Gaten Matarazzo Height, Age, Health Condition & Full Bio — Stranger Things Star Revealed

The Quick Answer

Gaten Matarazzo stands at 5 feet 5 inches tall (165 cm). For someone who has been in the public eye since his early teens, the Gaten Matarazzo height comes up often—and there’s a real reason for that beyond simple curiosity. Gaten lives with a rare genetic condition called cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD), which affects bone and teeth development and can result in shorter stature. He’s never hidden this. In fact, he’s done the opposite—turning it into one of the most visible and genuine advocacy stories in young Hollywood.

He’s best known as Dustin Henderson in Netflix’s Stranger Things — the curly-haired, gap-toothed kid who became one of the most beloved characters in the entire series. But Gaten Matarazzo is a lot more than a character. He’s a Broadway-trained actor, a foundation founder, and a young man who has handled extraordinary public attention with a maturity that most adults would struggle to match.

Gaten Matarazzo — Quick Facts at a Glance

Who Is Gaten Matarazzo?

If you only know Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin from Stranger Things, you’re working with an incomplete picture — and it’s a picture worth filling in.

He was born on September 8, 2002, in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, into a family with a genuine love of performance. His parents recognized his talent early, and rather than letting it sit idle, they helped him pursue it seriously. By the time most kids his age were figuring out middle school, Gaten was performing on Broadway.

What makes Gaten stand out in a generation of young actors is the combination of real talent and real substance. He’s funny — genuinely, naturally funny, not in a rehearsed way. He’s open about his health condition in a way that has helped thousands of people who share it feel less alone. And he’s navigated the particular minefield of becoming famous as a child without any of the implosions that so often come with that territory.

Fans don’t just like Dustin Henderson. They like Gaten Matarazzo. That’s a meaningful distinction.

Gaten Matarazzo’s Height — The Full Breakdown

Gaten’s confirmed height is 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm). He’s spoken about this openly and without apparent discomfort, which reflects his broader attitude toward his condition — honest, matter-of-fact, and occasionally funny about it.

Cleidocranial dysplasia affects skeletal development, which means that people with CCD often grow to be shorter than average. Gaten’s height is a direct result of this condition, not simply genetics in the conventional sense.

Here’s how he compares to his Stranger Things castmates:

Interestingly, Gaten and Millie Bobby Brown are exactly the same height — which surprises a lot of people who picture Dustin as significantly shorter than the rest of the group. On screen, camera angles and blocking do a lot of heavy lifting.

What’s worth saying clearly is that Gaten has never framed his height as a problem or a limitation. He talks about his condition with the kind of casual openness that comes from someone who has genuinely made peace with it — and who understands that his platform gives him the ability to make that peace easier for others.

What Is Cleidocranial Dysplasia?

Since Gaten has been so public about his condition, it’s worth actually explaining what it is — because a lot of people search his height specifically because they’ve heard about CCD and want to understand the connection.

Cleidocranial dysplasia is a rare genetic disorder that affects the development of bones and teeth. The name breaks down simply: “cleido” refers to the collarbone, “cranial” refers to the skull. People with CCD often have underdeveloped or absent collarbones, delayed closure of skull bones, and significant dental abnormalities — including delayed loss of baby teeth and delayed eruption of permanent teeth.

It’s rare — affecting roughly 1 in a million people worldwide — which is part of why Gaten’s visibility matters so much. For many people with CCD, seeing someone on one of the most-watched shows in the world openly discussing the condition is genuinely significant.

The Stranger Things writers made a smart and sensitive decision early on — they incorporated Gaten’s real condition into Dustin’s character. That’s why Dustin’s teeth situation is part of his storyline. It wasn’t mocking or exploitative. It was inclusive storytelling, and Gaten has spoken positively about how that decision affected both his comfort on set and his ability to connect with fans who share his condition.

Early Life & Background

Gaten grew up in Little Egg Harbor, a small township in Ocean County, New Jersey. It’s not exactly a hotbed of show business — which makes his trajectory all the more interesting.

His family was supportive of his interest in performing from the beginning. He has siblings who have also been involved in acting to varying degrees, suggesting a household where creative ambition was genuinely encouraged rather than merely tolerated.

