Gaten Matarazzo

Biography

Gaten Matarazzo is an American actor & voice artist. He is best known for his role as Dustin Henderson in the Netflix web series ‘Stranger Things’.

Gaten has recently voiced character Bubba in The Angry Birds Movie 2(2019), Rami in "Hump". Gaten has appeared in lots of New York City Broadway shows as well.

Family

Gaetano John Matarazzo III was born on 8 September 2002 in Connecticut, United States to Heather Matarazzo and Gaten Matarazzo Sr. He was born in New London's "Lawrence and Memorial Hospital". He grew up in Mystic Village, Little Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, United States with his parents & siblings. 

He is from a locality known as 'Tucker Tony' which is near Long Beach Island.

[Gaten Matarazzo with family]

Parents

Mother: Heather is a singer and did a high school theater in college. She was born as Heather Rae Hendrickson in Waterford, Connecticut. 

She has been supportive of the artistic inclination of all her children and encourages them to pursue performing arts. She calls herself 'Broadway stage mom' on Twitter and has been vital in shaping Gaten's career in the film industry. During his initial school days, Gaten used to travel regularly between New Jersey and New York City for his Broadway performances.

Father: Gaten's father Gaten Matarazzo Sr. was into sports in his youth, he was an athlete.

Siblings

He has two siblings:

• Sabrina Matarazzo (older sister; born in 1998)
• Carmen Matarazzo (younger brother; born in 2003)

Both Carmen & Sabrina have appeared in television commercials, just like Gaten. The three siblings are part of the music band 'Work In Progress'. (more about the band in the Music section)

Sister- Sabrina

Sabrina Matarazzo was born on 14th October 1998. She is passionate about acting. Gaten considers his sister Sabrina to be an inspiration for him to pursue theater and musical theatre. He followed her footsteps to become an actor.

His family brought her a Volkswagen as a gift for her graduation. Sabrina works in a restaurant in New Jersey in between her music band, acting gigs. 

[Gaten Matarazzo with sister Sabrina Matarazzo]

Brother- Carmen

 Gaten's younger brother Carmen Matarazzo was born on 10th November 2003. He is a drummer who works with the 'Work in Progress' band.

Carmen is the tallest in the family despite being the youngest. He became the tallest in the family at a mere age of 15, he was 5 feet 10 inches by then. 

[Gaten Matarazzo & Carmen Matarazzo]

The family has a pet dog named Maddie Matarazzo.

He has a cousin named Kayle, who he is close with.

Education

• High School: Gaten attended "Pinelands Regional High School" in Tuckerton, New Jersey.

Girlfriend

Gaten Matarazzo & Lizzy started dating on March 4th pf 2018 [2]. The two celebrated their second anniversary in March 2020. The two attended her Junior prom in 2019. The two can be seen traveling, kissing and laughing together from their social media posts. The two took an acting course together.

[Gaten Matarazzo & Lizzy Yu]

[Gaten Matarazzo with girlfriend Lizzy Yu]

Cleidocranial dysplasia

Gaten Matarazzo was born with "Cleidocranial dysostosis (CCD)", a birth defect that affects the bones and teeth, he has a non-genetic and mild version of it. Gaten's forehead, flat nose, abnormal teeth, wide-set eyes are all possibly the symptoms of CCD. He is born without collar bones. He still has his baby teeth and because of that, he speaks with a lisp. The disease doesn't affect intelligence in general. Gaten is a very intelligent being.

Gaten was denied many acting roles because of his condition. He went from auction to audition without success for two consecutive years owing to his condition. He was disappointed and was about to give up. Of his disappointment, he said:

Whenever I'd get auditions for TV, I'd be like, 'Okay, whatever. I've got a lisp, so they're not going to take me.'

Gaten believes in sharing the knowledge about his affliction, he believes it will help build awareness and confidence among persons affected by this condition. 

He has had multiple surgeries previously. He has shared him undergoing surgery for the fourth time in January 2020. He received wide support & prayers on social media by fans. 14 of his supernumerary teeth were removed during the surgery.

[Gaten Matarazzo Undergoes big surgery]

Facts & Trivia

• Ancestry: Gaten Matarazzo is of Italian descent. The surname is typical of the Italian family name from Campania, some Matarazzo people are also from Sicily.
• Gaetano to Gaten: The original name of Gaten, his father and his father is Gaetano Matarazzo. The Italian name seems to have been Americanized.
• Visiting White House: Gaten has visited the White House and has met the then-president of the United States- Barack Obama.
• Commercials/ promotions:
  • He's a spokesperson for Verizon FiOS (internet TV company) since 2017.
• Deadpool fan: He has watched the Ryan Reynolds‎ starring movie Deadpool multiple times.
• 30 most influential teens of 2016: Time Magazine listed Gaten as one of the "30 most influential teens of 2016".
• Star Wars fan: He considers himself a fan of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford; basically anyone from the 'Star Wars' series
• Gaten's famous fans: Gaten has a large number of very popular personalities for fans, his fan following includes big names like- Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kristen Bell, Stephen King,  Shonda Rimes, Zac Efron, and others.
• Sports: He does not particularly like playing sports but enjoys watching them.
• Vegetarian: Gaten is a vegetarian.
• He wears dentures for his teeth
• He has a lot of Brazilian fans.
• He likes Marmite breadsticks.
• He met his current co-star Caleb on Lion King in Broadway when he was working in laymen's in Broadway.
• Broadway forever: He misses broadway now that he is on TV, he calls himself "a theatre kid". It was the theatres that ignited his passion for acting, kept his career steady when he was struggling to find TV roles.
• Yo Dudes: He often greets his fans with the phrase "Yo Dudes"
• Gaten is left-handed.
• Dream roles: He has played Gavroche in 'Les Miserables', he wants to play Valjean someday. He also likes to play 'Phantom of the Opera' someday.
• Philanthropy-  CCD Smiles:
  • Gaten supports 'CCD smiles' an organization that helps people with CCD to have free oral surgeries. Gaten supports the organization by attending their events. He has started a line of T-shirts whose sales money is dedicated to strengthening the funds of CCD smiles. He promotes CCd smile on his social media. His family has been actively involved with fundraising for CCD smiles, his sister Sabrina started a Facebook campaign in 2017. "CCD smiles" was created by Gaten and his mother Heather.
•  

