie in 2014.
Charlie and Akiko were in a relationship at the time, but broke up after giving birth to Archie. Both of the young parents have kept their son out of the spotlight, but Charlie understands the difficulty of having a child at just 20-years-old.
"Being a young father, you have to grow up very fast," the actor explained to Wonderland Magazine in an interview published Nov. 25. "You have to also learn ethical priorities, too, and you've got to look after somebody."
Charlie went on: "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."
Here's everything HELLO! knows about Charlie and his son Archie.
When Charlie was just 20, he welcomed his son Archie. At the time, he was transitioning out of music and into acting. Four years prior, Charlie moved to London and played in a number of bands before joining Comanechi, where he met Akiko. The band released an album in 2013 and toured for a year and a half after.
After Charlie and Akiko met, they fell in love. Akiko was the frontwoman of Comanechi at the time. Since then, she has also played in the bands The Big Pink and Pre. The musician is very private, with little to no social media presence.
Charlie is in a relationship with his Stranger Things co-star
In 2018, Charlie made his red carpet debut with his co-star and girlfriend, Natalia Dyer. The two met on the set of Stranger Things and have dated since at least 2017. While speaking to Wonderland Magazine, Charlie opened up about his relationship with the actress: "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."
The Stranger Things star does not show off his son. Even though Charlie has over five million followers on Instagram, for the entirety of his son's life, Charlie hasn't shared any photos of Archie to social media or many details about him.
The actor is best known for Stranger Things, which has been filming for nearly a decade. Now that the show has wrapped, he can explore other opportunities. Charlie will appear in the fourth season of the HBO dramedy, Industry, as a finance journalist, Jim Dycker. He will star alongside fellow newcomers Kal Penn and Claire Forlani.
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