Matarazzo: "The lightbulbs in my bathroom haven't been changed in a month and I'm completely fine peeing in the dark. I'm like, 'I should probably change those!'"

Matarazzo: "College is something I've always said I wanted to do, but you're going there to get a piece of paper that says you can get a job, but if I'm already working steadily and doing good work, it makes you question your priorities. Right now, I'm in my own film college: filming a TV show."

Matarazzo: "It's great to have a good relationship with the directors and learn about things you do with cameras, and how you direct."

[Responding to the fan theory about how Hopper is Eleven's real dad]

Matarazzo: "I've never really liked that theory. There's a lot of [people] that think that but it doesn't make any sense. I mean, you look back to his daughter looks nothing like Millie and the age doesn't match up with the [time] with how much he's aged from that point, and it wouldn't make any sense, I think it'd be far-fetched, and Eleven would recognize him."

[Responding to the question "Is Stranger Things clean?"]

Matarazzo: "There's a little bit of unsanitariness."

[On getting cast as Dustin]

Matarazzo: "When they met me I basically showed them how funny I could be, and they would write things into the show. A lot of Dustin’s lines were based on stuff I’d say off-camera. Like Dustin, I love food, so I’d always joke about that, and they wrote it in. That whole scene with the backpack full of food was based on me. I’ve seen tons of quotes made into memes."

[On his experience making promotional videos for NERDS]

Matarazzo: “I like making the videos because the process is so weird that I literally record on my phone and I start rambling and [the company will] edit it together to look awesome. I don’t know how they do that cause I’m just a mess of a person, and they deal with me.”

Matarazzo: "I look like a sociopath it's in love with myself because they're just a bunch of paintings like of me that are like next to my bed on my on my dresser and it freaks me out when I'm looking at it."

Matarazzo: "I was in a hospital where there were kids dealing with conditions that were very much life-threatening in incredibly horrific ways. And I always saw how parents would always cover their kids' ears when talking about what they were going through. I understand the desire and need to do that, like to feel like they aren't scared. But kids are smart in ways that I don't think adults will ever be able to understand. They are able to understand energies and know what's going on."

[On if he would bring Barb back]

Matarazzo: "I wouldn't, simply because I think her death was essential in demonstrating that nobody was safe. Even the most innocent-likable-relatable character couldn't be saved from what's going on, and I think that really resonated [with] audiences, and I think that's why they wanted to come back because they liked her so much and because she didn't deserve it and it wasn't fair... That's why she died."

Matarazzo: “It’s so easy to get the giggles on set. I have no idea why.”

Matarazzo: "I think I'll just take some time to do weird projects, weird stuff that I probably wouldn't have had the balls to do before Stranger Things. Just experiment a little bit, enjoy the work, learn. I really want to learn more from incredible people and take my time with it."

[On how he got into acting by accident]

Matarazzo: "My brother and I went along, and this lady looked at us and said, 'Do you guys want to act?' My brother was just like, “No.” I was 7, I didn’t even know what it was, and I was like, 'Yeah, OK, sounds fun.'"

[On Mario Kart]

Matarazzo: “My siblings and I go crazy for it to the level that it’s just unhealthily competitive. More so for them, because I’m better than them, and you can tell them I said that.”

Matarazzo: "I was like, 'I'm only going to do musical theater for the rest of my life. I'm never going to do TV.' And whenever I'd get auditions for TV, I'd be like, 'Okay, whatever. I've got a lisp, so they're not going to take me.' And then I started doing this, and I guess it was my sister that got me into the acting thing."

[On Joe Keery calling him "the 60-year-old uncle that I never had."]

Matarazzo: "Yeah, that sounds about right, I think it flip-flops. I feel like there are certain days in which I'm just the giggly little brother, and then there are others where I feel like I'm the child wrangler."

[On if he has ever worn the Stranger Things Season 2 Finale makeover hairstyle in real life]

Matarazzo: "I mean I have technically during the shoots but I wouldn't use it as a stylistic choice now."

[On Dustin's CCD condition being written into the script and his character making jokes about it]

Matarazzo: "The segues into it are so natural, it makes me emotional thinking about how weirdly accurate they bring it up every season. There's always a little reference in a weird little joking manner. It's the way I would joke about it with my friends."

Matarazzo: "I love working in theater because it's such a challenge to have the audience right there in front of you. If you mess up, you have to figure it out and keep going. There's no take two!"

[Responding to the question "Is Gaten Matarazzo worth it?"]

