Joe Keery: Actor, Musician Djo – Biography & Updates

Born: April 24, 1992 · Age at Stranger Things casting: 23 (2015) · Musical alias: Djo · Biggest hit: “End of Beginning” (2022) · Broadway debut: Other, 2025

Six biography facts in one pattern: everything widely reported about Keery is consistent, and everything he has kept private has stayed private.

Is Joe Keery in Spider-Man: Brand New Day?

• No official announcement names Joe Keery in the cast as of August 2025.
• Keery has not commented publicly on the rumor.
• The film is in pre-production.

That question keeps surfacing, and the honest answer is that it comes from fan-casting energy, not from a studio announcement. A project in pre-production has not locked its cast, and Keery’s name does not appear in any official material for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

What is Spider-Man: Brand New Day?

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the next live-action Spider-Man film, currently in pre-production. Because that stage comes before most casting is made public, the absence of a Keery announcement should not be read as a surprise — it should be read as the absence of evidence.

Is Joe Keery’s role confirmed?

• No official confirmation as of August 2025.
• No statement from Keery or his representatives.
• No industry reporting connects him to the production.

Keery’s confirmed 2025 calendar already includes two major commitments: Stranger Things season 5 and a Broadway run in the play Other. A Spider-Man shoot would be a huge scheduling event, and none has been reported.

Recent updates

• Keery remains attached to Stranger Things, the series that made him internationally recognizable.
• He made his Broadway debut in Other in 2025.
• No Spider-Man–related news has come from official studio channels.

The read: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but it is also not a role. Treat the Spider-Man link as unconfirmed until an official announcement, a trade report, or a comment from Keery appears.

How old was Joe Keery when cast in Stranger Things?

• Keery was born April 24, 1992.
• He was cast in 2015, at age 23.
• Stranger Things premiered in 2016 and turned Steve from a secondary character into a major fan favorite (El País (international newspaper)).

The casting timeline explains why Steve Harrington worked. Keery originally auditioned for Jonathan Byers before submitting for Steve (International Business Times (news and celebrity desk)), so he came into the part with a complete read on the character’s rival, not just the role itself.

Joe Keery’s birth date

• Born April 24, 1992, in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

The date puts the casting math in order: Stranger Things found its main players in 2015, and Keery turned 23 that April. Season 1 premiered the following year.

Stranger Things casting timeline

• 2015: Keery submits auditions for both Jonathan Byers and Steve Harrington.
• 2016: Steve becomes a fan favorite, a character arc that reshaped the show’s center of gravity.

The show also elevated a young ensemble, including Caleb McLaughlin, into names of their own — a reminder that Stranger Things did more than cast one famous jock.

Age calculation

• Born: April 24, 1992.
• Casting: 2015 → age 23.
• Season 1 premiere: 2016.

The straightforward answer: Joe Keery was 23 when he was cast in Stranger Things. That made him one of the older actors in the teen group, which is part of why Steve reads as the one who takes responsibility.

The effect: a 23-year-old played a teenage Steve, and that gap is part of why his later transformation from careless jock to protective babysitter feels earned rather than sudden.

Where is Joe Keery now?

• Filming Stranger Things season 5 in 2025.
• Making his Broadway debut in Other in 2025.
• Still active musically as Djo, including an Outside Lands slot in 2024 (SFGATE (San Francisco news outlet)).

Current acting projects

• Stranger Things season 5: currently in production.
• Broadway debut: Other, 2025.

Since 2016, Stranger Things has been Keery’s professional anchor. The show also turned its young ensemble into names in their own right, including Caleb McLaughlin, while Keery used the seasons between to build a parallel music career.

Music activities under Djo

• Chicago psych-rock band Post Animal formed in 2014 (SFGATE (San Francisco news outlet)).
• Keery left Post Animal because Stranger Things schedules made it impossible to stay (Billboard (music-industry chart authority)).
• Djo’s catalog now spans two studio albums and a run of singles.

Djo was built to be a separate identity, and CBC’s Q interview with Keery explained why: the goal was to let the music stand on its own, without the Steve Harrington face attached (CBC Arts (Canadian public broadcaster)).

2025 Broadway debut

Keery is set to appear in the play Other in 2025, his first Broadway credit. He has not publicly detailed how the run fits around season 5, but the fact that both commitments are on his calendar signals where the next phase is heading.

Relationship status

• In a long-term relationship with Stranger Things co-star Natalia Dyer since around 2016.
• Not married, per public records.
• No children documented.

The relationship has stayed visible without ever becoming a press-cycle fixture.

