Millie Bobby Brown

Millie Bonnie Brown Bongiovi ( Brown; born 19 February 2004), known professionally as Millie Bobby Brown, is a British actress and producer. She gained recognition for playing Eleven in the Netflix science fiction series ''Stranger Things'' (2016–present), for which she received nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. Brown has starred in the monster film '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' (2019) and its sequel '' Godzilla vs. Kong'' (2021). She also starred in and produced the Netflix films ''Enola Holmes'' (2020), '' Enola Holmes 2'' (2022), and '' Damsel'' (2024).

In 2018, Brown was featured in the ''Time'' 100 list of the world's most influential people, and was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, the youngest person ever selected for this position.

Early life

Millie Bonnie Brown was born in Marbella, Andalusia, Spain, on 19 February 2004, the third of four children born to British parents Kelly and Robert Brown. Her middle name is "Bonnie" but she was given the name "Bobby" by her estate agent father, and subsequently used it as her stage name. She was born with partial hearing loss in her left ear and gradually lost all hearing in that ear over several years. She moved with her family back to England when she was four, settling in Bournemouth. When she was eight, the family moved to Orlando, Florida. Brown says she grew up with "no money" and the financial insecurity of her upbringing has affected her relationship with money even as an adult who gained financial success through ''Stranger Things''.

Career

2013–2017: Early roles and ''Stranger Things''

In 2013, Brown made her acting debut as a guest star in the ABC fantasy drama series ''Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'', a spin-off of ''Once Upon a Time'', portraying the role of Young Alice. In 2014, she had a starring role in the BBC America paranormal drama-thriller series '' Intruders'' as Madison O'Donnell. She made guest appearances in the CBS police procedural drama ''NCIS'', the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family'' and the ABC medical drama series ''Grey's Anatomy''.

In 2016, Brown was cast to play Eleven in the Netflix science fiction horror series ''Stranger Things''. She received critical praise for her performance and she was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She then won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series with her co-stars and won the 43rd Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor in a Television Series. For her role as Eleven in the second season of ''Stranger Things'', she received her second nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Primetime Emmy Award in 2018.

In November 2016, Brown starred in the music video for Sigma and Birdy's single " Find Me". Since November 2016, she has appeared in commercial advertisements for investment and financial service company Citigroup. In January 2017, she made her modelling debut in Calvin Klein's "By Appointment" campaign. The following month, she was signed to the agency IMG Models. Brown appeared in the advertisement campaign of the Italian brand Moncler in the summer of 2018. Brown has also made appearances on the cover of '' Vogue''.

2018–present

Brown was chosen to voice in the Darren Aronofsky-produced virtual reality experience '' Spheres: Songs of Spacetime''. In 2018, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by ''Time'', becoming the youngest person to be included in the list. Additionally, she was named by ''Time'' magazine as one of the most influential teens of 2017 and of 2018. That year, she become the youngest person ever to be appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. EA Games announced that Brown collaborated with '' The Sims 4'' programmers to feature in the Sims 4 Positivity Challenge. In 2018, ''The Hollywood Reporter'' ranked Brown as amongst Hollywood's top thirty stars under age eighteen.

Brown made her feature film debut in 2019 in '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters'', the sequel to the 2014 film ''Godzilla''. She reprised her role in the next sequel, '' Godzilla vs. Kong'' (2021). She became the ambassador of UEFA's Together #WePlayStrong campaign. In 2019, Brown launched Florence by Mills, her own beauty product line. It is available at UK pharmacy Boots, Walmart in the United States and Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada. In 2020, Brown starred in and produced the film adaptation of ''The Enola Holmes Mysteries''.

In 2022, Brown reprised her role as Enola Holmes in the sequel, '' Enola Holmes 2,'' and according to ''Variety'' earned $10 million for the role, emerging as one of the year's highest paid actresses in Hollywood. That year, she was also made an ambassador of the fashion brand Louis Vuitton. Brown released her debut novel, ''Nineteen Steps'', based on her own family history, in September 2023. The novel is described as an "epic story of love, loss and secrets".

In 2024, Brown starred in and executive produced the fantasy film '' Damsel'' for Netflix, directed by Spanish filmmaker Juan Carlos Fresnadillo based on a screenplay by Dan Mazeau.

In 2025, she starred in the Russo brothers's '' The Electric State'', an adaptation of Simon Stålenhag's graphic novel of the same name.

Media image

Brown has been branded a "stream queen" by some media due to her predominantly appearing in content originally released on streaming services, mainly Netflix. Louis Chilton of ''The Independent'' wrote that while actors were often segregated based on medium such as film or television, "as the money and creative prestige migrated to television, the line between movie stars and TV actors has become more porous, and it was into this amorphous environment that streaming was born – meaning that there's never really been such a thing as a "streaming actor". Until Brown, that is".

Personal life

Brown came into the public eye at age 12 after being cast in ''Stranger Things''. At age 14, memes using homophobic quotes which were falsely attributed to Brown began circulating on social media, which Brown stated was one of the reasons she eventually left Twitter. In addition to online bullying, she has also faced social media users and articles sexualising her. In response, Brown captioned a 2020 Instagram post on her 16th birthday with the following comment:

There are moments I get frustrated from the inaccuracy, inappropriate comments, sexualisation and unnecessary insults that have ultimately resulted in pain and insecurity for me.

After Brown turned 18 in February 2022, her social media profiles began to be flooded by sexually explicit material from users.

In 2021, Brown began a relationship with actor Jake Bongiovi. In April 2023, she announced their engagement. On May 27, 2024, ''People'' reported that the couple had married in a private ceremony the previous weekend. Brown also announced that she had chosen to take her husband's last name. They live in the state of Georgia.

As of August 2022, she has been an online student at Purdue University Global, studying health and human services.

In March 2025, addressing media backlash over her appearance, Brown posted a video on her Instagram account criticising specific journalists for alleged bullying and body shaming, stating that as an adult she ought not to be expected to continue looking like the child actor she was on the early seasons of ''Stranger Things''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Video games

Bibliography

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Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Millie Bobby
2004 births
21st-century English actresses
Actresses from Bournemouth
Actresses from Orlando, Florida
British cosmetics businesspeople
British child actresses
English emigrants to the United States
English expatriates in Spain
English film actresses
English film producers
English television actresses
Living people
People from Marbella
UNICEF goodwill ambassadors
Victims of cyberbullying
Writers from Bournemouth