Joe Keery Bio
Joseph David Keery, widely known as Joe Keery, is an American actor, singer, musician, and songwriter who first rose to international prominence through his work on screen. He became a household name playing Steve Harrington in the Netflix science fiction and horror series Stranger Things, a role that ran from 2016 to 2025 and helped define a generation of streaming-era television. Beyond acting, Keery has built a parallel career in music, performing as a founding member of the psychedelic rock band Post Animal and later releasing solo material under the stage name Djo. His song End of Beginning, originally from the 2022 album Decide, became a global viral hit on TikTok in 2024 and marked his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100.
Born on April 24, 1992, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Keery trained as a stage actor before relocating to Chicago to attend DePaul University, where he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting in 2014. He has continued to split his professional life between acting projects and touring as a recording artist, balancing film and television work with the release of studio albums and international concert tours.
Early Life and Background
Joseph David Keery was born on April 24, 1992, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and grew up as the second of five children in a close family environment. He attended Newburyport High School, where he first discovered his love of performance, largely at the encouragement of his older sister, who pushed him toward school theater productions. During his younger years he also participated in Theater in the Open, a long-running performing arts camp held at Maudslay State Park, an experience that gave him early exposure to live audiences and ensemble work.
After finishing high school, Keery chose to pursue acting seriously and enrolled at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, one of the most respected conservatory-style training programs in the United States. He graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in acting, and his training there grounded him in classical stage technique, voice work, and scene study. The Chicago years were formative, because they not only sharpened his acting skills but also immersed him in the citys independent rock scene, where he would soon begin his music career.
Path to Acting
Keerys professional path to acting began almost immediately after his DePaul graduation, with small on-camera work in the Chicago market and a series of commercial auditions. He landed spots in television advertisements for KFC, Dominos, and Amiibo, which paid the bills while he searched for longer-form roles. He also booked guest appearances on the Fox drama Empire and the NBC procedural Chicago Fire, building his resume with on-set experience in network television production.
His first appearance in a feature-length film came in 2015, when he was cast in the independent drama Henry Gambles Birthday Party, directed by Stephen Cone. The film gave him early critical exposure within the indie circuit and helped him land an audition for a small Netflix science fiction project that would change his career. While he initially read for the role of Jonathan Byers on Stranger Things, he later submitted a separate audition tape for the cocky Hawkins High student Steve Harrington and was cast in late 2015.
Joe Keery Career
Early Career (2015–2017)
Keerys first major credit was a recurring role on Stranger Things, which premiered in July 2016 to widespread critical praise. He was initially listed as a recurring cast member during the first season, but the popularity of Steve Harrington led to his promotion to series regular beginning with the second season in 2017. Around the same time, he was also playing drums and guitar in the Chicago-based psychedelic rock band Post Animal, contributing to their early extended plays and helping shape their sound.
As Post Animal began touring more actively and Stranger Things turned into a global phenomenon, Keery found himself balancing two careers at once. The band released its debut full-length album When I Think of You in a Castle in 2018, with Keery credited on guitar and vocals.
Breakthrough (2016–2020)
The launch of Stranger Things in 2016 was the clear turning point of Keerys acting career, transforming him from a working indie performer into a widely recognized television star. He went on to appear in four additional seasons of the show, with Steve Harrington evolving from a one-note antagonist into one of the ensembles most beloved characters. The role made him a fixture at fan conventions, comic book panels, and red-carpet premieres around the world.
While still anchored to Stranger Things, Keery began to branch out into independent film. He starred in the 2020 satire Spree, a thriller about a rideshare driver who livestreams himself committing crimes, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The role showed off his willingness to play darker, more complicated characters and earned him strong reviews from critics who had previously only known him through Stranger Things.
Major Film and Television Work (2021–2025)
In 2021, Keery joined the cast of the action comedy Free Guy, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds, playing the video game developer Walter Keys McKey. The film was a major box-office success, grossing more than 331 million dollars worldwide against a roughly 100-million-dollar budget, and it gave Keery his biggest theatrical film credit to date. The performance demonstrated his comedic timing on a larger scale and confirmed his ability to carry supporting roles inside major studio releases.
He continued to build his filmography with the science fiction action project Cold Storage, in which he was cast opposite veteran actor Liam Neeson, and with a notable role as Gator Tillman in the fifth season of the crime drama series Fargo, which aired in 2023 and 2024. In 2024 he also took on a dual role in the biopic Pavements, playing both the indie rock musician Steven Malkmus and himself. By 2025 he had added a voice performance in the PBS documentary mini-series The American Revolution, voicing historical figure John Greenwood.
Notable Works and Milestones
Keerys signature work remains Stranger Things, a series credited with helping establish Netflix as a major player in original programming and one of the most-watched shows of its era. His other standout projects include the sleeper hit Free Guy, the festival favorite Spree, and the critically praised fifth season of Fargo. The viral success of End of Beginning in 2024 stands as his most important music milestone, turning Djo from a respected indie project into a charting solo act.
Joe Keery Music Career
Beyond acting, Keery has built a serious reputation as a recording artist. In his early twenties he performed under the stage name Cool Cool Cool, and from 2014 to 2018 he was a co-founder, drummer, guitarist, and vocalist in the Chicago psychedelic rock band Post Animal. He left the group in 2018 to focus on screen work but rejoined Post Animal in 2025, contributing to their album Iron, which was released on July 25, 2025.
Adopting the stage name Djo, pronounced Joe, he released his debut solo album Twenty Twenty on September 13, 2019, followed by Decide on September 16, 2022. Decide included the track End of Beginning, which became a viral sensation on TikTok in 2024 and reached the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first entry on that chart. His third studio album, The Crux, arrived on April 4, 2025, and was followed by the companion record The Crux Deluxe on September 12, 2025, which featured twelve additional tracks recorded during the same sessions. The cover art for The Crux was nominated for the 2026 Grammy Award for Best Album Cover.
Joe Keery Upcoming Projects
Looking ahead, Djo is scheduled to support Tame Impala on the first leg of the 2026 Deadbeat tour, and on November 4, 2025, he announced a new tour of South America and Mexico set to begin in March 2026. He has also co-written the song Funny Mouth for Charli XCXs soundtrack to the 2026 film Wuthering Heights, expanding his songwriting footprint beyond his own releases.
Joe Keery Family
Keery was raised as the second of five children in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in a family that encouraged creative expression. His older sister played a key role in nudging him toward acting during his high school years, and his parents supported his decision to pursue professional training at DePaul University in Chicago.
Personal Life
Keery was in a long-term relationship with actress Maika Monroe from 2017 to 2023. In 2023 he relocated from Los Angeles to the West Village neighborhood of New York City, where he has been based while continuing his dual acting and music careers. He briefly dated actress Chase Sui Wonders from late 2023 into early 2024.