As Charlie Heaton steps into the Peaky Blinders universe, fans are eager to learn more about the Stranger Things star. He will portray 32-year-old Charles Shelby in a new BBC spin-off set in the 1950s, the son of Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby, taking place a decade after the Netflix film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Early Life and Yorkshire Roots
Despite his convincing American accent on Stranger Things, Charlie Heaton was born in Leeds and raised by his mother on a council estate in Bridlington, Yorkshire. Reflecting on his upbringing, he told i-D: "I was brought up by my mum on a council estate. My mum worked really hard, we had a fine upbringing, but there was always this sense of having to get on with things and not complain." He added that growing up in modest circumstances taught him valuable life lessons.
Music Career and School Dropout
At 16, Charlie left school and moved to London to join the band Comanechi as a drummer. He recalled to Flaunt Magazine: "I'd only maybe played in front of like 20 people... and then they asked me if I would go on tour; the first tour they had was supporting The Gossip and I had two weeks of rehearsals and then the first gig was like 2000 people." He admitted traditional education wasn't for him, being "quite a naughty kid" often sent out of class. Acting came by chance after appearing in adverts to earn money post-tour, leading to his role opposite Naomi Watts in the 2016 film Shut In.
Fatherhood at 20
Charlie became a father at 20 when his son Archie was born in 2014. Archie's mother is Akiko Matsuura, his former Comanechi bandmate, who was in her 30s at the time. Matsuura later joined the rock band The Big Pink. In a rare comment on fatherhood, Charlie told Wonderland Magazine: "Being a young father, you have to grow up very fast."
Romance with Natalia Dyer
Charlie met Natalia Dyer on the set of Stranger Things in 2015, where they played Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler. Co-creator Matt Duffer told GQ: "That first audition, we did a chemistry read with [Heaton and] Natalia, and sparks were flying." Their on-screen romance mirrored real life, with reports suggesting they started dating as early as 2016. The couple has remained together for nearly a decade, keeping their relationship relatively private.
