What You Don't Know About The Kids Of Stranger Things

Like his onscreen alter ego Dustin Henderson, Gaten Matarazzo really does live with cleidocranial dysplasia, a rare bone disorder he developed as a child. Matt and Ross Duffer, co-creators of the hit series, decided to write that detail into the show and character after meeting Matarazzo, and the young actor credits them with giving him a platform from which to raise awareness for his condition.

On The Jonathan Ross Show, Matarazzo noted that he has a relatively mild case of the disorder, but he's still never developed collarbones (hence why he was able to show off such flexibility in the show) and possesses only baby teeth. Matarazzo opts to wear fake teeth in public but still speaks with a lisp. Correcting these issues on a permanent level will require "a lot of surgery."

"I feel like putting it into the show has really raised awareness for it," Matarazzo said of his disease's mention on the show. "I just wanna raise awareness for it and let people know it's not something that they should be afraid of showing." Before the Duffer Brothers cast Matarazzo, though, he had a tough time getting considered for Hollywood roles as a result of his condition. As he told BBC Radio 5, he was rejected for "hundreds of jobs" and "knew why" he was being passed over. "It was always because of my lisp, me being shorter, and having the teeth issue meant writers couldn't write in my disability into the show because they had already written the script."

He did previously have some luck on Broadway, starring in 2011's production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and 2014's run of Les Miserables, and he also had a bit role on TV's The Blacklist in 2015. Still, Stranger Things was the first full series to give him a shot at stardom. Despite his disorder and whatever ego bruises he's incurred along the way, Matarazzo's funny bone has remained intact, and he was supposedly the biggest prankster on set.