The Sweet Life of Cole and Dylan Sprouse

This is the sweet life. They’ve got the sweet life. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be checking in with Cole and Dylan Sprouse, two of the Disney Channel’s biggest stars and tracking their early on-screen beginnings up to where they are today.

Introduction to Acting

Born Cole Mitchell and Dylan Thomas Sprouse on August 4, 1992 in Tuscany, Italy, these twins caught the acting bug at a very young age; eight months to be exact. Just four months after moving back to the States, they booked their first gig in a diaper commercial on the recommendation of their grandmother, who was a drama instructor and actress. Being twins gave them a distinct advantage, as it allowed them to skirt around child labor laws that prohibited a single performer from working uninterrupted hours. Soon thereafter, they booked their first longtime gig on the ABC sitcom “Grace Under Fire,” where we got to watch them grow from infants to toddlers right before our eyes. It wasn’t until 1999 however that we got a glimpse at their nascent acting chops, starring alongside Adam Sandler in the hit comedy “Big Daddy.” Their comedic foil with Sandler made for one of his more memorable outings, and Cole’s reunion with him twenty years later at the premiere of “Uncut Gems” touched us in all the feels. Their adorable antics in “Big Daddy” were enough to garner their first batch of awards nominations too, something they would be familiar with for years to come. In one of the few roles the twins would not share, Cole returned to primetime television soon thereafter on “Friends” as Ross’s son Ben. Cap that off with appearances in “That ‘70s Show,” “The Master of Disguise,” and another Adam Sandler joint in “Eight Crazy Nights,” and the twins were putting together quite the résumé for themselves - but it was nothing in comparison to what was in store.

The Disney Channel Years

Launching them into tween superstardom, “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” debuted on the Disney Channel in March of 2005, with Dylan and Cole playing the title twins, respectively. It was one of the few Disney Channel Original Series to receive a sequel show in the form of “The Suite Life of Deck,” which similarly ran for three seasons. The two series were ratings bonanzas, with the original show earning three Emmy nominations and Dylan three Kids’ Choice Awards. Making sure to have Zack and Cody go out with a bang, however, the Disney Channel produced “The Suite Life Movie,” which aired in March of 2011. Their success as Zack and Cody was so pronounced, in fact, that Disney was quick to mash them up with their other popular shows “That’s So Raven” and “Hannah Montana” in the aptly titled three-part series “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana,” a favorite for fans of all three shows. But their influence didn’t stop at acting, as they also signed a licensing agreement with Mary Kate and Ashely Olsen’s Dualstar Entertainment to produce their own brand of products, primarily clothing, which ran from 2005 to 2008. And that’s to say nothing as their time as spokespeople for Dannon Danimals Yogurt and the Nintendo DS. Unsurprisingly, the Sprouse brothers quickly became some of the richest children in the world, to say nothing of the richest twins, and in 2010 they were also reported to be the highest paid teenaged actors on the Disney Channel.

Education & Independent Ventures

Upon ending their time portraying Zack and Cody in various media in 2011, the two brothers focused their efforts outside the acting sphere for the first time in their lives. Together Cole and Dylan attended the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, where they studied archeology and video game design, respectively, before graduating in 2015. They both got the opportunities to contribute to their fields either during or after their schooling, as Cole participated in multiple digs in Europe and Asia, whereas Dylan did some voice work on the video game “Total War: Warhammer II.” Though they otherwise kept quiet during their time at Gallatin, many fans of theirs were taken aback nonetheless when a nude photo of and privately sent out by Dylan found its way online in 2013. Seeing as we essentially watched him grow up, the less said about that the better, but the elder Sprouse did manage to take the incident in stride, writing to Tumblr, “[T]he real problem here was not me sending my pictures to someone, but rather, sending them to the WRONG someone.” To speak frankly, we’ve seen worse from former child stars, and there’s really nothing like a little growing pains to build character. Though let’s just hope we don’t see any more. Suffice to say, they both earned a great deal of life experience they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten during their time on the Disney Channel. Dylan for instance spent some time working as a host at a restaurant in New York City, seeing it as a way to try a new experience, “working somewhat below the means I’m used to, as well as a way to socialize and get out of the house,” and not out of fiscal desperation like many believed. We especially doubt that’s the case now, as Dylan founded the All-Wise Meadery in Brooklyn, New York in 2018, introducing the world to his passion for brewing.

Return to Acting

For people like Cole and Dylan who virtually grew up in front of a camera, give or take half a dozen years away from acting might not seem like a long time, but it proved to be excruciatingly so for diehard fans of theirs who just wanted to see something new from them. However not even we could have predicted how massive half of the duo’s comeback could be, as 2017 saw the return of Cole Sprouse to the small screen on The CW’s adaptation of Archie Comics “Riverdale.” On it, he plays outsider Jughead Jones, Archie’s intellectual best friend and a heartthrob to boot. Though the version of the character received some flak for not being portrayed as asexual like certain iterations of his comic counterpart, it’s hard to argue against the finished product in its own right, as Cole has conversely received a slew of Teen Choice and People’s Choice Awards for his troubles. This undoubtedly led to Sprouse making the leap to the big screen in 2019’s teen romance film “Five Feet Apart,” which received mixed reviews from critics but boasts a 79% approval rating from general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Dylan on the other hand has yet to have the kind of pronounced comeback his brother has, primarily appearing in indie and direct-to-video flicks since graduating college. That’s about to change though, as the elder Sprouse has been cast in the romance film “After We Collided,” the sequel to 2019’s “After” that’s set to be released in 2020. As great as it is to see the two Sprouses branch out independently in this new era of their careers, one can’t help but hold out hope that there just might be an onscreen reunion for the two waiting in the near future.

And that, has been the sweet life of Cole and Dylan Sprouse so far.