Caleb McLaughlin thinks he remembers a quote from Will Smith about happiness: “He was saying happiness is like a moment, but peace is everything,” the 20-year-old Stranger Things star and New Hollywood 2022 inductee tells Teen Vogue. “It's within yourself, and that's forever. I think it was Will Smith. I may be wrong,” McLaughlin admits.
The actual Will Smith quote that he might be referencing reads like this: “Happiness is peace. It's not pleasure. Everybody thinks happiness is trying to get as much pleasure as you can get. There is nothing more agitating to your mind than extreme pleasure.” McLaughlin's memory may have shifted the details, but it didn't totally shift the meaning.
If McLaughlin wanted to, he could surely be living a life focused on pleasure instead of peace. He’s spent the majority of his teen years starring in one of the biggest TV shows of the 21st century. Even before Stranger Things, McLaughlin pursued the arts, first appearing as Young Simba in a Broadway production of The Lion King between 2012 and 2014. After several guest appearances on television, he landed his breakthrough role as Lucas on Stranger Things, an opportunity that changed the trajectory of his life. Suddenly, the New York native had millions of Instagram followers and was appearing at Comic-Con in front of audiences that packed Hall H, all at the age of 15.
But unlike many child stars from eras past, McLaughlin always had a sense of reality, of himself, of the importance of his family. “Growing up in the industry… I would say most of the stuff is positive as long as you make it positive,” he says, his tone firm and friendly as he recalls his experiences in Hollywood. “It's only negative when you put yourself out there and don't ground yourself. I have a great team, and I have a great family behind me to help keep me grounded, keep my head straight, and just keep me focused.”
As he transitions to more film projects, including the critically acclaimed Concrete Cowboy and a forthcoming role in the Lee Daniels’ horror movie Demon House, McLaughlin knows what he has to do to get where he wants: He needs to be a star in charge of his own projects who doesn’t lose sight of himself in the process.
Stranger Things is a high-stakes, high-stress supernatural drama that often puts the teens of Hawkins, Indiana, in danger, but McLaughlin is only ever positive and passionate when he talks about his role. The character is meaningful to him because of what it means to be positive representation for young Black men onscreen. Lucas isn’t a sidekick in the world of Stranger Things; he’s a hero in his own right, with interesting plot arcs, lots of action scenes, and great relationships with other characters.
To McLaughlin, Lucas is a character that’s fun to play because he breaks a mold for Black characters in pop culture. “They can see a young, dark-skinned Black actor that is doing good,” he says. “I'm not trying to sound like I'm cocky or anything, but it's like, ‘Wow! He's fighting Demogorgons! He's not the villain. He's not in a bad light. I can do that too.’”
McLaughlin’s role is one of the most visible characters in supernatural pop culture media. He's been able to build on the legacies and work of Black actors, directors, and other creatives who came before him, who enabled him to keep looking forward. And his bright attitude has paid off, earning McLaughlin a strong fan base as a result of his hard work.
“I've grown to love this supernatural, comic-book world — a fantasy world. I love that [the fans are] just so dedicated. This is everyone's life,” he says. Lucas is a notable nerd who loves science fiction and Dungeons and Dragons, but McLaughlin doesn’t necessarily think of himself as like his character in that way. But maybe he is a lot like Lucas, when he thinks about it. They are similarly quirky and corny at moments, and both have a strong sense of self and clearly care for their family.
The fans love McLaughlin just as much as they do Lucas, despite how they are different. They come dressed in iconic outfits from the show, armed with theories about Lucas’s character direction in upcoming seasons. That support is one of the things that McLaughlin loves about being part of Stranger Things. Plus, the experience has opened up his life beyond what he had imagined as a kid.
“Before Stranger Things, before I was able to travel around the world, I lived in my own world in small-town Carmel, New York,” he says. “Then when I was able to travel the world because of Stranger Things and meet different people, I was like, ‘Wow, there's so much more to life than I thought. Everyone literally has their own lives.’”
“I always knew [Stranger Things] was going to be great. I knew that it would move the needle and a lot of people would love it,” McLaughlin says. But as the show nears its eventual end — both parts of season four will drop this summer on Netflix, and season five will be its last — he’s focused on the future, and the turns his career is already taking.
The critically acclaimed drama Concrete Cowboy, released in 2020, based on Greg Neri’s novel Ghetto Cowboy — and inspired by the real-life horse-riding culture of Black Americans in Philadelphia — is as far from the horror of Stranger Things as you can get. McLaughlin plays a rebellious teenager named Cole who is sent to live with his estranged father, Harp, in Philadelphia after getting in trouble in school. Concrete Cowboy was a chance for McLaughlin to try something new in his acting career, starting with the horses he learned to ride in Georgia. He laughs, comparing the experience of learning how to interact with horses to how the main characters in Avatar bond with the horse-like aliens they ride.
McLaughlin also immersed himself in Philly culture so he could do the character and city natives justice. “Cole is Philly. Cole is every young man in Philadelphia,” he says. “Every young boy, even me. Cole is everybody, but he has his own story. I just had to understand that — and I had to be in Philly to do that.”
Meanwhile, he learned from costar Idris Elba’s work ethic; McLaughlin reveals that the older actor would work hard all week and then jet off to DJ in France over the weekend. And he had to imagine a world where he didn’t have a close relationship with his father, as he does in real life (his father was on set during the whole filming process). As a result, McLaughlin was able to level up when it came to bringing Cole to life.
Growing as a person and performer is a recurring theme throughout McLaughlin's anecdotes. He sees himself as an eternal student of the arts and views his time in Hollywood as a series of experiences that lead to learning more about himself and his craft. “I feel like I'll never stop being a student,” he says. “I'll never stop wanting to learn. I'll never stop wanting to be excited about this. I learn from everybody that I'm around.”
McLaughlin's desire to learn connects back to one of his biggest goals: a desire to produce and direct in the future. He is also currently producing his own music. His first single, “Neighborhood,” is a smooth pop tune about bringing a new girlfriend home to meet friends and family. It was one of his first forays in the studio to work on his own music, and it brought him so much joy that he plans to release more music in 2022. While making music (and dealing with that industry) is vastly different than acting, McLaughlin makes his process sound easy. “You just have to go into the studio and catch a vibe,” he says.
The past two years have been life changing for everyone, and McLaughlin is no different. When COVID-19 first hit, he and the rest of the Stranger Things cast had to take a break from filming. He spent a lot of time in his room, thinking about his life in a time of chaos. He remembered why he loved pursuing the arts in the first place. Even when it gets exhausting, he feels acting is a calling.
He cares deeply about mental health and preserving that peace inside himself and others. Previously, he’s been part of social media campaigns geared toward embracing who you are, and he’s committed to raising awareness about the increasing number of people who die by suicide every year.
Systemic change is key, but McLaughlin also feels strongly about looking inward. Finding his inner peace is how he keeps thriving in a high-visibility industry, and it’s clear that his intense dedication to mental health stems from his own successes in figuring out how to cope with it all. It’s a spiritual process. “I want people to be able to be at peace with themselves and understand who they are,” he says. “That's what I was able to do in 2020. Spend time with myself — not about who I was as Caleb the human, but Caleb the soul, the spirit.”
After self-reflection, it’s back to work and the vision. “I've done so many great things in my life,” Caleb McLaughlin says with a slight smile on his face. “But there's still so much more to do.”
CREDITS
Editor in Chief: Versha Sharma
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