Former Disney star Dylan Sprouse says acting as a kid was ‘child labor’
Former Disney Channel star Dylan Sprouse is opening up about his complicated feelings regarding his career as a child actor, calling the work he did as a kid "child labor."
Sprouse, 34, discussed the topic during a recent episode of his podcast, "Wildmen," which he co-hosts with Brendan Columbus. The episode featured guest Mark Indelicato, known for playing Justin Suarez on "Ugly Betty" from ages 12 to 15, and Sprouse said he was eager to explore the demands placed on young performers.
"I definitely want to dive in and talk with him a little bit about some of that, how he's coped growing up in the industry because, essentially, we're beating around the bush, but it's child labor," Sprouse said. "Like, when you work at that age, some kids used to work in coal mines and guard the mine cart door when they were 15, we just sang and danced. It's still child labor!"
Sprouse, who shares a twin brother with actor Cole Sprouse, also shared that he continues to navigate his own "mental hurdles" as an adult working in the entertainment industry, an industry he has been part of for most of his life.
"I act like a kid anyway. So, I wonder if I'm just always chasing that," he said.
The twins began acting at a very young age. They shared the role of Patrick Kelly on "Grace Under Fire" from infancy until they were five, then made their feature film debut at six in "Big Daddy" alongside Adam Sandler, playing the role of Julian. Their big break came with the Disney Channel series "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," followed by its spin-off "The Suite Life on Deck." After the spin-off ended, Dylan stepped away from acting to attend New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he studied video game design. He graduated in May 2015.
On the podcast, Sprouse compared working as a child actor to holding down a full-time office job, saying he developed a workaholic mindset from an early age.
"I've described this to people a lot before – when you're working on television, it's a day job," he said. "You go in, you clock in, you clock out, you have a cubicle … it's different, but it's the same hours. You work it like that."
Sprouse also spoke to Indelicato about the emotional toll he experienced as a young actor, describing a sense of emptiness that followed the end of each project.
"It feels like my self-esteem, for a long time, was tied integrally to my ability to work and be on set," he explained.
His twin Cole has previously spoken publicly about their upbringing and the family's early involvement in the entertainment industry. In a March 2023 appearance on "The Diary of a CEO" podcast, Cole said their mother's decision to put them in acting "made a lot of financial sense for her at the time," adding, "I think it satisfied some sort of narcissism she probably had."
In a separate interview that same month on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, Cole elaborated on the differing priorities of his parents. "My father desperately wanted us to be normal kids, and my mother wanted us to be a bit more of a caricature of two normal kids," he said. He went on to explain that when his father was granted forced custody, the family lost much of what they had earned during the twins' earliest acting years, including residuals from "Friends" and "Big Daddy."
"My mother was an incredibly wonderful and artistic woman, but she was financially the most irresponsible person ever," Cole said.
Dylan has returned to acting sporadically since graduating, though not as frequently as his brother. His recent comments suggest that even as an adult, he is still processing the long-term effects of growing up in front of the camera.