For most of his childhood, Cole Sprouse was naturally lumped together with his identical twin brother, Dylan Sprouse. They started their acting careers while still in diapers, unaware of the future fame their first commercial would bring. When the boys were 12, they were cast to star in their own Disney show, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. The pair spent six years in the roles due to the success of that series as well as the spin-off series The Suite Life of the Deck and then, finally, The Suite Life Movie.
At the age of 18, the twins decided to take a step back from child stardom and pursue a college education. Both were adamant about studying something other than film to gain perspective of the world outside of countdowns and stage lights. Once out of college, the two split off into different career paths. Within a year, Sprouse received a call to audition for The CW’s Riverdale. He landed the role of Jughead Jones, which launched a new phase of his career.
Here is how Cole Sprouse went from adorable child actor to brooding leading man.
Update February 14, 2024: This article has been updated following Cole Sprouse’s latest film, Lisa Frankenstein.
Cole Sprouse, As A Child Actor
In the field of acting, it can feel like children — or rather, their parents — hit the lottery when it comes to having identical twins. Sprouse says his acting career began with “a little economic loophole” because he and his brother were able to portray one baby on-screen while abiding by the child labor laws in America.
This sneaky yet smart strategy landed the pair a role in several television and movie productions, including Grace Under Fire and Big Daddy. Sprouse took a break from switching out with his brother when he was cast as Ross Geller’s son, Ben, in Friends. From juggling school work and script memorization to losing out on a normal childhood and social life, Sprouse was grateful he had his brother next to him the whole way. Still, even with his support system, it couldn’t have been easy to shoulder all that responsibility as a child.
Cole Sprouse In Disney
Probably Sprouse’s most famous role was that of Cody Martin in Disney’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. He was able to star alongside his brother in this lighthearted and comedic sitcom for three years. They were successful enough to have a spinoff series, The Suite Life on Deck, and several crossovers within other Disney shows. In 2011, at the age of 19, the duo played the role of Zack and Cody one last time in The Suite Life Movie, a rather bizarre Disney Channel Original Movie that saw the franchise go from a light-hearted sitcom set up to a movie about secret government organizations and spies.
The duo decided to take a break from the spotlight. After all, as Cole Sprouse shared in a podcast, the brothers were forced by their parents into acting. They were, as children, one of the main sources of income in the family. The twins made the decision to go to college. Instead of studying film or something like that, Sprouse pursued a degree in the humanities and archeology. It was the first time he had chosen something for himself. For 18 years, Sprouse had been told what to do, where to stand, and what to say. By leaving for college to gain insight into his own interests, he started himself on a path to happiness.
Riverdale Redefines His Career
Sprouse’s first project back to acting was Riverdale. In the series, he plays Jughead Jones, notably a much different version from the television series. He has a darker, moodier demeanor than what audiences expected from both the character of Jughead in the original Archie comics and what fans expected from Sprouse as an actor. In the series, Jughead acts as the narrator as much of what is being told is often a book that Jughead is writing. He has a complicated relationship with his best friend Archie and also becomes Betty Cooper’s main romantic interest for the first few seasons. Sprouse actually dated Betty Cooper actress Lili Reinhart from 2018 to 2020.
Riverdale proved to be a massive hit. A mid-season premiere on the CW in 2016, the series grabbed audiences’ attention due to its dark and sensual take on the typically wholesome Archie comics. The series got even bigger over the summer of 2016 when it arrived on Netflix, giving it a wider audience, which gave the show a large bump in the ratings for its season two premiere.
It made stars of many of the new actors, with Charles Melton recently getting rave reviews in May December and both Camila Mendes and Lili Reinhart becoming producers to help launch their own passion projects. Sprouse was certainly the biggest star going into the series and certainly was what a lot of people were talking about after the series premiered. Many audiences were shocked to see the cute blonde-haired kid they had seen on Disney Channel for six years now playing a sullen, moody teenager (although Sprouse was 24 by the time the series premiered). With jet-black hair and playing a tortured artist, Sprouse became a teen heartthrob and seemed to have the makings of the next Johnny Depp.
Sprouse Interesting Career Choices
With Riverdale a major hit and the cast being the hot new stars of the moment, Sprouse shot to the top of many casting lists. In a smart move, his first movie after Riverdale was 2019’s Five Feet Apart. It was his first lead role in a feature film and a highly complex part. He played Will, a young man who suffers from cystic fibrosis and falls in love with another patient, played by Haley Lu Richardson. Sprouse playing a romantic lead in a movie about dying teenagers was a smart play as it allowed him to cash in on his large female fanbase while also giving him the acting challenge of playing someone who was sick. On a $7 million budget, the movie grossed $92 million worldwide, showing that Sprouse had what it took to be a romantic leading man.
He then followed that up with 2022’s Moonshot, another romantic comedy but this time with a sci-fi twist. Sprouse worked alongside Lana Condor, and their chemistry and rapport were some of the things that stood out the most to viewers. Given that both were known for very popular YA material, the film seemed like a no-brainer, but shortly after its release on March 31, 2022, the movie was pulled from Max in July of that same year.
Sprouse clearly liked working in romance films and casting directors liked putting him in them. That is what made his 2024 choice of Lisa Frankenstein so interesting. While it is a romantic film, due to it being a horror movie, it has a bit more bite to it than his previous two films. Fans get to see a completely different side of the actor, as he spends much of Lisa Frankenstein not speaking and is giving a more physical performance. This is where the comparison between Sprouse and Johnny Depp comes into play the most because playing The Creature is very similar to Depp playing Edward Scissorhands. While Lisa Frankenstein might be a box office bomb, it is a great change of pace for the actor who perfectly fits the aesthetic and tone that director Zelda Williams and writer Diablo Cody are going for and certainly will become a cult classic in the future, much like Cody’s last bomb, Jennifer’s Body.
As can be seen from how widely different all his recent roles have been, he’s really branching out and working on projects he’s genuinely passionate about.
Cole Sprouse Is Finally Doing What He Wants To Do
When reflecting on his break from acting, Sprouse told Teen Vogue that he considered his move to college to be a very successful one despite the notion that acting is the peak of a person’s career. He was finally studying something he found interesting rather than studying his lines in a script someone forced him to read. Since he’d been doing whatever he was told throughout his childhood and teenage years, by the time he went to college, he didn’t really know what he wanted, and taking the time to figure it out was a great idea.
This way, when he returned to acting, he knew what he wanted and even managed to make peace with the path that was chosen for him. “I know there’s definitely resentment. There are definitely some things I have to work through, but no. If I were given the same choice again, I’d probably do it again,” he stated recently.
Sprouse has decided to take charge of his career and take on parts that both interest him but will shake off the perception of the child star many associate him with. Movies like Lisa Frankenstein and Five Feet Apart or shows like Riverdale show an actor experimenting with his image. He is both strategic and daring in what parts he takes. He also has made an image for himself off-camera as a socially conscious star. In 2020, he was arrested for peacefully protesting racial discrimination after the murder of George Floyd.
From a young baby in diapers to a man willing to take action for himself and what he believes in, Sprouse is an individual rising through the ranks to success, now on his own terms in both his personal and professional life. His career will take him to many exciting places, and we could be witnessing the origin of the next great Hollywood career unfolding before our very eyes.
Check out our interview with Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Netwon for their latest film, Lisa Frankenstein.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
