Natalia Dyer: the actress who plays Nancy Wheeler in Stranger Things
Actresses · Natalia Dyer · Nancy Wheeler
Natalia Dyer was twenty when she landed the role of Nancy Wheeler, a sixteen-year-old high schooler. Ten years later, Nancy is the monster hunter of the show, and the actress has built, in parallel, a career in independent cinema. Portrait.
The essentials
- Born: January 13, 1995, Nashville, Tennessee
- Role: Nancy Wheeler, seasons 1 to 5
- On film: Yes, God, Yes ; Velvet Buzzsaw ; Things Heard & Seen
- Private life: in a relationship with Charlie Heaton, her on-screen partner
Contents
Natalia Dyer, from Nashville to Hawkins
Natalia Dyer grows up in Nashville, shoots a first film at fourteen (Hannah Montana: The Movie, in a small role), then independent productions, while studying at New York University. She auditions for season 1 in 2015: Nancy Wheeler, Mike's big sister, a good student, girlfriend of the most popular boy in high school.
The role is written as an 80s horror-movie archetype, the good girl who is going to end up with a shotgun. Natalia Dyer makes of her a stubborn character, who refuses to abandon Barb when everyone else has forgotten her.
The Nancy T-shirt, for the huntresses.
In the shopMen's long-sleeve Mike Wheeler T-shirt47,90 €See the product
Nancy, the hunter
Nancy is the character who has most continuously taken up arms: her father's rifle in season 1, Hopper's pistol, the sawed-off shotgun she builds in season 4, the Molotov cocktails in the Creel house. She is also the journalist of the show, a humiliated intern at the Hawkins Post in season 3, an investigator at Pennhurst in season 4.
Her triangle with Steve and Jonathan crosses the five seasons, and Natalia Dyer has said she prefers investigation scenes to couple scenes, which season 4, as a duo with Robin, largely gave her.
Steve's lookThe Season 4 scene where Steve, injured in the Upside Down, talks to Nancy about his dreams of the future, a van and six kids, restarted the fan debates. The show will never decide in Steve's favor.
An independent career
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Velvet Buzzsaw (Dan Gilroy) | Coco, the assistant |
| 2019 | Yes, God, Yes | Alice, the lead role |
| 2021 | Things Heard & Seen | Willis |
| 2023 | All Fun and Games | Billie |
| 2024 | Chestnut | Annie |
Yes, God, Yes, a comedy about a Midwest Catholic teenager, is her first lead role in film and the one that got her noticed outside the show. She chooses modest films, often shown at festivals, the opposite of the blockbusters of her cast partners.
With Charlie Heaton
Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton, who plays Jonathan Byers, have been a couple in life since season 1, made public in 2017 but always kept off social media. They are, with Joe Keery and Maya Hawke, the most discreet duo in the cast, and refuse in interviews to comment on their characters through their relationship.
Nancy, season by season
| Season | What Nancy lives through |
|---|---|
| 1 | Loses Barb, takes the rifle, enters the Upside Down |
| 2 | Brings down the lab with Jonathan |
| 3 | Humiliated intern at the Hawkins Post, investigates the rats |
| 4 | Pennhurst, the sawed-off shotgun, the Creel house |
| 5 | Hawkins under quarantine, the final battle |
Nancy is the character who is most often right before everyone else, and the one the show listens to the least. Natalia Dyer has said she loves that stubbornness, and played it as a character trait rather than as a heroine's quality.
Markers
| Year | Step |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Birth in Nashville |
| 2009 | Hannah Montana: The Movie |
| 2015 | Nancy's casting, at twenty |
| 2017 | The relationship with Charlie Heaton becomes public |
| 2019 | Yes, God, Yes; Velvet Buzzsaw |
| 2022 | Season 4: the investigation with Robin |
| 2025 | End of the show |
The Nancy figure, shotgun included.
