Finn Wolfhard's Acting History Is Packed With Sci-Fi and Thriller Roles

Wolfhard's role as beloved Hawkins resident Mike Wheeler on "Stranger Things" is, without a doubt, one of his biggest to date. Netflix's sci-fi phenomenon, which wrapped its fourth season on July 1, centers on a group of teenagers in the '80s who find themselves battling a plague of supernatural forces haunting their Indiana town. Wolfhard's Mike has been a part of the "Stranger Things" journey since it first began in 2016, starring alongside other series stars Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin). The actor has won a SAG Award and earned an MTV Movie & TV Award nomination for his role on the show.

Wolfhard will voice Candlewick in Guillermo del Toro's highly anticipated rendition of "Pinocchio" for Netflix. It's unclear what the actor's portrayal will turn out to be — his character is absent from the movie's trailer — but according to Vanity Fair, he "breaks from the traditional narrative" of being the type to bully Pinocchio. Viewers will soon get acquainted with Wolfhard's version of Candlewick — who first appeared in Carlo Collodi's 1883 book "The Adventures of Pinocchio" — when Netflix's stop-motion musical premieres Dec. 9.

Wolfhard starred in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" as Trevor Spengler, grandson of former Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (played by Harold Ramis in the original '80s Ghostbusters films). At the time of his audition for the sequel, Wolfhard revealed at New York's 2021 Comic-Con that he had no idea he was trying out for the staple franchise. "I didn't know what it was," he said of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," Insider reported. "I was kind of thinking, in the days after like, 'I wonder why it's so secretive. I wonder why there's such a big codename behind it.'"

In 2018, Wolfhard starred alongside Gina Rodriguez in Netflix's animated "Carmen Sandiego" reboot series. The show lasted four seasons before it ended in January 2021.
Wolfhard told People that voicing his character — Player, Carmen's sidekick —required a "totally different skill set." "Everywhere I recorded — in Vancouver, Atlanta, and a couple of times in LA — people were so happy that Carmen and Player were coming back," he said. "I'm so proud to be a part of this."

In Floria Sigismondi's thriller film adaptation "The Turning," based on the 1898 novel "The Turn of the Screw," Wolfhard played 15-year-old Miles Fairchild. The movie tells the story of nanny Kate Mandell (Mackenzie Davis), who's hired to look after the emotionally distant Miles and his sister Flora (Brooklynn Prince) at an isolated mansion in the Maine countryside. A series of strange events plague the two siblings and Kate, as the latter soon learns the estate is haunted by a horrific entity.

After "Carmen Sandiego," Wolfhard dipped back into the world of animation to play Pugsley in the 2019 reboot of "The Addams Family." Playing the role of a devious little brother, Wolfhard told FabTV in 2019 that "it was an honor" to be a part of the classic franchise. However, for the 2021 sequel, his role as Pugsley was taken over by "Euphoria"'s Javon Walton.

In one of his more dramatic projects, Wolfhard starred in "The Goldfinch" as young Boris. The 2019 John Crowley-directed drama — a film adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name — follows 13-year-old Theodore Decker (played by both Ansel Elgort and Oakes Fegley), who's adopted by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The tragedy changes the course of his life, but he finds solace in a painting, "The Goldfinch," he steals from the museum.

Around the time that "Stranger Things" blew up, Wolfhard found a way to be a part of another supernatural phenom. In "It," the horrifying blockbuster remake that reintroduced us to the evil clown Pennywise, Wolfhard starred as Richie Tozier — one of the members of the Losers Club, the group of bullied kids terrorized by Pennywise in Derry, ME. The actor reprised his role again in the sequel film, "It Chapter Two."

In the continuation of the 2017 horror flick, Wolfhard reprised his role in "It Chapter Two" as young Richie Tozier, as his older character, once again, tries to take down Pennywise — alongside the other members of the Losers Club — after the villain's return to Derry, ME, 27 years later. In 2019, Wolfhard confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that he and his other young costars were de-aged with CGI for the sequel, as they all noticeably grew up after filming the 2017 movie.

Before catching his big break with "Stranger Things," Wolfhard had a brief guest appearance on the 11th season of The CW's "Supernatural." In 2015, the actor starred in episode five, titled "Thin Lizzie," as Jordie Pinsky — the son of a man who was a victim of a murder, which "took place at the childhood home of alleged murderer Lizzie Borden," CinemaBlend reported.

Wolfhard had a very minor role in the sci-fi drama "The 100" in 2014, guest starring as young nomadic grounder Zoran. He befriends Isaiah Washington's Jaha in the desert in season two.