Dylan Sprouse Calls His Disney Channel Days ‘Child Labor’
By Alexus Mosley
Photo Credit: Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images
Dylan Sprouse is getting candid about what it was really like growing up on the Disney Channel.
The former Suite Life of Zack & Cody star reflected on his years as a child actor during an appearance on the Wildmen podcast, where he didn’t shy away from describing the experience as exactly what it was to him: work.
“Some kids used to work in coal mines and guard the mine cart door when they were 15, we just sang and danced,” Sprouse said. “It’s still child labor.”
Sprouse, who rose to fame alongside his twin brother Cole Sprouse on the hit Disney Channel series, compared working in television as a child to having a traditional full-time job. “When you’re working on television, it’s a day job,” he explained. “You go in, you clock in, you clock out, you have a cubicle, you work.”
Of course, Sprouse acknowledged that working on a television set is considerably different from sitting in an office. But the hours and routine, he said, still made acting feel very much like a job.
Sprouse also opened up about the emotional impact his early career had on him.
When a television production ended, the actor said he would be left with a “void,” as his self-esteem had become closely connected to whether he was working and spending time on set.
Now 34, Sprouse admitted he is still navigating some of the “mental hurdles” left over from that period of his life.
The conversation came up ahead of an appearance from fellow former child actor Mark Indelicato, who was only 12 when he began starring as Justin Suarez on ABC’s Ugly Betty.
Sprouse said he was interested in hearing how Indelicato had dealt with growing up in the entertainment industry, once again describing their shared experience as “child labor.”
Indelicato ultimately agreed with many of Sprouse’s observations, particularly the difficulty of explaining the experience to people who didn’t spend their childhoods working professionally.
“We have to grapple with the reality of our lived experience, as does everyone,” Indelicato said, adding that former child stars can benefit from keeping one another close because they understand what the experience was actually like.
One thing Sprouse believes made his childhood experience easier was having his twin brother, Cole, beside him.
The brothers worked together long before becoming Disney Channel fixtures, appearing in projects including Big Daddy and Grace Under Fire before landing The Suite Life of Zack & Cody in 2005.
Having someone beside him who understood both the highs and the more complicated realities of growing up on camera is something Dylan remains grateful for.
And more than two decades after he began working in Hollywood, his comments add to an increasingly public conversation among former child stars about what happens when your childhood also happens to be your career.