Millie Bobby Brown: From Childhood To Electric State

Millie Bobby Brown rose to fame after her starring role as Eleven in the popular Netflix series "Stranger Things." Brown was just 12 years old when the series debuted. She was immediately thrust into the spotlight and experienced the positive and negative ramifications that come with it. She's since enchanted audiences with her other work, her love for animals, and her goals-worthy relationship with a son of rock royalty. What you may not know is that "Stranger Things" wasn't her first role.

Brown made her Hollywood debut at just 9 years old, and she shows no signs of slowing down. She has appeared in a variety of projects during her career, from fairy tales and horror stories to fantasy adventures that allowed her to stretch her wings as a producer. From her childhood through to her latest Netflix project "The Electric State," here is everything you need to know about multi-talented megastar Millie Bobby Brown.

Millie Bobby Brown was born in Spain but moved to England with her British parents after four years. She was born with partial hearing loss in her left ear. Over time, this developed into total hearing loss, leaving her deaf in that ear. After another four years living in England, her family decided to move to Orlando. The actress is the second-youngest child in the family — she has an older brother named Charlie and an older sister named Paige, as well as a younger sister named Ava. Perhaps growing up with three siblings helped her get along so well with her castmates in "Stranger Things."

Brown has said that acting became her dream job at a young age. "I've always loved performing in whatever capacity that was," she said in a Wired interview. "I became an actor by just being bored on a Saturday." She was just 8 years old when her parents decided to help support her dream by moving the family to Los Angeles. "It was like a bug," she told Variety. "I know this sounds crazy, but once I find something I want to do, nobody's stopping me." Brown didn't train professionally as an actor; she just chose to be one and, thankfully, is really good at it.

"Once Upon a Time" was a popular ABC series that featured all of your favorite Disney and fairy tale characters, from Snow White to Captain Hook. With its popularity, ABC developed a spin-off called "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland," which aired for one season between 2013 to 2014. The show follows Alice (Sophie Lowe) from Lewis Carroll's classic novels "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass."

In the ABC series, Wonderland is under the influence of a dark spell. Wonderland characters like the Red Queen (Emma Rigby) and the Jabberwocky (Peta Sergeant) in addition to other characters from the "Once Upon a Time" universe like Cinderella (Jessy Schram) and Robin Hood (Sean Maguire) all featured in the show.

The fantasy series marked Millie Bobby Brown's first credited role as an actress. She appeared in two episodes of the show as a young version of Alice. "I dyed my hair blonde," she told The Playback. "I put blue contacts in. I'm shocked that I got the role, because I look nothing like Alice in Wonderland." She only had a single line — she was required to pop out of a hole in the ground and say "home."

Though most people know her for her breakout role in "Stranger Things," Millie Bobby Brown's first leading role was in a different television series. The BBC series "Intruders" featured the actress, then only 10 years old, as Madison O'Donnell.

The paranormal drama series follows Jack Whelan (John Simm), a former Los Angeles Police Department detective who gets caught up in a conspiracy about a secret society. This society is trying to become immortal by taking over the bodies of other individuals with their souls. One of their followers takes over the body of his wife, Amy (Mira Sorvino). Madison is a 9-year-old girl whose body is also taken over, this time by the spirit of a serial killer. She continually fights to regain control of her body from the other spirit, eventually forcing him out after her body is injured.

At the time, Brown was going by Millie Brown. In a promotional piece by BBC America, Simm proclaimed, "Millie Brown is a superstar. You heard it here first." Other members of the cast and crew are also complementary, including director Daniel Stamm. Despite reservations about working with a child actor, Stamm said, "She blew me away. She was just so natural, and she could just switch on that creepy side that you needed for that character."

Millie Bobby Brown continued to appear on the small screen, landing episodic roles in several popular TV shows. In 2014, she appeared in Season 12 of "NCIS" in a villainous role. In the episode, the team is investigating the suspicious death of a Navy SEAL's wife. Brown plays Rachel, the couple's daughter, who seems innocent at first but soon proves to be a sociopath responsible for her mother's death.

