Who Is Grace Van Dien From 'Stranger Things' Season 4?
The actress plays Chrissy, a popular cheerleader hiding a secret.
Season 4 of Stranger Things introduces several new characters, as our main gang leaves middle school behind for high school—Mike, Dustin, and Lucas in Hawkins; and Eleven and Will in California. In Hawkins High, audiences are introduced to new characters who get wrapped up in the latest monster mayhem out of the Upside Down. One of them is Chrissy, the head cheerleader and most popular girl in school who's also hiding a mysterious secret.
Playing Chrissy is Grace Van Dien, who comes to Stranger Things with experience from another cult-favorite Netflix tween series. Here's what we know about the actress, including her famous parents and her popular Instagram.
She's the daughter of two actors.
The 25-year-old actress is the daughter of Starship Troopers and All American actor Casper Van Dien and The Bold and The Beautiful actress Carrie Mitchum, so she grew up on sets. In a 2019 People interview, she said that she didn't plan to be an actor as a kid, but that her father supported whatever she chose.
"He was okay with me not getting into the industry. I wanted to go to college and become a writer, and I didn’t want to be a part of this world at all. I’m very shy from it," she said. "When I was showing interest in it he just taught me, if ever something bad happened, to come to him and he’ll handle it. Hasn’t happened yet."
She's a Netflix television alum.
Van Dien got her start acting in several films, including a family film called Army Dog in which she acted alongside her dad. She's best known for the Hulu original film The Binge, the NBC drama The Village, and the Netflix teen series Greenhouse Academy. She also has experience acting in a school mystery drama, from playing the dean's daughter Brooke in Greenhouse.
Her Instagram is filled with aesthetic nature pics.
Van Dien's feed has several pics of herself spending time in nature, as well as snaps with family and friends. She also has an impressive 418,000 followers.
The ultimate daily digest for women of power, purpose, and style.
Quinci LeGardye is a Culture Writer at Marie Claire. She currently lives in her hometown of Los Angeles after periods living in NYC and Albuquerque, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology from The University of New Mexico. In 2021, she joined Marie Claire as a contributor, becoming a full-time writer for the brand in 2024. She contributes day-to-day-content covering television, movies, books, and pop culture in general. She has also written features, profiles, recaps, personal essays, and cultural criticism for outlets including Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Vulture, The A.V. Club, Catapult, and others. When she isn't writing or checking Twitter way too often, you can find her watching the latest K-drama, or giving a concert performance in her car.