Dacre Montgomery
Dacre Kayd Montgomery-Harvey is an Australian actor. Montgomery began acting in short films as a teenager before making his feature film debut in the adventure comedy A Few Less Men. In 2017, Montgomery starred as Jason Scott / Red Ranger in the superhero film Power Rangers and began playing Billy Hargrove in the Netflix science fiction horror series Stranger Things.
His performance in the latter earned him critical acclaim and [|various awards nominations]. He has since starred in the Christmas horror film Better Watch Out and the romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery and portrayed Steve Binder in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis.
Early life
Montgomery was born on 22 November 1994 in Perth, Western Australia. His father is from New Zealand and his mother is Canadian. He has a younger sister. His parents worked in the screen industry in Australia. Montgomery began performing on screen and in theatre at the age of nine.Montgomery attended Bayswater Primary School and Mount Lawley Senior High School. When Montgomery was in Year 12, his fellow students voted for him to be "The most likely student to become a Hollywood star". Montgomery continued his studies in the dramatic arts throughout his secondary schooling. Montgomery completed his acting degree at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University in 2015. In an Instagram post, Montgomery said that he was a "lost kid." He had a difficult time in school and started to suffer from anxiety at an early age. He said he was bullied throughout his school years due to his weight and interest in theater. He also failed his drama exams in high school. At the age of 18, he was fired from his job.
Career
Early work (20112016)
Montgomery's first role came when he appeared in Betrand the Terrible as Fred, in 2010. In 2011, he appeared in a TV pilot called Family Tree. In 2015, Montgomery appeared in the music video for "Old Souls" by Australian deathcore band Make Them Suffer directed by Jason Eshraghian.In early 2017, Montgomery starred as Jason Scott, leader of the Power Rangers, in the Power Rangers feature film reboot. On being cast in the film, Montgomery said "Power Rangers was a big break, but it was also my first break which was lovely." The film received mixed reviews and failed at the box-office. He also appeared in the sequel to the Australian comedy A Few Best Men, titled A Few Less Men.
''Stranger Things'' and independent films (2017present)
In 2017, Montgomery joined the cast for the second season of the Netflix series Stranger Things as Billy Hargrove, an abusive and unpredictable teenager. He reprised the role in the third season and in a cameo on the fourth, receiving critical acclaim for his performance. For season four, he filmed remotely from Australia due to COVID-19 lockdowns whilst being directed by Shawn Levy over Zoom in America. Montgomery was nominated for an MTV Movie & TV Award for his performance and, along with his castmates, received two nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Speaking about how important the show was for his career, Montgomery went on to say: "I wouldn’t be allowed the opportunities I have had since if I hadn’t been a part of that show."Following Stranger Things, Montgomery took a hiatus from acting in order to "reverse engineer" his acting career as he didn't want to go into the "commercial direction" and was interested in "art house films".
In 2024, he was starred opposite Vicky Krieps in Went Up the Hill, co-scripted and directed by Samuel Van Grinsven. The film premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2025, Montgomery co-starred opposite Bill Skarsgård in the Gus Van Sant film Dead Man's Wire. Van Sant cast Montgomery off of his viral Stranger Things audition tape. Speaking about working on the film, Montgomery said it was "rewarding" and added: "I went to 1,000 percent... got rid of my eyebrows, tried to become this man, this character... It was physically taxing because the wire was real — the handcuffs were tight, Bill was at my back, the whole film... I’m always someone who’s going to be pushing to have the handcuffs tighter and the wire to be real. I left set with bruises around my neck and my arms, and a sore back and whatever else, but I think it helps believe the performance."
Upcoming
Montgomery will next make his directorial debut film, The Engagement Party, which he also stars in. Speaking about that venture, Montgomery explained: "the biggest thing that I’ve been chasing my whole life is directing my first film. That has been my north star and has taken a huge amount of work convincing people to believe in me... it’s been a life-changing experience... if it’s the last job I ever do, I’m happy... I just want to be pushed. I want to explore the limits of what I’m capable of in every way. And this was the hardest, most rewarding experience of my adult life."Other ventures
On 10 July 2019, he released his own podcast titled DKMH, which features his own poetry. The description of the podcast states that he spent two years compiling his own poetry and getting musicians to help him "bring it to life".Personal life
Montgomery has been in a relationship with model Liv Pollock since 2017. Pollock announced the pair's engagement on Instagram in December 2023.Montgomery has opened up about having OCD in an Instagram post about an episode of his podcast, stating how it is a condition that both "fuels" and "hinders" him.