Charlie R. Heaton (born 6 February 1994) is a British actor and musician.^[2] He plays Jonathan Byers in the Netflix series Stranger Things.

Heaton was born in Leeds^[3] and raised on a council estate in Bridlington by his mother.^[4] After moving to London when he was 16, Heaton joined London noise-rock band Comanechi as the drummer and toured with them for more than a year.^[2][5] Heaton then joined London-based psychedelic band Half Loon.^[6]

In 2015, Heaton made his acting debut with the ITV crime drama series DCI Banks, playing the role of Gary McCready.^[7] He then appeared as Riley in ITV's detective series Vera.^[8] He guest-starred in BBC One's medical drama series Casualty as Jason Waycott.^[9] In 2016, he appeared in the thriller film Shut In, co-starring Naomi Watts and Oliver Platt, and directed by Farren Blackburn.^[10][11] Heaton also plays Jonathan Byers in the Netflix supernatural drama series Stranger Things.^[12][13] In 2016, he starred in the movie As You Are.

In May 2017, Heaton was cast to star as Samuel "Sam" Guthrie / Cannonball in New Mutants, a 2020 film based on the Marvel Comics comic book of the same name.^[14] In August 2018, the BBC announced that Heaton would be playing Joseph Merrick, commonly known as the "Elephant Man", in a new two-part drama.^[15] The casting drew criticism from a disability charity group.^[16]

Charlie Heaton formerly dated musician Akiko Matsuura. They had a son born in 2014.^[17] Since 2017, he has been in a relationship with his Stranger Things co-star, Natalia Dyer.^[18]

Heaton missed the premiere of Stranger Things 2 as on 21 October 2017, he was refused entry to the United States when customs found traces of cocaine in his luggage. Heaton was put on a plane back to London; he withdrew his application to enter America to avoid arrest.^[19][20]