Best known for her star-making role as Eleven in Netflix’s Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown is Hollywood’s wunderkind. With young fame has come awards, critical acclaim, and a whole lot of public scrutiny that most kids find hard to manage. How does she deal with it? What about her friendships with older stars has caused fans to raise their eyebrows? Find out with these 42 electrifying facts about Millie Bobby Brown.
Millie Bobby Brown Facts
1. Back to the Isles
Millie Bobby Brown was born in Marbella, Málaga, Andalusia, Spain on February 19, 2004. Her English parents, Kelly and Robert Brown, moved the family back to Bournemouth, Dorset, in the UK when she was four years old.
2. A Star is Followed
When Brown was just eight years old, her family moved again—this time to Orlando, Florida. For the sake of Brown’s career, the family made several moves back and forth between the UK and US.
3. She Can’t Hear Us Out
Brown was born with partial hearing loss in one of her ears. As she grew up, she would continue to lose hearing in that ear until becoming completely deaf on that side.
4. The High Cost of Dreams
The Browns made enormous sacrifices for the sake of Millie’s acting career. In addition to moving back and forth between the US and Europe, Brown’s parents also became so poor they had to borrow money from their daughter’s manager to stay afloat. At least it looks like it all paid off!
5. Never Too Late to Be Cute
At one point, Brown was told her time as a child actor was done. A casting agent told her that she had become “too mature and grown-up” for the roles she wanted. This was, however, right before she was cast as Eleven in Stranger Things.
6. Down the Rabbit Hole
Millie Bobby Brown’s first acting role was the stuff of fairytales, kinda. In 2013, she got her first screen job as Young Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) in an episode of ABC’s Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, the spin-off of the fantasy drama-come-live-action Disney fanfic, Once Upon a Time.
7. Worktime is Playtime
In 2018, Brown lent her young voice to The Sims 4 as the event coordinator of the “Positivity Challenge.” Let’s hope she brushed up on her Simlish!
8. A Dream is a Wish Your Parents Undertake
Unlike other tenured child actors, Millie Bobby Brown has never taken formal acting school. She caught the acting bug at age eight, told her parents she wanted to perform on-screen, and the family went from there.
9. X-Eleven
Back when she was a barely known, Millie Bobby Brown was up for the lead role of Laura in Logan. Sadly, X(-men) just didn’t mark the spot; the part went to Dafne Keen. Of course, it wasn’t the last time that Brown would aim to play a child superhero.
10. That’s a Rap
Brown is an avid rapper. She flexed her rhymes on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, performing the Nicki Minaj verse from “Monster.” She also performed a Stranger Things Season 1 recap in anticipation for the second season premiere.
11. Face the Facts: You’re Hired!
At the magical age of 11 (ha!), Millie Bobby Brown engineered Eleven’s signature “laser-beam” stare during her audition for Stranger Things. As executive producer Shawn Levy said, “I’ve never forgotten it, because it was so intuitive. That this little person had such fierce power—that’s what took me aback. That same day the Duffers [brothers Matt and Ross, who created the show] and I knew she was the one.”
12. No Small Parts, Just Small Actors
In the first season of Stranger Things, Brown has fewer than 250 words of dialogue. Talk about making a lot from a little.
13. Be Brave and Shave
Brown’s parents were anxious about her role as Eleven in Stranger Things. Specifically, they feared what Eleven’s shaved-head look would do to her aesthetics and future prospects. According to Brown, she was almost as anxious—but the recent release of Mad Max: Fury Road lent some new cachet to this barely-there look, as Charlize Theron’s Furiosa sported the same ‘do. Matt Duffer, the show’s co-creator, assured Brown, “Doesn’t Charlize look badass? You’re going to look badass too.”
14. First Time for Everybody
Eleven’s first kiss with Mike in Stranger Things was also Brown’s real-life first kiss ever. As she articulately describes, “It was a strange experience. Having 250 people looking at you kissing someone is like, ‘Whoa!’”
15. Back to the Country
Descended from the English, born in Spain, working in Hollywood, Millie Bobby Brown has seen the world. However, she ultimately considers Atlanta, Georgia to be her home—at least in the US. She prefers the quiet state for being “calm, peaceful, beautiful,” and a better place than Hollywood for staying “grounded for my family and my home and my friends.”
16. No Minimum Age on Talent
Brown is one of the youngest people to be nominated for an Emmy. For both the first and second seasons of Stranger Things, she received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She was respectively 13 and 14-years old, only being outdone by previous nominees, 13-year-old Fred Savage for The Wonder Years and six-year-old Keisha Knight Pulliam for The Cosby Show.
17. An Eleven Among Hundreds
In 2018, a then-14-year-old Millie Bobby Brown became the youngest person to be featured in TIME magazine’s annual TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people.
18. Just Ignore Pinkman’s Record with Kids
Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul has described Brown as his “adopted daughter.” The two met when Brown was just 12 years old. To quote Paul: “She may have been 12 in years, but her spirit and mind were timeless. A wise woman was speaking from her cherubic face.”
19. A Stone of One’s Own
Brown’s 2017 MTV Movie and TV Award for “Best Actor in A Show” marks her first individual accolade win for playing Eleven. While Brown had been nominated individually and even won in an ensemble category, the MTV Award was the first statue she earned all by herself.
20. Millie in the Middle
Brown is the third of four children. She has an older brother, an older sister, and another younger sister.
21. Duolingo? More like Mickey
How did Brown obscure her natural English accent? Thank Mickey Mouse. Watching the Disney Channel helped Brown learn to change her natural dialect to be more American-friendly.
