Who is Stranger Things cast Chrissy Cunningham

Chrissy Cunningham – played by Grace Van Dien in the Netflix hit Stranger Things season 4 is one of the major characters. Though Cunningham’s role in the series is minor, it is very impactful since she is Vecna’s first victim. And through Cunningham only we got to know how dangerous and powerful Vecna can truly be.

Chrissy Cunningham in Stranger Things has increased the curiosity of fans as they cannot help but wonder more about the actress. Here is what we know about Grace Van Dien – actress who plays Chrissy Cunningham in the Netflix hit series.

Who is Chrissy Cunningham in Stranger Things Season 4?

The season 4 of Stranger Things is definitely scarier than all of before with Vecna as one of the creepiest monsters. Vecna has a humanoid appearance with a terrifying origin story as he makes use of the children’s trauma against them in a very mean manner. Vecna traps his victims by learning their secret and haunting the person with this information before eventually dragging the person into Upside Down and killing them.

The season 4 of the Netflix hit series Stranger Things introduces a fictional character named Chrissy Cunningham which is played by the actress Grace Van Dien. Chrissy appears in the premiere of the fourth season as a popular cheerleader in Hawkins high school, Indiana. She seems to have everything perfectly going for her with good popularity in school, looking pretty, and dating school’s basketball star Jason Carver (played by Mason Dye).

Advertisement

However, just like every other thing in the Stranger Things, everything is not as same as it looks on the surface. Chrissy is suffering from serious self image issues and depression due to the emotional abuse that she suffered from the hands of her mother. We can also see that Chrissy is terrified as throughout the episode she experiences disturbing and disorienting hallucinations. In one of the hallucinations, the head cheerleader is chased by a terrifying creature from another dimension. In the end, she dies a tragic death at the hands of Vecna physically across the dimensions along with opening the portal in the spot where she died.     

In the season 4 of the hit Netflix series, Vecna lures few Hawkins High students into his trap, starting with poor Chrissy Cunningham.Though the audience didn’t get much time to know Chrissy Cunningham on the screen, we can see Vecna digging up cheerleader’s fraught relationship with her mother as well as sneak peek in the budding friendship with Eddie (played by Joseph Quinn).

Who plays Chrissy Cunningham in Stranger Things?

Chrissy Cunningham is portrayed by the 26 year old Los Angeles based actress named Grace Van Dien. She started acting at the mere age of nine and was heavily influenced by her mother and father. Though she has appeared in several roles, Stranger Things easily remains one of her biggest roles till date. She started her acting career in 2012 and has appeared in several television shows and movies like the House of Secrets, Charlie Says, Max Winslow, Greenhouse Academy, and The Village.

Grace Van Dien is also a Twitch streamer and often streams herself while playing the different video games and interacts with fans. She has also dabbled in directing.   

As per reports from Marie Calire, Van Dien tried her luck in acting because of her parents who themselves are involved in this industry. Dien’s father – Casper Van Dien has starred in All American and Starship Troopers while her mother is Carrie Mitchum who has starred in The Bold and the Beautiful.   

Casper Van Dien has been a huge supporter of his daughter Grace Van Dien’s chosen career of acting. He even attended Grace’s premiere of the NBC series The Village and seemed to be extremely proud of his daughter.

Advertisement

It also seems that Grace Van Dien is keeping busy after her Stranger Things gig. At present, IMDb lists four projects for her which includes Julius Caesar Live Read!, Vengeance, Aaah! Roach!, and The Fix.

How did Chrissy Cunningham die in Stranger Things?

Vecna lures his victim into the Upside Down by learning their secret and haunting them with it before eventually killing them. To the regular world, it seems that the person is possessed. The victim’s body will be floating in the air with the eyes rolled back in the regular world. And when Vecna has got to the victim, the person’s bones start to crack with their body contorting and molding in natural ways. The death of Vecna’s victim is definitely one of the scariest and terrifying scenes in Stranger Things season 4.    

In the season 4 of the Stranger Things we can see Chrissy Cunningham being haunted by the nightmares that are caused by the hellish Vecna which shows the dead bodies of her family members. Though it is not confirmed whether these visions are something that the head cheerleader has experienced or it is just something which she sees coming. Cunningham dies while trying to buy drugs from Eddie Munson to try and steer clear of these horrible visions.

Chrissy suffered brutal injuries as she was slammed back into the ceiling first. Her limbs were twisted and snapped in a brutal manner with her eyes busted out. Even her jaw was snapped and twisted. This catastrophic death certainly surprised and traumatized the viewers. Eddie, who witnessed her friend’s death, was terrified and quickly fled from there. The cheerleader’s body was then dropped to the floor and she died.  

Even with her horrific death at the premiere of season 4, Chrissy Cunningham’s ghost stayed heavy throughout the season. Eddie is accused of Cunningham's murder and is man hunted by both police as well as the basketball team. Jason seems to be deeply impacted by her death and starts a Satanic Panic variation of the 80’s in her dead girlfriend’s name. Chrissy’s mangled body is also shown several times throughout the season 4 in the Upside Down, as the body is attached to the gross looking pillar and remains in Vecna’s stronghold.

Advertisement

At the final episode it was also revealed that the place where Chrissy was murdered, that is Eddie’s trailer is now a portal to Upside Down.  

Joseph Quinn who plays the role of Eddie on the Stranger Things said that the filming of Chrissy Cunningham’s gruesome death scene was far less scary in person. Quinn told Men’s Health, ‘I’m seeing Grace very unelegantly suspended in the air in a harness, complaining. But then there was an amazing stunt where Chrissy’s character gets slapped up onto the ceiling. But there were no bones broken or anything like that. It was very methodical, and it took a while. But the end result is terrifying, isn’t it?’ Well, it sure is.  

Is Chrissy from Stranger Things 4 a Huge Gaming Streamer?

Recently, Grace Van Dien is trending online because of her Twitch streams, where she plays battle royale games like Valorant and Overwatch.

As per the IGN India reports, Grace Van Dien has exploded on Twitch since playing the role of Chrissy Cunningham on Stranger Things. Before starring in the hit Netflix series, Van Dien averaged less than a hundred views on her videos. But now Van Dien’s views on the twitch streams have exploded to the thousands. It seems like Grace Van Dien has an option of a solid second career path if she ever wants to leave or take a break from acting.  

Grace Van Dien is also a certified Instagram star with a massive following of more that 1 million people with mere 95 posts. She also has over 10,000 followers on Twitter which is predicted to grow as her performance in the series catches up to the audience.

Whether or not we will get justice for what happened to Chrissy Cunningham in the Stranger Things season 4 remains unclear. However, the two episodes are still left for the season 4 of this Netflix series and anything can happen in them. These episodes are all set to premiere on July 1, 2023. Though it is clear that Chrissy is gone, she is not forgotten. And of course there is always a possibility of creators trying something different with her reanimated corpse in the remaining season. 

Advertisement

ALSO READ: Grace Van Dien says a producer asked sexual favours from her on set, ‘I cried and I was so upset’