In the shopLego Nancy Wheeler mini figure and her bike14,90 €See the product
What you know less about her
Natalia Dyer grew up in Nashville with two sisters and an older brother, did amateur theater as a child, then graduated from the Nashville School of the Arts before leaving to study in New York, at NYU's Gallatin School, a custom program. She shot her first roles as a teenager, in Tennessee productions, and at sixteen had her first major role in I Believe in Unicorns, an independent film shown at the SXSW festival in 2014.
Nancy Wheeler arrived in 2015, when she was twenty. Since then she has split the show with modest films: a comedy about a Catholic high-school girl, a thriller about the art market, a haunted-house film, a horror chamber piece with Asa Butterfield. No blockbuster, by choice.
Nancy in 1987: the end of one story, the start of another
The last season gives Nancy the longest scene to write in the whole show, according to the Duffers: the breakup with Jonathan, in a room of the Upside Down lab that melts around them. He wanted to propose, he asks her not to marry him, and they part by mutual agreement. Steve, who had been watching the couple since the first episode, does not benefit: the show leaves Nancy alone, and a lot of people found that fair.
Nancy also remains the group's shooter. She is the one who hits the Demogorgon with the tracker in the Turnbow trap, the one who fires on the sphere of exotic matter despite Dustin's warning, the one who draws the spider of the Abyss into the right position so the fire and the explosives can do their work. In the spring of 1989, she finds Steve, Robin and Jonathan at the radio station.
Five Nancy scenes to rewatch
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Steve's pool, 1983
Nancy goes upstairs, Barb stays on the diving board. The whole character is born of that guilt.
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L'arbre creux, 1983
Nancy enters the Upside Down through a tree trunk, and sees the Demogorgon devour a deer.
-
The tape at Murray's, 1984
With Jonathan, she records Owens's confession about Barb and brings down the lab.
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Pennhurst, 1986
With Robin, dressed as students, she gets Victor Creel talking.
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The sphere, 1987
She shoots, despite Dustin, and the shock wave changes everything.
His films, in a few words each
Yes, God, Yes (2019) is a comedy about a Midwest Catholic high-schooler who discovers her desire between two religious retreats; it is her first lead role in film and the one that got people talking about her outside the show. Velvet Buzzsaw, the same year, places her as an assistant in a horror thriller about the art market, alongside Jake Gyllenhaal. Things Heard & Seen, in 2021, is a haunted-house film in the Hudson Valley.
All Fun and Games, in 2023, is a horror chamber piece with Asa Butterfield, where teenagers play children's games that have become deadly. Chestnut, released in 2024, is a small film about a young Philadelphia graduate caught in a love triangle. The common point: independent productions, often seen at a festival first.
A pass through the shop before the next investigation.
In the shopKids' Nancy Wheeler striped sweater outfit72,90 €See the product
TakeawayBorn in 1995 in Nashville, cast at twenty to play a high-schooler. Nancy Wheeler, the hunter and the journalist of the show. Independent career: Yes, God, Yes; Velvet Buzzsaw. In a relationship with Charlie Heaton, her Jonathan on screen.
Frequently asked questions
Who plays Nancy Wheeler?
Natalia Dyer, American actress born in 1995 in Nashville, across the five seasons.
Are Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton a couple?
Yes, since season 1, publicly since 2017. They play Nancy and Jonathan on screen.
In which films does Natalia Dyer act?
Yes, God, Yes, Velvet Buzzsaw, Things Heard & Seen, All Fun and Games, Chestnut.
How old was Natalia Dyer in season 1?
Twenty at the shoot, for a sixteen-year-old character.
Where did Natalia Dyer study?
At NYU's Gallatin School, after the Nashville School of the Arts in her hometown.
What is Natalia Dyer's first major role?
I Believe in Unicorns, an independent film shot when she was sixteen and shown at the SXSW festival in 2014, a year before Nancy.
Did Natalia Dyer act in Hannah Montana?
Yes, it is her first on-screen role: Clarissa Granger in Hannah Montana: The Movie, in 2009, at fourteen.