Matarazzo: "Yeah, I am! Do they mean like worth watching in the show or is it like, 'Is he even worth being on this planet?'"

Matarazzo: "I'm a kid who grew up in a small town and started acting when he was seven for no reason and got lucky. Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. I feel like some people, especially child stars, act out because they don't know how to handle the pressure."

[On raising awareness for CCD]

Matarazzo: "I hope I can raise awareness, because there are so many people who have that and other rare diseases, and it never gets the attention it deserves."

Matarazzo: "Kids are so accustomed to technology that it's upsetting to watch them without their phones. They don't know what to do. Sometimes I feel like I'm like that, too - if I get my phone taken away because I'm grounded, I don't know what to do. So I just have to sit in my room and stare blankly at the ceiling."

[On if Stranger Things is inspired by IT]

Matarazzo: "I think so, like the kids with bikes. To fight the monsters. Later in the book you kinda find out that they're Shiners almost. Have you seen the Shining? Yeah, you find out that they're kinda Shiners."

Matarazzo: "I love when people stop and talk to me, because the people are always so nice."

[On wanting to be in Star Wars]

Matarazzo: "I've been trying so hard that I might just show up to one of them. I should just walk in the background for one of them. That would be so great. I don't even care, man. I will do whatever."

Matarazzo: "I think people get a little bit more self-aware, self-conscious even when they get into their late teens, early '20s."

Matarazzo: "When I was younger, I definitely thought musical theater was sort of more pure than film. I used to say I'd never go to film because we had to get it right the first time in musical theater. But then, of course, I started doing film and realized I loved it. Keep in mind that I was 8 years old when I said that."

Matarazzo: "Unless people are in the shoes of a child actor, they don't realise how difficult it can be at times. I definitely enjoy what I'm doing, though."

Matarazzo: "My friends are pretty used to me being an actor, and the ones who have known me for a long time don't make too big of a deal out of it."

Matarazzo: "I have never fanned out at all, actually. I mean, there's only a few people that I have fanned out about before: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, pretty much anyone from 'Star Wars.' But I don't usually fan out at all, just because they're all people just doing their jobs. It's exciting because they do very good work!"

Matarazzo: "I started doing theater, musical theater, because of my sister. She's a singer; she's an actress, too."

Matarazzo: "I feel like I'm free to make choices in any way that I really want to and it'll still feel like Dustin, because I've been playing him for seven years. It really is like a second nature."

Matarazzo: "Of course I'm going to be heartbroken to leave the show behind, but also I'm just glad that they have an end in sight. I think every single show needs that."

Matarazzo: "It was fun to use the ’80s toys and different props in the show. During the scene when we’re in the basement and trying to talk to Lucas over the walkie-talkie, the antenna was so long we kept accidentally hitting Millie in the face with it."

Matarazzo: "I miss Broadway! I'm still a theatre kid, don't worry!"

Matarazzo: "I love my fans. They do come up to me a lot and ask to take pictures with me, and I just started this thing where if they take a picture with me, I take a picture with them on my phone and I post it on my Instagram. The show wouldn’t be where it is now without them, so I want them all to know how much I appreciate them."

Matarazzo: "The most surreal moment might have been meeting President Obama. It was really cool, actually; they, like, announced us into the room. There was a man in a uniform who announced all our names in a booming voice, and we walk in, and there's the president."

Matarazzo: "For me, cleidocranial dysplasia was something that just spontaneously happened. Nobody in my family has it. It doesn't really hinder me at all. Obviously, I'm still able to do the things I love."

Esquire: He still has that sweet-hearted grin, the one made of butterflies and confetti, and now, the slightest tinge of aged wisdom, the kind that only comes when you've lived a certain amount of life, and been through a certain amount of things.

Seventeen: Speaking of downtime, Gaten recently teamed up with Nintendo and tells me that I’ve come to the right place to learn “ever so much about video games.” He's a big fan of Nintendo Switch Sports, which will feel familiar to anyone who grew up hitting the tennis courts and bowling alleys through Wii Sports. He’s also majorly competitive when it comes to playing Mario Kart, which is truly the only way to play the fan-favorite racing game.

SJ Magazine: Matarazzo’s quick wit and upbeat attitude are outweighed only by his sheer sweetness.

Refinery29: Gaten Matarazzo, star of Stranger Things, isn't a fan of fame, or, you know, the big scary "f-word" in Hollywood. "I do it for the work," he told E! News interviewer Jason Kennedy at the 2017 American Music Awards. He added that he doesn't even talk about it, really — the "f-word" is taboo, at least in his world.