For being only 23 years old, Finn Wolfhard has quite the varied resumé.
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The Canadian actor is best known as one of the stars of the hit TV show Stranger Things, which he began starring in at the age of 12, but his career has flourished over the past 10 years in all directions. He’s done movies, TV shows, voice acting, directing, music, and now he’s making his Saturday Night Live debut on January 17.
He’s the first of the Stranger Things kids to host, but he’s got several connections to the show that make his appearance a no brainer. Not only is he good friends with former cast member Fred Armisen, but he and Bill Hader played different ages of the same character in 2019’s It Chapter Two. He even appeared as an NBC page in the 2024 SNL-inspired movie Saturday Night, and was named in Jane Wickline’s December 13 “Weekend Update” song, “The Greatest Threat to Humanity Right Now.”
Check out the rest of Finn Wolfhard’s career history below before he hosts SNL.
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Finn Wolfhard’s first TV roles were on The 100 and Supernatural
Wolfhard’s first screen role was in one 2014 episode of the sci-fi TV show The 100, followed by an episode of Supernatural in 2015. His life got turned completely upside down (pun intended) when he was cast as one of the leads in Stranger Things, which debuted in 2016. He played Mike Wheeler, the dungeon master of a group of young Dungeons & Dragons players whose game became a little too real for anyone’s liking.
Stranger Things ended on December 31, 2025, and Wolfhard had time for a few other projects in the meantime. He did voice acting for cartoons like Smiling Friends, Duncanville, and King of the Hill, and starred alongside Gina Rodriguez in the 2019 animated series Carmen Sandiego.
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It was Finn Wolfhard’s first movie
In 2017, Wolfhard starred as Richie Tozier in the new adaptation of Stephen King’s It. He briefly reprised the role in 2019’s It Chapter Two, with Hader playing the adult version of Richie.
He appeared in the 2019 adaptation of Donna Tartt’s novel The Goldfinch and voiced Pugsley in the 2019 animated Addams Family film before starring in 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Wolfhard’s voice can be heard as the boy Candlewick in Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion Pinocchio from 2022, and he played the son of Julianne Moore in When You Finish Saving the World, which was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg.
In 2023, he co-wrote and co-directed the horror movie Hell of a Summer with actor Billy Bryk.
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Wolfhard has been making music since before Stranger Things
Wolfhard has been a music lover his whole life, and told Jimmy Fallon his mom got him a guitar when he was just 4 years old. He has led several bands, including Calpurnia and The Aubreys. Calpurnia got to star in Weezer’s music video for their cover of A-ha’s “Take On Me” in 2019, and with The Aubreys, Wolfhard produced a music video to accompany the 2020 horror movie The Turning, which he also starred in.
Now, Wolfhard is mostly a solo act, and released his debut solo album in June 2025. Later that same year, he directed a stop-motion music video for the 50th anniversary of George Harrison’s “Give Me Love,” which released in December, just days before his 23rd birthday.
Now Wolfhard adds SNL to the mix alongside Musical Guest A$AP Rocky, so be sure to tune into NBC and Peacock on January 17.
