Born in Perth in 1994, Australian actor Dacre Montgomery isn’t your usual rise-to-fame story. He kicked off acting when he was just nine, juggling school plays and tiny short films before landing his first on-screen job in 2011’s Aussie pilot Family Tree. Years later, the world caught up with him when Netflix’s Stranger Things dropped. And suddenly? Billy Hargrove blew up overnight!
But before walking the Upside Down, Dacre suited up as Jason Scott (in the original Red Ranger in the franchise reboot), playing a troubled teen who becomes a hero in a high-concept blockbuster. Since then, the actor hasn’t slowed down. He’s been hopping between rom-coms, horror flicks, thrillers, you name it.
This year, he starred in the drama What We Hide, and now he’s calling the shots with his first forthcoming directorial project, The Engagement Party. Right now, he’s carving his spot as one of Hollywood’s most unpredictable talents. So, here’s a quick rundown of his five standout performances that prove exactly why.
1. Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things (2017-2022)
Billy Hargrove attracted viewers’ attention from the very moment he showed up in Hawkins. Dacre plays the abusive older step-brother to Max, a dangerous yet charismatic bully with a dark undercurrent. Billy is the kind of character you love to hate. Although he does bring that Camaro-cool aggression, with his mullet and the denim jacket, he’s also one of the show’s more quietly wounded souls.
Billy’s arc takes him from threat to something more tragic when the monster takes over his body. Here Dacre shows range – from physical menace, emotional vulnerability, tortured self-loathing. It’s the performance that put him on the map, and audiences still refer back to Billy when they talk about the best of the show.
can we talk about Dacre’s acting in this season? he really did a wonderful job, he did show us all his abilities as an actor and i’m still impressed and obssesed. i just.. loved every single scene of billy. it was phenomenal #StrangersThings pic.twitter.com/yKKwhz8Rds
— prisci (@sawyerttpd) July 6, 2019
2. Nick Danielson in The Broken Hearts Gallery (2020)
In this film, Dacre Montgomery plays Nick Danielson. He’s a charming but quietly struggling boutique-hotel developer in NYC. Nick first appears when the film’s lead, Lucy Gulliver, drunkenly hops into his car thinking it’s a rideshare. He’s renovating an old YMCA into a hotel and finds himself thrown into Lucy’s zany idea to turn the lobby into a gallery where people leave mementos from past relationships.
Montgomery’s Nick provides the emotional foil and becomes the eventual romantic partner for Lucy. He starts off gruff, financially strapped, and emotionally guarded. However, as the project grows, so does his connection with Lucy. Together, they build the titular “Broken Hearts Gallery” and ultimately find each other. His performance shows a more romantic side compared with his more intense or action roles.
the broken hearts gallery (2020) pic.twitter.com/IgUcJL0Ae1
— rom com gifs (@romcomgif) October 21, 2025
3. Steve Binder in Elvis (2022)
In this big-budget biopic of Elvis Presley by Baz Luhrmann, Dacre takes on the role of Steve Binder. He’s the television producer who orchestrated Elvis’s landmark ’68 Special. Binder is shown as the creative mind behind Elvis’s landmark 1968 “Comeback Special.” It’s a risky revival move when Presley’s career was faltering. Montgomery’s character presents himself in the film as the one who challenges the status quo.
Dacre Montgomery brings Binder to life with a confident, quietly demanding posture. What makes this role noteworthy for Montgomery is that it moves him into historical territory. He’s not playing the central iconic figure (that’s Austin Butler’s Elvis), but he’s playing the insider-agent of change. So, though it is a smaller role in a sprawling film, but one laden with historical weight. It signals a more mature phase in his career.
thinking rn about that promotion picture of Dacre as Steve Binder in Elvis pic.twitter.com/rF8dTPCzQZ
— Gigi🐙 TED LASSO IS BACK (@littleweirdoss) June 13, 2022
4. Jack in Went Up the Hill (2024)
In the 2024 supernatural drama Went Up the Hill, Dacre Montgomery takes on the role of Jack, a young man who returns to New Zealand for his mother’s funeral. After that, he finds himself drawn into a chilling psychological and ghost-haunted journey.
The film shifts into darker terrain when Elizabeth’s ghost starts to inhabit both Jack and Jill. The spirit uses their bodies as vessels, manipulating their voices, their actions, and their memories. Jack finds himself forced to re-hear, relive, and reckon with his past!
Montgomery’s performance leans heavily into emotional disorientation and haunted vulnerability in this project. Jack is fractured (part son, part stranger, part haunted man) trying to understand what his mother left behind and what living with her absence has done to him. One review described his portrayal as “fragile and frightening” and noted that his Jack walks a line between sadness, rage, and the uncanny.
‘WENT UP THE HILL’ starring Vicky Krieps and Dacre Montgomery to premiere at #TIFF24.
Jack attends the funeral of his estranged mother and there meets her widow, Jill. But his mother’s ghost returns to inhabit both Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other. pic.twitter.com/KktUUqILry
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) July 22, 2024
5. Richard O. “Dick” Hall in Dead Man’s Wire (2025)
Add to that Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire, and it’s clear he’s not here to play it safe. In this 2025 thriller directed by Gus Van Sant, Montgomery plays Richard O. “Dick” Hall, the president of the mortgage company who is taken hostage.
The story is based on real-life events from February 1977, when Tony Kiritsis entered Hall’s office, wired a shotgun to his own neck together with Hall as the hostage, and demanded money plus an apology from Hall’s company.
Montgomery’s role places him in the middle of the action. Like, his character is the victim of the extreme demands, hostage geometry and public spectacle. The film frames the hostage situation as a tense confrontation that also comments on power, plus money and media, too. This rendition is a shift from some of Dacre Montgomery’s earlier roles. It shows he’s willing to tackle something darker and more psychologically nuanced.
new look at bill and dacre montgomery in “dead man’s wire” 😵💰 pic.twitter.com/XXbLjHktt0
— 💭 (@loveforbill) July 21, 2025
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