In 2015, Brown branched out into different genres, appearing in a medical drama and a sitcom. Fans of "Modern Family" may recognize Brown from the Season 6 episode "Closet? You'll Love It!" She plays Lizzie, a girl who lives on Manny's (Rico Rodriguez) street. He steals a bike from her as he, Phil (Ty Burrell), and Luke (Nolan Gould) chase after a drone that's been appearing in Manny's backyard.

She also made an appearance in an episode of "Grey's Anatomy" in the show's 11th season. In the episode "I Feel the Earth Move," the hospital is dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake. A young girl named Ruby, played by Brown, receives help from Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) over the phone after her mother falls at their remote cabin during the earthquake.

Of course, Millie Bobby Brown is now well-known for her role as Eleven in Netflix's "Stranger Things." The series takes place in a small fictional town in Indiana in the 1980s as the residents are exposed to the Upside Down, an alternate reality that houses some scary things. Brown stars as Eleven, a young girl with psychokinetic and telepathic powers being experimented on at Hawkins National Laboratory, the place responsible for creating an opening between the real world and the Upside Down.

Before "Stranger Things," Brown had been told she'd have a hard time making it in the industry. The young actor was too mature for her age, one casting director told her — though that maturity helped her nail complicated roles in "Intruders" and "NCIS." Nevertheless, Brown felt down about her acting career before auditioning for "Stranger Things," but agreed to do one last taped audition for a project she said she thought looked cool. That self-tape led to the role that propelled her to stardom. Brown said that portraying Eleven helped Brown realize the importance of on-screen representation and also allowed her to connect with other young actors growing up in Hollywood.

Because of her work as Eleven, Brown has been nominated for two Emmy awards and won a Screen Actors Guild award with the cast, in addition to various nominations and awards from the Teen Choice Awards, MTV Movie & TV Awards, and the Kids' Choice Awards. The actress will always carry the character with her, having Eleven's tattoo on her wrist.

In addition to a career on television, Millie Bobby Brown has appeared in several music videos. Her first was for the Sigma song "Find Me" in 2016. The actress stars in the video, seen in various locations singing along to the music. Her next music video came in 2017 with The xx's "I Dare You." Brown is one of several individuals featured in the video. She plays a student who misses the bus and ends up on an adventure with her older sister.

Her third music video was Maroon 5's "Girl Like You." Numerous female celebrities made cameos in the 2018 video as well, including actress Gal Gadot, gymnast Aly Raisman, snowboarder Chloe Kim, and comedian Sarah Silverman. In the video, Brown is rocking space buns and gives a kiss to the camera. In the same year, she was in a Drake music video for his song "In My Feelings." She is briefly shown dancing along to the song with co-star Noah Schnapp at the end of the video. Brown also appeared alongside a bunch of other celebs in a 2019 music video for Mariah Carey's classic holiday hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

As Millie Bobby Brown's star began to rise, she was exposed to an increasing amount of internet trolls, which resulted in the then-14-year-old deleting her Twitter and TikTok account in 2018. She kept her Instagram and Facebook pages, but they were being handled by somebody else at the time. In a candid interview with Allure, Brown shared that she has gone to therapy to help work through the harmful comments and threats she received through social media.

"It's really hard to be hated on when you don't know who you are yet," she told the mag. "So it's like, 'What do they hate about me?' 'Cause I don't know who I am.' It's almost like, 'Okay, I'm going to try being this today.' [And then they say], 'Oh, no, I hate that.' 'Okay. Forget that. I'm going to try being this today.' 'Oh, my God! I hate when you do that.' Then you just start shutting down because you're like, 'Who am I meant to be? Who do they need me to be for them?'"

Brown went on to reveal that her family and friends helped her "grow" as she got used to being without social media. Over time, she realized that she didn't need the validation of others. She decided to start another Twitter account with the handle @Milliestopshate so she could talk purely about positivity, but she hasn't posted on it since 2019. These days, fans can follow her on Instagram, where she's active and has over 60 million followers.

