The actress is no longer the shy Eleven, but is also Enola, Sherlock Holmes' cunning and adventurous sister. And who wants to be an example for the girls of today.
Deep, dark eyes, snow-white skin, perfect features and a childlike face: Millie Bobby Brown, 18, was the ideal candidate to play the innocent, supernatural and all-powerful Eleven/Jane Ives from the highly popular Netflix series Stranger Things.
Today, she is a highly-rated actress, and her life has "drastically changed, and continues to change every day". For example, 'it's getting harder and harder to go out with my friends and blend in with others', as she explained.
However, "I try. I put on my hat and glasses, convinced that I'm totally unrecognisable, but people are so observant… Anyway, it's part of the game, I don't stop doing the things I like". At 14, she was already more famous than ever: she was the youngest person ever selected by Time Magazine for its list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Millie Bobby Brown's family
Born in 2004 in Marbella, Spain, Millie Bobby Brown is the third child of Kelly and Robert Brown's four children. "I have a very nice family but my dad beats everyone, he's the king of pranks," she recounted. "When he's about to pull one he winks at me. Of course, right after that, the revenge kicks in. We have a lot of fun."
With his mother, on the other hand, "we almost always argue about stupid things," he explained. "She gets angry if I bake a cake after dinner when she has already cleaned the kitchen. Or if I don't tidy up the things I use, if I go upstairs with my shoes in my room…".
Her family, after living in Spain, moved to England, then to Los Angeles. "My parents never had a problem moving from one country or continent to another," the actress recounted.
And even when it came to holidays, 'we always chose exotic, adventurous places. I love travelling, it's part of the family DNA'. Moving to the US 'wasn't a shock because we had wanted to for so long. Not that we didn't like London, but a change of scenery is good. We settled in immediately'.
Millie Bobby Brown's acting career
Despite her young age, Millie Bobby Brown realised that the world of acting 'is complicated. You have to learn early on how to move in the right way, everyone has their own opinion and a lot of people lie through their teeth'.
There are actors who "claim to have studied acting at prestigious schools and they haven't. And make-up artists who say: 'I did Jennifer Lawrence's make-up and then you find out that they never worked a day in their life. You have to be very careful. Especially when it comes to choosing people to collaborate with'.
Eleven in Stranger Things
In 2015 Millie Bobby Brown is chosen to play Eleven in Stranger Things. "It didn't happen out of the blue," she specified. That series "was a fluke, which came after two years of non-stop work: commercials, auditions upon auditions…".
With her family, the actress lived outside Los Angeles. Driving back and forth was expensive, 'so my father would help me rehearse the scene for the audition. If I couldn't remember my lines, he wouldn't even drive me there, to avoid throwing money away'.
In fact, she was always prepared, but they rejected her because she was English. Therefore, at a certain point, 'I decided that I would pretend to be American: as soon as I got the role, I would start speaking in my British accent again. They would look at me dumbfounded and I would say, 'Too late, the contract is signed!'".
Thanks to Stranger Things, she and her colleagues took home the award for Best Cast in a Drama Series at the SAG Awards in 2017 and received two Emmy nominations, in 2017 and 2018.
Millie Bobby Brown and Stranger Things
Millie Bobby Brown has taken part in every season of the Netflix series. And, having started as little more than a child, she has grown up during filming. "Being a teenager means feeling different every day. The body changes so quickly, the eyelashes get longer, the timbre of the voice gets lower," she recounted.
When watching in the first season, "I don't feel like I'm 11 years old but two. It's a special opportunity to be able to see each other again after a long time".
Millie Bobby Brown and Godzilla
At 15, Millie Bobby Brown played the heroine of the Godzilla saga. "It was weird at first to find myself being the only little girl in the cast," she recounted. On the set of Stranger Things, in the breaks, "we would study together or spend time laughing and joking". There, however, 'the environment was more serious, but I helped to loosen it up by spreading a little childishness'.
Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes
In 2020 she also made her debut as a producer in the film Enola Holmes – directed by Harry Bradbeer – the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes, a cunning and courageous young woman.
Enola 'is brave, vulnerable, honest and cunning', she said. And she is a "sociable person. The story is about her fear of being alone, and in the end she finds her purpose in life. It is the story of a journey of growth. I've been there. It touches me a lot in so many ways."
This role started with the book by Nancy Springer, which her older sister, Paige, had read first. Millie Bobby Brown thought of bringing it to life.
"We took it to the production company and explained why it was a story that needed to be told," she said. "I don't think I've ever seen a young British woman play the lead role in a film. Of course there's Hermione from Harry Potter, but she wasn't the main character. So we wanted to do something that would inspire girls."
On set, "I had the distinct feeling that I was taken seriously. My age and gender did not undermine what I was saying," she explained. "They listened to me and I really appreciated that. It means a lot to me when I go on set and I feel supported but also considered as an equal".
The relationship with Helena Bonham Carter
In Enola Holmes, she starred alongside Helena Bonham Carter, who plays her mother Eudoria. "It was great to work with her. We talked about the relationship between Eudoria and Enola," she recounted.
"We were asking each other questions that we weren't quite able to answer yet. Like "Do you think Eudoria was affectionate?" or "Why does Enola idolise her so much?". Helena is obviously a legend, so I was observing her, studying her.
Millie was 'impressed' by every shot. Helena is so versatile, I really want to be like her. I'm following in the footsteps of these incredible women who have had amazing careers and are still working. And I was so lucky to be able to be around them for nine and a half hours a day".
Millie Bobby Brown's loves: ex Hunter Ecimovic
During the fourth season of Stranger Things, the actress experienced a troubled romance with tiktoker and model Hunter Ecimovic.
A story ended badly. 'I felt very vulnerable,' the star recounted. Moreover, no one on the set "knew I was going through this. And it was more difficult when the whole world knew'.
She called it an 'unhealthy situation', so much so that she went so far as to leave him in 2021. Not before, however, did he launch into a series of explicit sexual innuendos about the actress.
"When you are publicly humiliated like this, you feel so out of control and powerless," he recounted. "To leave something behind and know that I'm worth so much and that this person didn't take anything away from me was very invigorating." It seemed, she said, "that my life had finally turned a page and I had closed a chapter that had seemed so long to me".
At the end of it, something good had remained: 'What I wanted to do in my career was to help the girls out there to know that I also live in bad situations. I definitely made bad decisions."
Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi
Fortunately, after the affair with tiktoker Millie Bobby Brown found great love. The actress and Jake Bon Jovi, the third son of Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea Hurley, have officially been together since summer 2021.
One photo in the car, another showing them embracing on the London Eye, together at social events… The two have long since gone out of hiding. And he too dreams of becoming an actor, just like his girlfriend. Eleven has grown up: now she even has an… intern!
Written by Michael Zippo
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