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Rise to Fame
He auditioned for Jonathan first. When that didn't work out, he sent a tape for Steve Harrington, the jock antagonist nobody expected to stick around past season one. Stranger Things kept complicating Steve anyway. By season 2, Keery was a series regular, and Steve had become the show's unlikely emotional center, the babysitter who runs toward the monsters while everyone else runs away. The resume before the audition included KFC and Domino's commercials.
In the Spotlight
"End of Beginning" sat on his 2022 album Decide for over a year before TikTok travel montages made it unavoidable in early 2024. It debuted at #51 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 2024, then climbed to #11. Then the Stranger Things finale hit in late 2025, and the song went again, this time to UK #1 in January 2026, with 5.4 million UK streams in a week, dethroning RAYE and holding off Taylor Swift at number two. He's now building a music career that operates entirely independently of the TV show that made him famous. That distinction matters.
Side Notes
Before Stranger Things, Keery co-founded Post Animal, a Chicago psych-rock band, while studying at DePaul University. He played with them until acting commitments pulled him away in 2018. His early solo releases went out as "Cool Cool Cool" before he settled on Djo (pronounced "Joe"). He rejoined Post Animal in 2025 to open his own tour dates. The arc from band co-founder to TV breakout to viral chart act started with a guy who went to over 100 auditions after graduation.