Erik von Detten: From Disney Dreamboat to Family Man
If you were a girl growing up in the nineties, chances are you had a crush on Erik von Detten. He starred in several movies such as The Princess Diaries and the Toy Story franchise and was a regular on several television shows, as both an actor and a voiceover star.
However, he left the business in 2010 after appearing in Toy Story 3 and went on to marry and become a father to an eighteen month old daughter. He and his wife also have another baby on the way later this month.
E! News caught up with him recently to see what he is up to now. Check out the highlights below.
ON STAYING GROUNDED:
My mother was very good at making sure I had a perfect balance. I socialized with kids and kids in the entertainment industry. When I got into my teens, she gave me my freedom to go to premieres, but she definitely made sure I stayed close and didn’t get into the partying scene too much. There are situations when drugs are offered at parties or whatever and I always had the moral compass to know that’s just a one-way street. So, probably just a combination of upbringing and moral compass. So yeah, I survived.
ON LEAVING HOLLYWOOD:
At that time (After Princess Diaries), we didn’t have Netflix and all these expanded options with thousands and thousands of roles. I would literally go for a length of time without any roles that I fit the bill for. I mean, you’re either in the very top half a percent doing very well or, well…it’s just very competitive.
Since I was a kid, I wanted to have a large family. And, in Los Angeles, that requires a consistent, realistic income. So, the fickle nature of employment as an actor just wasn’t consistent enough for me. Luckily, simultaneously when things started to slow down in acting in my early 20s, another opportunity presented itself for me with a company that I started working with at age 25. And I’ve been with that company ever since. It’s a sales position with a company working in finance. I’ve grown into a management position and it’s worked out really well.
WILL HE ACT AGAIN?
Absolutely. Someone wrote a cameo for me for a Netflix pilot, like, a year ago. It was just one day of shooting and it was fun. So, if there’s a script with a role that doesn’t require an arduous audition process, I’m definitely open. It’s just not a consistent career…
For more on Erik, check out the rest of the article on https://www.eonline.com/news/1244384/whatever-happened-to-erik-von-detten-a-rare-conversation-with-your-childhood-crush
Excerpts from the article are from E!
