‘Stranger Things’ Star Gaten Matarazzo Posts Adorable Prom Pics With His Real-Life High School Girlfriend

Gaten Matarazzo may star on Stranger Things, but he’s still doing normal things with his high school friends. The 16-year-old actor, who plays fan favorite Dustin Henderson on the Netflix hit, shared photos from his junior prom over the weekend — and it looks like it was a lot more fun than the Snow Ball his lovelorn character attended on Stranger Things’ Season 2 finale.

The last time Stranger Things fans saw Matarazzo’s Dustin character, he was at the Snow Ball at Hawkins Middle School, pining away as his best friends were getting with the girls he liked. But in real life, Gaten Matarazzo revealed that he spent his own prom night with “the best friends and the most beautiful girlfriend ever.” Take that Mike, Eleven, Lucas, and Max!

Gaten Matarazzo posted a sweet pre-prom photo with his girlfriend, Lizzy Yu, The Blast reports. The teen actor, who lives southern New Jersey, wore a dark eggplant suit and black bowtie as he rubbed noses with his hometown girl, who wore a gorgeous cream and gold princess-style ball gown to the formal dance.

Gaten popped up in a series of group shots with his friends before the decked-out squad all headed to the boardwalk.

You can see Gaten Matarazzo’s prom night slideshow below.

Gaten Matarazzo previously told SJ Magazine that he started with acting by doing community theater in New Jersey. Gaten now considers acting his job, and he has found a way to balance it with his school schedule. The Stranger Things star revealed that he missed a lot of his freshman year of high school because he was traveling in Europe and then in L.A. doing press for the series, but he was able to get his schoolwork from his high school online and work on it with a tutor.

Gaten also said his hometown high school has an “awesome” theater program that he hopes to participate in and was also the lead in his middle school’s eighth-grade play.

“I’m really just trying to be a normal kid,” the teen star said.

As for having a TV star at their South Jersey junior prom, Gaten Matarazzo’s high school friends don’t think it’s strange at all.

“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 told NJ.com.

Stranger Things Season 3 debuts July 4, 2019, on Netflix.