Stranger Things Dacre Montgomery reveals how he gets into character and why he became an actor.
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Dacre Kayd Montgomery-Harvey is an Australian actor who is best known for his role as Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things and Jason Scott in the 2017 reboot Power Rangers.
Born in Perth, Western Australia, to Canadian mother Judith Barrett-Lennard and New Zealander father Scott Mongomery Harvey, the actor has one younger sister. Dacre’s parents worked in the film industry in Australia. He began performing on screen at the age of nine and when he was in Year 12, his fellow students voted for him to be “The Most Likely Student to Become a Hollywood Star”. Montgomery continued studying acting in secondary school. He later completed his acting degree at WAAPA at Edith Cowan University in 2015.
Dacre Montgomery’s first role came when he appeared in Bertrand the Terrible as Fred. In 2011, he appears in the TV pilot Family Tree, and in 2015, he appeared in the music video for “Old Souls” by Australian band Make Them Suffer.
Montgomery’s breakout role was when he starred as Jason Scott, leader of the Power Rangers, in the Power Rangers feature film reboot.
In 2017, Montgomery joined the cast for the second season of the Netflix series Stranger Things as character Billy Hargrove. In 2019, he returned for the role in season 3.
Dacre Montgomery’s acting advice
Australian actor Dacre Montgomery plays Billy Hargrove, Max’s older step-brother in Netflix’s Stranger Things. The character was featured predominately in seasons two and three of the show. It was one of the first TV roles for the Power Rangers actor. In a recent interview with Netflix Queue, Montgomery talked about his background as an actor and how he nearly got kicked out of drama school several times and he explained why he finds theater a “draining experience” compared to film and TV acting.
Montgomery says he became interested in attending drama school because his parents had worked at the school. He says, “In the 90s, my mom did broadcasting at WAAPA [Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts], and my dad had done a bit of lecturing in the sound department there. I was just fascinated by it. My high school was on the same campus, so every day I had to walk through this renowned drama school. I’m not going to lie to you: I think there are a lot of ups and downs about drama school. The first year, I got asked to leave the course three times.”
In regards to why he asked to leave the school three times in his first semester, Montgomery talked about his poor attitude and inability to be a good student. He says: “I had spent so long manifesting this idea that I wanted to go to drama school, and once I was there, I was maybe a little bit arrogant. I didn’t want to learn Feldenkrais, I didn’t want to learn these multiple vocal techniques. There was a lot of stuff going on in my life: I got fired from my job, my girlfriend and I went on a break — all this stuff happened at the end of first year. The staff said, ‘Look, if you want to come back here after the summer, you’ve got to think long and hard about what you’re capable of.’ So I thought long and hard, and I came back, and we had our first public plays, and it was amazing. We did The Grapes of Wrath, Measure for Measure, a couple of contemporary plays — Punk Rock, The Golden Age. I loved it. I booked my first professional role on my 21st birthday. That was two weeks before I finished WAAPA.”
Montgomery worked in the film industry ever since. However, he does not rule out the possibility of returning to theater at one point. He says what he gets out of performing ons tase that he does not get from performing on a set. “In film and television, you rarely have the time to rock up on set and extrapolate on the character, the world, the ideas presented, or the meaning behind the story with the director and the other actors. That’s what I like about theater. I just struggle with nerves; I always have. That’s why I find it hard to audition in person. Theater, for me . . . Even if we’re two weeks into a production and we’ve been performing to live audiences for two weeks, I’ll drill the whole play’s worth of lines about five times before I start every single night. It’s quite a draining experience, but amazing.”
Montgomery also shares some details about his acting process including arriving on set early. He explains, “Once I’ve left set, I’m gone. There are some pretty intense moments with Billy in Stranger Things, and I can’t leave with the character, so I’ll come to set eight hours before call, and I’ll just pace the soundstage for hours, get in the world. No one else is around me. Then when I walk on set, there’s no prep.”
Stranger Things is now filming and hiring background actors in Atlanta, Georgia. Check out the latest casting calls, job opportunities and news in our Stranger Things Guide on How To Get a Speaking Role.
About Dacre Montgomery:
Dacre Montgomery is an Australian actor, best known for his role as Billy Hargrove in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. He was born on November 22, 1994 in Perth, Australia and began acting at a young age. He attended Wesley College from 2008-2012 before being accepted into the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 2013.
Montgomery has starred in numerous films and television series, including the horror film Power Rangers (2017), the Netflix romantic comedy The Kissing Booth 2 (2020), and Amazon Prime’s A Discovery of Witches (2019). He is set to star in an upcoming action/thriller titled Blockchain Rising.
Montgomery was nominated for a Logie Award in 2016 for his role on the Australian comedy series Wolf Creek, and he is also the recipient of multiple AACTA Awards. He has been featured in InStyle Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ Australia, and a number of other publications.
In addition to acting, Montgomery enjoys playing video games, going to the beach, and spending time with friends. He is also very passionate about environmentalism and animal rights, and has been actively campaigning for both causes since 2018. He is a strong advocate for mental health awareness and has shared his own personal struggles with depression in various interviews.
In 2020, Montgomery released an EP titled Am I Savage? which he wrote, produced and recorded himself, in addition to directing the accompanying music video. The EP was his first foray into music and received critical acclaim from fans and critics alike.
Montgomery is considered one of the biggest up-and-coming actor/musicians of 2020 and has already established a large and dedicated fan base that continues to grow. He is set to continue his successful acting career and will no doubt be seen in many more films and television series for years to come.
He also recently opened up about his experience as an actor of color in Hollywood, expressing his desire for more opportunities for actors from diverse backgrounds. Montgomery is an inspiration to many and is considered a role model for his activism, self-expression, and love of the arts. He has a bright future ahead of him and no doubt will continue to make a positive impact for years to come.
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