There are two types people in the current Stranger Things camp: Those who have gobbled the show up with admirable tenacity, or those of us learning about it through osmosis in the office, from partners, from the annals of social media. If like me, you fall into the latter category, you may be asking yourself, who is Joseph Quinn? A name on everyone’s lips, here’s what you need to know about the British actor.
He has been acting since childhood
Quinn has been acting since he was a child, starting in school plays and continuing as a drama scholar throughout his formative years. His formal training was acquired at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic art, where he finished up in 2015.
He has previously starred in a throng of British television shows
Alongside a slew of British actors, Quinn featured in hit series Game of Thrones, portraying a Stark soldier named Koner in season seven. Unsure where to place him? He was one of the guards at the Winterfell gate when Arya finally returned home.
Alongside GOT, he is best known for portraying Arthur Havisham on BBC series Dickensian as well as co-starring with Helen Mirren in Catherine the Great. A darling of British theatre in addition to television shows, Quinn has also starred with Olivia Colman in the new theatre production of Mosquitos.
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He features in the latest season of Stranger Things...
In Stranger Things, Quinn portrays Eddie Munson, your typical 1980s metalhead who runs Hellfire – the Dungeons and Dragons group – at Hawkins High. After becoming friends with Mike and the crew, he is soon involved in the chaos from the Upside Down.
...and he actually plays the guitar in the final.
In his first hero moment of the finale, Eddie plays guitar to lure away the bats from the Upside Down. In this, Quinn was performing the tune himself, taking time to learn the relevant notes.
"Joseph did take time to learn the guitar riff, and was actually playing along to a guide track," said Nora Felder, Music Supervisor of Stranger Things. "Everyone thought he did a great job."
Quinn himself said he learnt guitar when he was younger, another special skill to add to his impressive resume.
"I was lucky that I had learned guitar when I was younger, so I had the foundation. By no means was I a virtuoso, but when it came time to shoot it, I was able to get through it," said Quinn. "We had a sort of black-belt heavy metal guitarist take us through the solo, because that wasn’t going to happen! I couldn’t do that, but I could do the rest of it, which is lucky. It was an amazing experience."
"For a lot of the crew, it was the first time that we all felt like we were in a live music environment since the beginning of the pandemic. It was great fun to be able to do that with Gaten,"
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