Millie Bobby Brown's career only continued to grow as she made the jump from television to movies. Her first movie was "Godzilla: King of the Monsters," the third film in the MonsterVerse. She portrays Madison Russell, the daughter of Vera Farmiga's Emma and Kyle Chandler's Mark. Alongside her mother, Madison is kidnapped by ecoterrorists in the film, learning more about her mother's goals and denouncing them. Brown reprised her role in the 2021 sequel "Godzilla vs. Kong," taking part in more Godzilla action and reconnecting with her dad.

She leveraged her connections with Netflix and Legendary Pictures to produce and star in the young adult novel adaptations "Enola Holmes" and "Enola Holmes 2." This was a lifelong dream for Brown, who had wanted to bring Enola Holmes to the big screen since she was only 13 years old. The movies follow Sherlock Holmes' (Henry Cavill) teenage sister Enola (Brown) as she becomes a detective in her own right. The first film features Enola as she tries to track down her missing mother (Helena Bonham Carter), while the second finds her looking for a missing girl as she struggles to find clients for her newly opened detective agency.

With her production company PCMA Productions, Brown produced both of the "Enola Holmes" movies and she will also be a producer on the upcoming third entry. "I'm going to be doing an 'Enola Holmes 3' this year," Brown told Collider in March 2025. "We start filming in the coming weeks. I'm very excited."

It was big news when Millie Bobby Brown, who grew up in the public eye, announced where she would be attending college. In a 2022 interview with Allure, the actress shared that she was going to school online through Purdue University. She's completing a degree in human services, which Brown describes in the interview as a degree path where "you learn about the system and how to help young people." Since she splits her time between the United States and England, it makes sense that the actress decided to complete her further education online.

Of course, the location of the university, though she isn't attending in person, caught fans' attention: Purdue is located in Indiana. Of course, it's not in Hawkins, Indiana (the town that "Stranger Things" takes place in is fictional), but the university has been mentioned in the show before: A shirt with the school name emblazoned on it appeared in the third season. A replica of the '80s-style shirt was, for a limited time, sold online as Purdue merchandise for any fans who want to show some school spirit. 

In April 2023, Millie Bobby Brown announced she was engaged to Jake Bongiovi, son of Jon Bon Jovi. The two have been together since 2021. The actress announced their engagement with a black and white photo on her Instagram, using a Taylor Swift lyric and a white heart emoji as a caption. The two started as friends, as described by the actress to Wired. "We met on Instagram," she said. "We were friends for a bit, and then, what can I say?"

The two bonded over shared interests, including diving. "We got our diving licenses together," Brown shared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." While on vacation, he suggested diving at a spot they had visited before. Brown wanted to go somewhere new, but he was adamant they had to go back. During the dive, Jake produced a ring from a shell and he proposed underwater. After they came to the surface, she put on the ring — only for it to fall back down into the water. "Jake threw himself into the water," the actress explained to Fallon. "He does a cinematic-like grab, opens [his hand], and he saved the ring."

The lovebirds tied the knot in May 2024. It was reportedly an intimate affair, though a larger celebration followed in October of that year. In 2025, Brown discussed married life during an interview with Vanity Fair, telling the mag that she shares a Georgia farm with Jake and loves it. "I'm not doing it for the aesthetic," she said. "There are maybe some trad wives out there doing it because it seems wholesome, but it is not. If you're not picking up horse s*** or washing a cow with your bare hands, then that life is not made for you."

Taking her talents from the screen to the page, Millie Bobby Brown co-wrote the novel "Nineteen Steps" with collaborator Kathleen McGurl (pictured above). The novel was published in September 2023. The book is loosely based on Brown's grandmother's story and life during World War II. McGurl is a historical mystery author with over a dozen books under her name.

"[My grandma] would tell me stories from her childhood, living through World War II," Brown shared on "Good Morning America." "When I got older and started kind of getting into the industry, I thought these stories felt so important to me, and I was really passionate about bringing these stories to life." The plot follows a young adult named Nellie who has her life changed forever when she meets an American airman during the war.

