Noah Schnapp stars in the critically acclaimed Netflix Original Series STRANGER THINGS, where he portrays ‘Will Byers’ opposite Winona Ryder. The first volume of the fourth season was released on May 27, 2022, breaking Netflix’s premiere weekend viewership records and putting the show on track to become the streaming platform’s most watched English language series; volume two debuted on July 1, 2022. The first volume of the season received 13 nominations for the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, winning five. The hit series has received various accolades, including a 2021 Kids' Choice Award nomination for Favorite Family TV Show, 2020 Peabody Award, Show of the Year at the 2019 People’s Choice Awards, a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series; two MTV Movie & TV Awards for Show of the Year; an AFI award for TV Program of the Year; and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama Television Series. To date, the series has received 30 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including two for Outstanding Drama Series. For his role as Will, Schnapp has received a 2022 People’s Choice Award for ‘Male TV Star,’ as well as the ‘Most Frightened Performance’ award at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards and ‘Choice Summer TV Star: Male’ at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards. He is also an honoree of Variety’s Youth Impact Award.

Most recently, Noah can be next seen starring in ‘The Tutor’ alongside Garrett Hedlund, Victoria Justice, and Jonny Weston. Beyond his acting career, Noah has been involved in multiple business ventures. Noah has just launched his first product TBH (To Be Honest), a venture-backed, sustainably focused snacking brand that promises to be better for consumes and better for the planet. In addition, Noah has joined the new Roll app as an advisor, a platform that allows fans to get an inside look at their favorite creator or celebrity’s camera roll. Noah will continue developing his business savvy during the 2022 school year at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2020, Schnapp starred in multiple feature films. First, he stared in the film adaptation of WAITING FOR ANYA alongside Angelica Huston, which was released in February. Set in southern France during the Second World War, WAITING FOR ANYA follows young shepherd boy Jo (Schnapp) and his extraordinary involvement in smuggling Jewish children across the border into Spain. Schnapp was also the lead in ABE, an indie drama that tells the story of Abraham, a 12-year-old boy with a passion for cooking who has never known a family dinner without arguments. The film originally premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Most recently, Schnapp appeared in Adam Sandler’s Netflix comedy HUBIE HALLOWEEN. The Netflix original features an all-star cast including Kevin James, Julie Bowen, Maya Rudolph, Steve Buscemi, Kenan Thompson and more. Schnapp also joined the voice cast of “Wolves in the Wall,” an animated virtual reality series based on Neil Gaiman’s children book. He voices the brother of Lucy, the main character of “Wolves.”

Schnapp’s additional film credits include Steven Spielberg’s Oscar winning Cold War thriller, BRIDGE OF SPIES, as well as the indie feature WE ONLY KNOW SO MUCH, based on the Elizabeth Crane novel. In addition, Noah also participated in the Sundance Director’s Lab, where he shot the lead role of ‘Henry’ in director Brent Green’s feature, UNTITLED LOVELESS FABLE. Most notably, Noah voiced the role of the one and only ‘Charlie Brown’ in the Fox feature film PEANUTS, director Steve Martino’s new take on Charles Schulz’s classic series.

Photo Credit: Mark Selinger

Brian Selznick is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed illustrator whose books have sold millions of copies, garnered countless awards worldwide, and been translated into more than 35 languages. His novel, Big Tree (April 4, 2023 worldwide publication), which began as an original idea from film legend Steven Spielberg, is a trailblazing adventure with nearly 300 pages of illustrations. Selznick broke open the novel form with his innovative and genre-defying thematic trilogy, beginning with the Caldecott Medal-winning and bestselling book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, adapted into Martin Scorsese's Academy Award-winning movie Hugo. He followed that with the #1 New York Times bestseller, Wonderstruck, adapted into the eponymous movie by celebrated filmmaker Todd Haynes, with a screenplay by Selznick, and the New York Times bestseller, The Marvels.

Selznick's two most recent books for young people, Baby Monkey, Private Eye, co-written with his husband David Serlin, and Kaleidoscope, a New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2021, were both New York Times bestsellers. He also illustrated the 20th anniversary edition covers of the Harry Potter series. In praising his body of work, The Washington Post said, "Brian Selznick proves to be that rare creator capable of following one masterpiece with another." The Associated Press called Selznick "one of publishing's most imaginative storytellers." His recent collaborations include a reimagined Nutcracker at the Joffrey Ballet with Christopher Wheeldon and a screenplay of the forthcoming animated version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby with William Joyce as director. Learn more at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/brianselznick.

Photo Credit: Slimane Lalami

Jessica Yu is the Doodle Team Lead at Google, where she oversees the team responsible for the fun & surprising changes made to the Google logo that celebrate events, people, places, and things that impact/have impacted local culture. The team launches over 450 Doodles globally a year. Prior to joining Google, Jessica was a masthead-level editor at The Wall Street Journal serving as the Global Head of Visuals. The team of visual storytellers, designers, developers, data-visualization experts, and photo editors produced work spanning print, desktop, mobile, and app. Earlier in her career at The Journal, Jessica was based in Hong Kong where she led The Journal’s Asia visuals operations.

Jessica is a native of Virginia and has been based in Hawaii, California, New York and Hong Kong. In her spare time, Jessica chases after her variably-behaved children and eats lots of chocolate.

A 25-year veteran of the classroom, Kurt Russell was first inspired to become a teacher in middle school, when he encountered his first Black male teacher. Now as 2022 National Teacher of the Year, he plans to advocate for classrooms to better reflect the students within them — from a curriculum that reflects their backgrounds and identities to a more diverse teaching profession.

Kurt teaches history at Oberlin High School in Oberlin, Ohio, where he was born and raised; his classes include African American history, which he has taught since the late 1990s, and Race, Gender and Oppression, a class he developed. He also serves as faculty advisor for the student-led Black Student Union, whose work has led to positive impacts for students across racial groups. In addition to his classroom and extracurricular duties, Kurt is the head coach for the school’s varsity basketball team. He sees basketball as an extension of the classroom, and a place where young people can learn about working together and how to handle both adversity and success. Kurt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in history and a minor in Black studies from the College of Wooster and a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction from Ashland University. He continues to take courses in child development at Oakland City University.

He was previously recognized as teacher of the year by the Oberlin Heritage Center and the Oberlin chapter of the NAACP, and as Lorain County Basketball Association Coach of the Year and the Northeast Ohio Coach of the Year.

Kurt lives with his wife, Donna, in Oberlin. They are the parents of two adult sons, Kurt Junior (KJ) and Korey. Kurt enjoys reading non-fiction and traveling.