What is Joe’s biggest hit song?

• “End of Beginning,” from Djo’s 2022 album DECIDE.
• It went viral on TikTok in 2024, roughly two years after its release (CBC Arts (Canadian public broadcaster)).
• It peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Billboard (music-industry chart authority)).

A useful clarification: “Joe” in this question means Joe Keery’s Djo project, not the R&B singer Joe. Djo is the alias Keery built specifically to keep the music separate from his Stranger Things persona.

Djo as musical alias

• Pronounced like the name “Joe.”
• Born out of Keery’s years in the Chicago music scene.
• Designed to let the music stand apart from the acting career.

CBC’s Q interview with Keery traced that separation strategy: the music was meant to be discovered on its own terms, before the actor’s name gave it a head start.

Biggest hit “End of Beginning”

• Released on DECIDE in September 2022.
• Viral breakthrough in 2024.
• Billboard Hot 100 peak: No. 30.

The chart entry is the clearest evidence of Djo’s commercial arrival. It remains the defining track of this phase of Keery’s career, and nothing else in the catalog has matched its reach.

Debut album “Twenty Twenty”

• Djo’s first album, released in 2019.

The record gave the project its foundation — a foundation that paid off when DECIDE arrived in 2022. Twenty Twenty is where Djo’s sound took shape; DECIDE is where the world caught up.

When did he release music?

• 2019: debut album Twenty Twenty, with early singles landing the same year.
• 2022: DECIDE, released September 16 (Recording Academy’s Grammy.com (music industry body)).
• 2024: live activity resumed, including a Djo set at Outside Lands (SFGATE (San Francisco news outlet)).

The cadence is clear: an album roughly every three years, with the viral surprise arriving in between.

For independent musicians, the lesson is concrete: a song can sit in a catalog for years before the right moment finds it. Djo released “End of Beginning” in 2022; the Hot 100 followed in 2024, on TikTok’s schedule rather than a marketing calendar.

Does Joe Keery have children?

• No — there is no public record of Joe Keery having children.
• He is in a long-term relationship with Natalia Dyer.
• No marriage or engagement announcements have been made.

Relationship with Natalia Dyer

• Co-stars who have been together since around 2016, according to Wikipedia’s profile of Keery (Wikipedia (community-edited encyclopedia)).

Dyer plays Nancy Wheeler, the character at the center of Steve’s season-one love triangle. Their relationship has stayed visible without turning into a press cycle.

Marriage status

• Not married, per the public record.
• No engagement has been announced.

The answer is no, as far as public information goes. Whether marriage is planned privately is not answerable from sources — and that is exactly how Keery has kept it.

Children

• No children, based on public records and interviews.
• No parenting or family statements from Keery exist in the reviewed sources.

The absence of public information is the answer. If personal news surfaces later, it will likely arrive the same way the relationship did: through photos and occasional interviews, not official announcements.

The pattern worth noting: “no public record” does the heavy lifting in this section, and that consistency is a signal in itself.

Joe Keery’s timeline so far

Eight dates, one pattern: the music milestones kept arriving on Keery’s own schedule while the acting career supplied the spotlight.

The read: the music milestones kept arriving on his own schedule, and the 2024 viral moment finally made the two lanes impossible to separate.

What’s confirmed, what’s not

The balance is deliberate: the public record is solid on what Keery has done and nearly silent on what he will do next. For fans, the steady stream of confirmed work is the fair trade for a private life that stays private.

What the coverage says

Two headlines from respected outlets capture the tension in the coverage.

“Joe Keery, the actor who plays the endearing Steve Harrington on Stranger Things, is now a music star.”

El País (international newspaper)

“Why Joe Keery wanted to separate Djo from Stranger Things.”

CBC Arts (Canadian public broadcaster)

The first line is how the outside world tends to frame him — actor first, musician second. The second line goes straight to the separation he built his music around. Both are true, and the gap between them is where Djo actually lives.

Where Joe Keery goes from here

The trade-off in Keery’s career is the one every multi-hyphenate faces: the more visible Steve Harrington becomes, the harder it is to keep Djo separate. The separation has paid off — “End of Beginning” reached the Hot 100 on the strength of the music, not the character’s face (Billboard (music-industry chart authority)). For Stranger Things fans, the next chapter is simply season 5. For Djo listeners, the question is what comes after a viral hit that took two years to land. For Keery, the choice is clear: keep the two lanes distinct, or watch the music get absorbed into the Stranger Things brand he built Djo to escape.

Frequently asked questions