He got his start in musical theatre, which gave him a foundation that pure screen actors often lack. Learning to perform live — without the safety net of retakes, with the physical and vocal demands of stage work — builds a kind of discipline and presence that shows on camera later.

By the time he was cast in Stranger Things, he already had Broadway credits to his name. That’s not a small thing for a kid who was still in his early teens.

Career Highlights

Gaten’s career breaks down into a few distinct chapters, each worth noting:

Broadway: Before Netflix made him famous, Gaten was on Broadway. He appeared in Les Misérables as Young Cosette/Gavroche and in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Getting onto Broadway as a child requires genuine talent — there’s no nepotism shortcut in a world where you have to perform eight shows a week in front of a live audience.

Stranger Things (2016–present): The casting of Stranger Things changed everything. Gaten auditioned for the role of Mike Wheeler before being cast as Dustin — a piece of casting history that feels almost impossible to imagine going any other way, because Dustin became his role completely. The show became a global phenomenon, and Gaten grew up inside it across multiple seasons.

Prank Encounters: In 2019, Gaten hosted Prank Encounters on Netflix — a hidden camera prank show that gave him the chance to step out from behind Dustin and show a different side of his personality. It ran for two seasons and showed that his appeal wasn’t purely tied to the Stranger Things universe.

Beyond Acting: Gaten has done voice work, made various media appearances, and continued to develop as a performer in ways that suggest his career won’t be defined by a single role — however iconic that role might be.

Gaten Matarazzo’s Personal Life

Gaten has been in a relationship with Lizzie Yu for several years. They’ve been together since their teenage years, and from what both have shared publicly, it’s a genuinely close and supportive relationship.

He’s talked about the challenges of growing up famous — the loss of normal teenage experiences, the constant public attention, the pressure of having your development scrutinized by millions of strangers. What comes through is that he’s handled it with a lot of self-awareness and a decent support system around him.

His friendships with the Stranger Things cast — particularly Caleb McLaughlin, Finn Wolfhard, and Noah Schnapp — have been well-documented and appear to be genuine. Growing up together on a set over multiple years creates bonds that are different from normal friendships, and the chemistry between the core cast has always felt real rather than performed.

Gaten’s Advocacy Work

This is the part of Gaten’s story that deserves more attention than it typically gets in articles about his height or his acting career.

In 2016, Gaten co-founded CCD Smiles — a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with cleidocranial dysplasia access the dental care they need. Dental treatment for CCD can be extensive, complex, and expensive, and many families struggle to afford it. CCD Smiles works to change that.

The fact that he did this at 13 or 14 years old — while simultaneously filming one of the biggest shows in the world — says a great deal about his character. He didn’t wait until he was older, or more established, or had more time. He saw a need in a community he belonged to and did something about it.

Fan response has been overwhelmingly positive, and the foundation has raised meaningful funds and awareness over the years. For many families dealing with CCD, Gaten’s visibility and his foundation have been practically and emotionally significant.

Fun Facts About Gaten Matarazzo

• He auditioned for the role of Mike Wheeler in Stranger Things before being cast as Dustin — a piece of alternate history that’s hard to even visualize now.
• Gaten performed on Broadway before he was a teenager, which gives him a performance foundation that most of his peers simply don’t have.
• He and Millie Bobby Brown are exactly the same height — 5’4″ — which surprises most fans who picture their characters differently in scale.
• His Stranger Things character Dustin’s dental storyline is directly based on Gaten’s real experience with cleidocranial dysplasia — the writers incorporated it deliberately and sensitively.
• He founded CCD Smiles while still in his early teens, making him one of the younger celebrity advocates to start a working nonprofit.

Conclusion

Gaten Matarazzo is 5 feet 4 inches tall — and that height is connected to a rare genetic condition he’s lived with his entire life, talked about openly since he first became famous, and turned into a platform for genuine advocacy work.

But the height is just the starting point of what’s actually an interesting story. He’s a Broadway-trained actor who became one of the most beloved characters in modern television. He’s a young man who founded a nonprofit as a teenager. He’s someone who grew up in an extraordinary amount of public attention and came through it with his personality and his values apparently intact.

Dustin Henderson is a great character. Gaten Matarazzo, though, is a genuinely impressive person — and that’s the more interesting story.