Questions & Answers

• Is Gaten the son of Heather Matarazzo, the actress from the 1995 film "Welcome to the Dollhouse"?
  • No, it is a coincidence that his mother also has the exact name.
• What is Gaten Matarazzo's salary?
  • Stranger Things:
    • Gaten was paid $16,800 per episode of Season 2 of Stranger things
    • They paid him $250,000 per episode in Season 3

Career

• First acting gig: Gaten's first acting role was when he was 9 years old. It was in the stage play 'Priscilla Queen of the desert', he played Benjamin.
• National tours: He has done two national tours one of which was with Radio City Christmas Rockettes. The other was with Laymen's.
• TV Debut: Gaten guest appeared as Finn in the crime drama series The Blacklist in 2015

Stranger Things

After 2 years of failed auditions, Gaten finally landed a role in Stranger Things. Gaten initially auditioned for the role of Mike Wheeler. He was later asked to try the role of Lucas Sinclair, but finally, the casting team decided that he was the best fit to play Dustin Henderson.

Dustin Henderson is one among the group of friends that are friends with "Eleven". Gaten's lisp is written into the story, the character of Dustin has a lisp. Dustin gets a girlfriend in Suzie (played by Gabriella Pizzolo)

His 'Stranger Things' co-stars call him by the nickname Gate. Gaten has become friends with his co-stars. His friends wished him a speedy recovery after the 4th surgery in January 2020.

[Gaten Matarazzo & the cast of Stranger Things]

'Stranger Things' is a science-fiction thriller created by The Duffer Brothers. prominent roles were played by- Winona Ryder (as Joyce Byers), David Harbour (as Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (as Mike Wheeler), Millie Bobby Brown (as Eleven), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (as Jonathan Byers), Cara Buono (as Karen Wheeler), Matthew Modine (as Martin Brenner), Noah Schnapp (as Will Byers), Sadie Sink (as Maxine Mayfield), Joe Keery (as Steve Harrington) and others

Filmography

Movies List

TV Series List

TV Shows List

Stage/ Broadway

Gaten's acting career started on Broadway, he considers theatre to be first love.

[Gaten Matarazzo performing on Broadway]

Music

Gaten is an ardent music fanatic, he not only listens to the music but also is a member of the youth a musical band named 'Work in progress'.

• Gaten sang the National Anthem for Mets: In 2015 Gaten sang the National Anthem with his sister Sabrina before the Mets game in the stadium. 
• America the Beautiful: At 2010 US open, Gaten sang 'America the Beautiful' before the event started, he was just seven years old at the time

Work In Progress

Gaten is a lead singer at the Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, based music band "Work In Progress". The original band comprised of 6 members (now new members added), of which three are Gaten & his siblings- Sabrina & Carmen. The band was formed in 2017.

1. Chad Miller plays guitar
2. Griffin Schriever plays Guitar
3. Matt Grayson handles Bass
4. Carmen Matarazzo plays Drums
5. Sabrina provides female Vocals
6. Gaten Matarazzo also Vocals
7. AJ Grayson plays the keyboard (brother of Matt Grayson)

[Work in Progress band members]

All the members of the band are/were students of the Pinelands Regional High School. 

"The Aquarian Weekly" magazine featured them on the cover page in 2918. 

"Work in progress" merchandise can be found on Merchnow. The band's music is available on their Spotify page. 

The band has enjoyed playing at various iconic venues such as "The Troubadour" in Los Angeles, "The Stone Pony in Asbury Park" in New Jersey, and "Gas Monkey" in Dallas.

"MopTop Inc" manages the affairs of the band, "United Talent Agency" handles booking and "Slash P/R" handles publicity. 

Singles

Music videos

Soundtracks

Awards

News & Updates

• Media Planet covered him on their magazine cover in February 2019 edition. An article in the inside pages was published with the title "Stranger Things' star Gaten Matarazzo on living with a rare genetic condition"

Quotes

• I'm a kid who grew up in a small town and started acting when he was seven for no reason and got lucky
• Unless people are in the shoes of a child actor, they don't realize how difficult it can be at times
• Kids are so accustomed to technology that it's upsetting to watch them without their phones

References

1. Gaten Matarazzo wiki
2. Gaten & Lizzy Yu- 2