Lizzie McGuire star Jake Thomas is now unrecognizable as he reveals surprise career pivot

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

You may remember actor Jake Thomas for his role as Lizzie McGuire's mischievous little brother, Matt, on the hit 2001 Disney show - but it turns out that he's not so little anymore.
The popular show ran on the Disney Channel for two seasons from 2001 to 2004 but he also reprised the role for the beloved 2003 film.
He landed the role when he was just 11 years old. Now, aged 35, the actor looks a lot different from his days on Disney, but is still heavily involved in the business.
Nowadays, Thomas is all grown-up.
In an exclusive interview with FEMAIL, Thomas revealed what he's up to these days, and how his life has changed since being on the show all those years ago.
After taking a bit of a break from acting to attend college, the star now resides in Los Angeles and is exploring a myriad of different projects.
Fans might be surprised to know that the actor is now dedicating his focus to MindsEye, which is an action-adventure video game set in the near-future fictional desert city.
Thomas provides both the voice and performance capture for character Marco Silva.
'This honestly is no different from on camera acting,' Thomas told DailyMail.com of his new role.
'You have to use your imagination way more because you're on a small soundstage, and you just kind of have to imagine everything that's happening,' he continued.
He said that his character, Silva, is one that you'll only be able to figure out by playing the game, as he's quite complex.
'Silva kind of runs the city without really running the city,' the Cory in the House actor said.
'All the cars are his own companies, all of the robots that are throughout the whole city are of his own companies, and he's a little bit of, I would say, maniacal a**hole, but you kind of have to play the game to find out if he's a good guy or a bad guy,' he shared.
However, this is not his first foray into video games.
'The first video game I was in was probably 20 something years ago. It was a PlayStation two video game called Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer, in which I played the title character,' he explained.
'But completely different experience, because that was me in a voiceover booth,' he continued. 'Really no reference to go off of for anything.'
Thomas detailed that the technology nowadays is so advanced, especially as he worked on MindsEye.
They had him wearing a helmet complete with two tiny cameras pointing at his face that tracked all of his facial movements, capturing every single detail from his performance.
In addition to acting in MindsEye, Thomas is still pretty involved in the children's television world.
'I have been directing for commercials with a lot of Nickelodeon promos, toy commercials, stuff like that,' Thomas revealed to DailyMail.com.
'I kind of rely on my background as a as a child actor,' he said. 'I know what it's like to, you know, be a kid on set and make that a fun and enjoyable experience. It's really been a blessing.'Lizzie McGuire star Jake Thomas sports drastically different look as he reveals surprise career pivot
Taking from his time on set as a kid, he wants to encourage an environment where the young talent can just have fun.
Thomas said that nothing should ever be 'too serious' while on set.
'Have fun, keep attitudes great, and just make it a fun experience for the kids,' he said.
'It really doesn't have to be that complicated.'
And as for the rest of the Lizzie McGuire cast? It's definitely a mixed bag as to what they're all up to.
'Everybody from the cast is really, kind of doing their own stuff, really just a wide spread of different things,' he shared.
'I mean, we've got lawyers, we've got people who are now just doing filmmaking and writing and then and singing and then real estate,' he continued.
'Everybody's doing a little bit of everything.'