22. Not a Master of Tongues
Despite being born in Spain, Brown is not fluent in Spanish.
23. Puppy Love
In December 2017, Brown revealed on Instagram that she was dating her friend and pop star, Jacob Sartorius. Their relationship lasted just seven months (which is pretty long by middle-schooler standards) but even after rumors that Sartorius cheated on Brown, the two have stayed friends.
24. I’ve Seen Stranger Hiring
Brown can’t stop knocking down those “youngest” categories. In 2018, the 14-year-old actress became the youngest Goodwill Ambassador in UNICEF history. She is most involved in the #GoBlue Campaign for UNICEF’s World Children’s Day.
25. A Dream of Diplomacy
Becoming a UNICEF ambassador fulfilled a long-time ambition for Brown. In a 2017 interview, she confessed that, “Working with UNICEF is a really big dream of mine.” I guess some dreams do come true.
26. Two Fans Are Better Than One
Brown’s friendship with Canadian rapper Drake began at one of his Australian concerts. After learning that Brown was in attendance, Drake invited the young actress backstage. After taking pictures with each other, the pair became fast friends. Brown described the singer as having a “fanboy moment” to match her “fangirl moment.”
27. Dear Drake
In 2018, the 31-year-old Drake faced public scrutiny for his friendship with 14-year-old Brown. The younger performer had shared how she and Drake texted all the time, with the older man often giving her advice about boys. Many people viewed this conduct inappropriate for a grown man and a teenager. Brown took to Instagram and spoke her mind: "Why you gotta make a lovely friendship a headline? U guys are weird...I'm very blessed to have amazing people in my life. U don't get to decide that for me."
28. Eleven Runs Six Figures on Them
Can you really reduce a good performance to a number? Netflix did: Millie Bobby Brown was paid $20,000 for each episode of Stranger Things Season 1. By Season 3, however, she had earned a pretty big raise, making $300,000 an episode. Brown is one of the top-paid cast-members, behind only Winona Ryder and David Harbour (who each make $350,000 per episode).
29. What’s Her Allowance Like?
Brown reportedly has a net worth of $3 million. How much were you worth as a kid?
30. A Star Wars is Born?
Internet fans have been eager to note how Brown bears a striking resemblance to a young Carrie Fisher, AKA Princess Leia from the Star Wars franchise. When asked if she would ever take on the role in a future prequel, Brown responded positively. “I love Carrie Fisher," she said, "and it would be amazing to carry on her legacy.”
31. It’s Friendship, Not Homework
Millie Bobby Brown is best friends with child dancer Maddie Ziegler, who's best known for her performances in Sia’s music videos. Brown and Ziegler met backstage after one of the latter’s shows. Brown had been a long-time fan of the dancer’s work. Ziegler had never seen an episode of Stranger Things. We're sure that's been rectified.
32. My Mother, My Stylist
Brown’s mother oversees her on-set wardrobe. Apparently, every outfit that the child actress wears on-screen has been pre-approved by her mother, ensuring that she is always presented appropriately—I can only imagine that includes Eleven's far-out look from Season 3.
33. Into the Dark
Every superhero has their weakness. In Millie Bobby Brown’s case, it’s darkness. The actress has a mild fear of lights going out.
34. I Learned It From You, Bella
Brown lists Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart among her female acting idols.
35. “I’m coming in.”
The big kiss scene between Mike and Eleven at the end of Stranger Things 2 was originally unplanned, but Millie Bobby Brown pushed for the on-screen smooch. While shooting, Wolfhard wanted to warn Brown before the big moment, and if you look closely, you can actually see Wolfhard mouth the words “I’m coming in” right before the kiss.
36. Grand Theft Eleven
Before she made it big, Millie padded her credits with bit roles on shows like Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy (blink and you’ll miss her: in Modern Family, she is the little girl who gets her bike stolen by Manny).
37. Getting a Kick Outside of Class
Not unlike other child actors, Brown is homeschooled. However, this means she can pursue many topics to her liking. One of her most recent interests? Kickboxing.
38. Punch the Clock
Brown keeps a rigorous schedule of kickboxing and exercise. When asked about her routine, she said: “I do Thai boxing Mondays, jujitsu Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Wednesdays I do boxing with Mark. He was a world champion at one point. I absolutely love it. I actually have a punching bag right outside in my garden. I’m obsessed with working out. I eat like a pig, so it kind of makes up for that.”
39. A Whale of a Time Avoiding Jaws
Don’t ask Brown to swim with the sharks. To quote the actress, “Sharks freak me out. I love whales, and I’m very intrigued by whales. I write many essays on whales. I love whales, especially orcas. And dolphins. I just don’t like sharks. They freak me out.” To be fair, I think sharks freak most people out at least a little.
40. She Loves the Brit Hits
What is on Millie Bobby Brown’s playlist? She is a big-time fan of Adele and Amy Winehouse. However, the actress ranks Ed Sheeran as her all-time favorite musician.
41. Gotta Spin Fast
Stranger Things proved to be an influence on Brown’s music tastes. Filming the 1980s-set show, Brown was confronted—for the first time in her life—with a prop record player. She was immediately smitten by this old mode of music-playing. For Christmas, Brown’s parents gifted her with her own record-player, which quickly ranked among her favorite earthly belongings.
42. A Face You Won’t Forget
Brown makes her face work for her—in any industry. In 2017, she signed on with IGN models, just one month after her modeling debut in Calvin Klein’s By Appointment campaign.