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Millie Bobby Brown, star of Stranger Things, reinvents herself as an Olympic champion
Millie Bobby Brown got famous at 11 years old thanks to her breakout performance in the Netflix series Stranger Things. The young actress is about to make a radical shift with her next project. She will embody Olympic gymnastics champion Kerri Strug in a biopic directed by Gia Coppola. Numéro takes a closer look.
By Ambra Flora.
Millie Bobby Brown, star of Stranger Things, reinvents herself in a biopic
Discovered by audiences when she was just 11 thanks to her role as Eleven in the series Stranger Things in 2016, British actress Millie Bobby Brown has since built a prolific career. She appeared in the detective film series Enola Holmes (2020–2022), in the fantasy feature Damsel (2024), and more recently in The Electric State (2025), alongside Chris Pratt.
These productions, generally aimed at broad audiences and often geared toward younger viewers, are now giving way to a new challenge for the actress, now 21. She is now moving away from fantasy films toward more independent biographical dramas. She will take on the role of gymnast Kerri Strug in a biopic titled Perfect and produced by Netflix.
Perfect, a film about gymnast Kerri Strug
The feature film will recount the historic success of the US women’s gymnastics team at the 1996 Summer Olympics. As the United States and Russia fought for the gold, everything came down to one final vault – Kerri Strug, 18-year-old. On her first attempt, she broke her ankle.
Encouraged and urged on by her coach, Béla Károlyi, she showed extraordinary resilience, launching herself one last time and landing a perfect vault despite the pain… An action that would cost her her career. Carried to the podium by her coach, the image became one of the most iconic moments in the history of the Olympics.
Nicknamed the “Magnificent Seven,” Kerri Strug’s teammates – Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes, Amy Chow, Jaycie Phelps, and team captain Amanda Borden – won the United States’ first-ever gold medal in women’s team gymnastics thanks to her.
A project directed by Gia Coppola
Following in the footsteps of Margot Robbie in I, Tonya (2017) or, more recently, Sydney Sweeney, soon to star in a biopic about boxer Christy Martin, powerful success stories about female athletes continue to captivate audiences. With this film chronicling Kerri Strug’s journey, Millie Bobby Brown may well be poised to redefine her acting career.
The project is drawing even more attention because it will be directed by Gia Coppola, granddaughter of Francis Ford and niece of Sofia. The American filmmaker is best known for The Last Showgirl (2025), a much talked-about release that marked Pamela Anderson‘s big comeback on screen. Once typecast as a 1990s sex symbol, the latter delivered a highly-praised performance as a dancer working in a struggling cabaret.
From her very first feature film, Palo Alto (2013), director Gia Coppola established her distinctive visual and narrative style, following in the footsteps of her aunt Sofia Coppola. She blends intimacy and tenderness in stories centered on teenagers and endearing, often broken women, brought to life through pale, cool, and melancholic tones. Her films portray narratives woven into disillusionment and hope. Time will tell whether the filmmaker will help Millie Bobby Brown reinvent herself after the phenomenonal show Stranger Things, whose fifth season is now available on Netflix…
The first episodes of Stranger Things season 5 are available on Netflix from November 27th, 2025. The release date for Perfect remains unknown yet.
