Actor Gaten Matarazzois arguably best known for his role as the nerdy, but brave Dustin Henderson in the hit Netflix show Stranger Things.
Matarazzo, who was just 12 years old when the show premiered in 2016, revealed that he didn't do his best when auditioning for the series. In a November 2025 interview on actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson's podcast, Dinner's on Me, Matarazzo shared that he "butchered [his] first audition."
"It was terrible. It was the worst audition I've ever had in my life," said Matarazzo during the podcast interview.
Matarazzo then explained that he "blanked on so many of [his] lines."
"I just had my script right in front of my face. And I just kept looking down and I kept looking up. And it was the weirdest pauses ever. And I was mortified afterwards and I was like, 'What?'" said Matarazzo.
He then explained that he wasn't overly disappointed about the audition because he didn't know that the show would eventually have massive mainstream popularity. In addition, the 23-year-old said he was taken aback when he "got a callback."
"I asked them why [I got a call back]. They were like, 'It just clicked. We knew you wanted you back after that one,'" said Matarazzo in the interview.
Matarazzo shared similar information about his Stranger Things audition in a November 2025 interview with Esquire. He said that he wasn't "nervous" going into the audition, "until [he] realized" he wasn't familiar enough with his lines.
"Then I started sweating," recalled Matarazzo in the Esquire interview.
The Broadway performer also said he "was, of course, ecstatic that [he] had gotten a call back" for Stranger Things because he had the opportunity to "prep a lot better than [he] had for the first" audition.
He also shared that he "was in the car with [his] mom" when he got the call that he was cast for Stranger Things. According to the actor, his mother was unable to keep her composure.
"I remember keeping my cool a lot better than she did. I remember I muted the phone because she started screaming. I was like, 'Mom, oh my gosh, please!'" said Matarazzo to the publication.
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things starts airing on November 26.
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