THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE BI-ANNUAL PRINT ISSUE OF A BOOK OF (A BOOK OF: NOW, SEPTEMBER 2019)

Interview by Denise J. Mallabo

We sat down with actor NOAH SCHNAPP to ask him about Stranger Things’ latest season, hanging out with his cast mates, and the 80s.

“Becoming an actor has made me more mature,” shares 14-year-old Noah Schnapp who plays the afflicted boy Will Byer in Netflix’ Stranger Things. He acknowledges that being surrounded by his co-actors in the show like Winona Ryder, David Harbour, and Sean Astin has been a continuous learning experience for him. “I learned to be grateful for the things I have because I've gotten to do some amazing things that not many people have the chance to do,” says Noah.  

The sci-fi series Stranger Things is already part of our pop culture and it’s such a growing phenomenon that’s close to being iconic. Now on its third season, we’ve all seen the kids from Hawkins grow up from one summer to the next. Of course, in real life, that’s also the case for Noah who wanted to become an actor when he was 5 and got the role of Will when he was 11. But amidst the fame that the show has brought him, Noah says that he still gets to be a normal kid. “I go to a sleepaway camp in the summer and be gone for seven weeks. And I've been going since I was 8-years-old but this is going to be my last summer. I go to a public school; I've been going since kindergarten. I still get to be a normal kid and still do these but I always make sure that I get a good balance of both,” he shares.

We were able to catch up with the busy Noah Los Angeles. Read on as he shares more about Will in this latest season, his other projects, and his YouTube channel.