All About Finn Wolfhard’s Parents, Eric Wolfhard and Mary Jolivet

Eric Wolfhard and Mary Jolivet always supported Finn Wolfhard’s career in entertainment

Finn Wolfhard inherited his love of the performing arts from his parents, Eric Wolfhard and Mary Jolivet.

Eric, who was once a signed screenwriter, exposed his son to great movies, while Jolivet showed Finn classic albums by bands like The Beatles. They raised him in Vancouver, Canada, where the Stranger Things star picked up a guitar for the first time and started seeking out freelance acting gigs as a young kid.

From the start, Finn’s parents supported him in his entertainment industry endeavors, and they still do today. Although Eric and Jolivet stay out of the spotlight for the most part, Finn makes sure to express his love for them and give them credit in interviews and on social media.

In June 2020, the actor shared an Instagram photo from his high school graduation that featured himself, his brother Nick Wolfhard and their parents.

“Thanks to these people who kidnapped me at birth and raised me,” he joked in his caption. After listing other people who are also important to him, Finn emphasized, “I honestly could not have made it without you.”

From passing on their creative genes to keeping their talented son grounded, here’s everything to know about Finn Wolfhard’s parents, Eric Wolfhard and Mary Jolivet.

They share two sons

Eric and Jolivet are also the parents of Finn’s older brother Nick, who is in the entertainment industry as well. They welcomed Nick in 1997 and Finn in 2002.

Nick is an animated voice actor and starred in the Netflix series, The Last Kids on Earth. The brothers actually worked together in 2013 when they both appeared in the short film, Aftermath — and they have plans to collaborate again.

They’re both set to star in the upcoming sci-fi animation series, New-Gen.

Related: All About Finn Wolfhard's Brother, Nick Wolfhard

They raised him in Canada

Eric and Jolivet brought up their sons in Vancouver, Canada. During a December 2019 chat with Ryan Reynolds for Interview Magazine, Finn reflected, “There’s no way I’d be the same person if I wasn’t raised here in Vancouver.”

In 2020, he waited out the COVID-19 pandemic at his parents’ Vancouver home. According to The Guardian, the ceilings are “wood-paneled and whitewashed, like the ceilings of a seaside cottage.”

Speaking to the newspaper in June 2020, Finn shared that he “had to learn how to be bored” there for a while.

Eric is an indigenous rights researcher

Eric is a researcher on aboriginal land claims, per The New York Times. According to his LinkedIn profile, he’s the co-founder of VLW Research and focuses on “extractive, treaty and litigation-driven research on indigenous land and boundary issues in Canada and Africa.”

He investigates territorial definition, aboriginal title and rights, compensation for illegal land and more.

“My dad was a lawyer and is now an indigenous rights researcher, so there is talk and historical awareness of indigenous issues in our house all the time,” Finn shared with Coup de Main in April 2017.

He explained, “In my schools there are members of aboriginal communities facing challenges just being who they are.” The actor added that Eric helped run a school.

In addition to his work as a lawyer and as a researcher, Eric shares his son’s love of entertainment. At one point, he was a screenwriter and signed to the Gersch agency in Los Angeles, per The Guardian.

They encouraged his love of music and acting

While speaking with The Guardian in June 2020, Finn emphasized that he inherited his music and film interests from his family. Jolivet used to be an artist and then took on the role of  “great stay-at-home mom,” he said.

Finn also shared during a November 2021 interview with NME that his father loved the original Ghostbusters film. Eric would “would quote it all the time,” according to the actor, who starred in the 2021 sequel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife and its 2024 follow-up.

Finn added, “It was a huge part of growing up. Being in the new one doesn’t feel real, I still haven’t figured it out yet.”

One year, Eric gifted Finn with John Cassavetes: Five Films on The Criterion Collection for his birthday and Christmas. “They blew my mind,” Finn told The Hollywood Reporter in January 2020.

He also recalled both of his parents passing on their music taste, often playing classic albums in the car. Jolivet introduced Finn to The Beatles when he was 6, per The New York Times.

He joked to the newspaper during the September 2017 chat that the introduction was “actually kind of late.” The following year, he began to play bass guitar and eventually went on to sing and play guitar in the bands, Calpurnia and The Aubreys.

They played a key role in his career

Finn started out acting by finding freelance gigs on Craigslist when he was 9. “I see how that can sound sketchy,” he told The New York Times in September 2017. A few years later, Eric hired an agent to help out.

Nick opened up about his father’s role in Finn’s career during a September 2019 interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet.

“There was a period in time where my brother Finn was doing It and [the film], at the time, fell through,” he recalled. “He was so bummed about it and he didn’t want to do acting again ... My dad [and I] were like, ‘No, you’ve got to keep going.”

Jolivet also encouraged Finn on his journey pursuing acting. In a May 2018 Instagram post, Finn shared an adorable throwback photo of himself as a toddler posing with his mother.

“Hey Mom thanks for letting me perform my stand up bits when I was 7,” he wrote in his caption. “They were a real game changer.”

Finn and Eric have worked together

In addition to acting, Finn enjoys working behind the scenes. He wrote and directed Night Shifts, a 2020 comedy/horror short film, and he notably got to collaborate with Eric on the project.

“My dad, who has a legal background, but is also a writer and with me on all my sets, also offered to help produce,” Finn told The New Current in 2020. “Actually, he didn’t — I made him!”

The actor explained that Eric was instrumental in getting a visa for one of the stars of Night Shifts, Artoun Nazareth. (Nazareth is an American citizen, and the film was shot in Canada.)

Finn recalled, “My dad had to put together applications and a business case and although it was successful, he confessed that until he saw Artoun come through customs at the airport on the day before we shot, he was never sure that they would actually let him through.”

Finn credits them with keeping him grounded

During their conversation for Interview Magazine in December 2019, Reynolds asked Finn how he handles fame at a young age, to which he explained that his parents have always kept him grounded.

“Number one, I have great parents, a great family, and people who support me, but who also keep me in line,” he said. The actor added that he’s been “weirdly disciplined” since he was very young.

Finn is also open about his parents showing him respect when he was a kid. “I was raised in a household where kids’ opinions were just as valued as adults, and I think that was important for me,” he told CBC Radio in June 2019.

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