In its review of the novel, The New York Times compliments the historical importance and significance of "Nineteen Steps." The story highlights the Bethnal Green tube station disaster, cited by the article as "the largest civilian tragedy" of World War II, albeit one not many people know about. Brown's grandmother was a survivor of the event, telling her stories to her granddaughter and ensuring that the story isn't lost to time.

Millie Bobby Brown has a veritable menagerie of pets, from a bunch of cute dogs to a donkey she calls Bernard. She specifically likes to rescue senior dogs. Brown is heavily involved with the animal rescue Joey's Friends, sharing the stories of the different animals up for adoption via her Instagram. Brown also fosters animals herself: She and Jake Bongiovi helped foster a dog named Shark from the Humane Society Naples. The shelter posted photos of the two with the dog on Instagram, thanking her for the visit.

When Brown visited "The Drew Barrymore Show" in March 2024, she had nine dogs and was fostering 23. She credits her desire to have animals as the reason she moved out of her parents' house. Though she still lives next door to them in Atlanta, the actress had to move out if she wanted to have more pets. "When I turned 18, I was like, 'I want another dog, I want a rabbit, I want farm animals,' so I moved out, and I moved next door," she told Barrymore.

In March 2025, Millie Bobby Brown posted a candid video to Instagram in which she addressed a wave of articles criticizing her appearance. The actress read out several insulting headlines that she had come across, including "Millie Bobby Brown Mistaken for Someone's Mom as She Guides Younger Sister Ava Through LA," "Why are Gen Zers like Millie Bobby Brown aging so Badly?" and "What Has Millie Bobby Brown Done to Her Face?" In a lengthy response, the "Stranger Things" star hit back at the people who had written these pieces, naming and shaming them.

"This is bullying. The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, and my choices, is disturbing," said Brown. "The fact that some of these articles are written by women? Even worse. We always talk about supporting and uplifting young women, but when the time comes, it seems easier to tear them down for clicks. Disillusioned people can't handle seeing a girl become a woman on her terms, not theirs. I refuse to apologize for growing up. I refuse to make myself smaller to fit the unrealistic expectations of people who can't handle seeing a girl become a woman."

The video led to an outpouring of support for Brown and many joined her in criticizing the journalists in question. Freelancer Lydia Hawken, who wrote "Why are Gen Zers like Millie Bobby Brown aging so Badly?" for Mail Online's lifestyle section Femail, apologized to Brown in a video of her own, revealing that the article had been assigned to her. "This is not an excuse, or me asking for sympathy, because I still wrote it," Hawken said on TikTok, adding that Brown was "fully in the right" to call her out. "I want to say I'm sorry for writing the story, and for not being brave enough to say no."

Millie Bobby Brown is ready for "Stranger Things" to finally end, but she and Netflix aren't parting ways anytime soon. Her 2024 movie "Damsel" was produced for the streamer, seeing Brown play Elodie, a princess marrying a prince (Nick Robinson) to help save her ailing kingdom. She soon discovers that the arrangement is a sham: Elodie is sacrificed to a vengeful dragon. The actress got to do several of her own stunts on the project, from wirework to a dramatic jump between two caves.

Brown's latest Netflix project is "The Electric State," a star-studded sci-fi adventure comedy film from directors Anthony and Joe Russo. Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Simon Stålenhag, it's set in a world in which sentient robots live in exile following an uprising that didn't go to plan. We follow a teen called Michelle (Brown) who is searching for her younger brother in the company of the smiley yellow-face robot Cosmo (voiced by Alan Tudyk). It's a very timely movie according to Brown. "The whole conversation about technology, A.I., has been boiling over the years. So this film — I feel like that conversation kind of comes to a head," she told Blavity.

Brown has yet another Netflix project in the works as both star and producer: The streaming giant is adapting the YA thriller novel "The Girls I've Been" by Tess Sharpe. She will play Nora O'Malley, the daughter of a con artist mother. Nora gets taken hostage by two bank robbers, and if you're familiar with the book, then you'll know that she soon makes the robbers regret their decision.