Did Millie Bobby Brown almost quit acting at 10? (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Millie Bobby Brown’s journey to stardom almost ended before it even began, all because of a crushing rejection that nearly made her walk away from acting forever.
At just 10 years old, the ‘Stranger Things’ star was on the verge of giving up, convinced that the industry had no place for her. Ironically, the very quality that set her apart—her maturity—was the reason a casting director told her she simply “wouldn’t make it.”
Millie Bobby Brown’s Audition That Changed Everything
It’s hard to imagine Stranger Things without Brown’s electrifying performance as Eleven, just as it’s impossible to picture anyone other than Jacob Elordi as Nate Jacobs in Euphoria.
But back then, her future in Hollywood seemed anything but certain. A failed audition, a few cutting words, and a young girl left heartbroken? Well, it could have been the end of the road for her.
“I always knew that I was mature and I couldn’t really help that,” she revealed, adding that she thought maturity was “a good thing” at the time. “Being told that it wasn’t, that I wouldn’t make it in this industry, it was so hurtful. I got really down about that.”
Yet fate, and her family, had other plans. Her parents saw something special in her, something she, for a moment, doubted. One last audition, they encouraged her, just one. The role? A mysterious, telekinetic girl in a little-known Netflix project by the Duffer Brothers.
“My parents told me, ‘Just do this one last audition on tape and then you can go outside and play with your friends again.’ So I said, ‘Okay, yeah, I should do this one because it looks cool’.”
Millie Bobby Brown Becoming Eleven: A Star is Born
Three months later, Brown’s heartbreak was history, and Hollywood was calling. Eleven was more than just a character, she was a phenomenon.
Stranger Things exploded onto screens in 2016, quickly becoming one of Netflix’s biggest successes, catapulting Brown to A-list status. As the show barrels toward its fifth and final season, the creators tease that Hawkins’ supernatural saga is far from over.
“There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes,” the Duffer Brothers wrote in a letter when announcing the show’s final season, in February 2022.
Millie Bobby Brown: A Force To be Reckoned With
However, the road to fame hasn’t been without its shadows. Growing up in the spotlight, Brown has openly discussed the unsettling reality of being hypersexualized from a young age.
“I deal with the same things any 18-year-old is dealing with, navigating being an adult and having relationships and friendships, and it’s all of those things,” she said in 2022. Turning an adult as per the law should have been just another milestone, but overnight, the world seemed to see her differently.
Despite it all, Brown remains unshaken. She’s not just a star; she’s a force. And while her 10-year-old self might have once doubted her future, today, there’s no question that she was always meant to shine.
