Writing about someone who has not been in front of a camera for six years is not really my thing, but Jonathan Taylor Thomas is kind of an exception. This is a guy who left Home Improvement at the top of his teen fame and just walked away. Never really tried to do anything else and just went away, seemingly never to return. Well, after spending the past 13 years studying and finally graduating from Columbia last year, now Jonathan wants to act again and direct. Of course he wants to direct. Everyone comes back and wants to direct. The picture above was posted to Patricia Richardson's Twitter account at a Home Improvement reunion for Entertainment Weekly. The kids from this show had very different lives after the show.
I think I have written the most about Taran Noah Smith. He was the youngest sibling on the show. Lets see, when he was 12, his parents took money from his trust account and bought themselves a house under his name. At 17, he married someone who was almost double his age. Right after that he sued his parents and got access to his $1.5M trust fund. He then had a baby with his wife. They started selling vegan food out of the house and got shut down by the neighbors. He got divorced and he got his house foreclosed. Does anyone know if his food company Playhouse is doing any good?
Zachery Ty Bryan has tried to stay relevant and has tried to keep earning a living as an actor. I think his problem is that he still thinks he is a huge star so is not willing to take enough jobs like commercials to keep making a living and is waiting for that one big break again. Oh, he did get tased at a hotel in San Diego back in 2008. Apparently he was a registered guest, but when he came back in from buying a drink the hotel thought he was a homeless guy. They would not let him call his wife in the room and then tased him when he got upset. So, he sued them. He was arrested for DUI back in 2004 when police spotted him traveling at 100 m.p.h., pulled him over and arrested him for DUI.
Sounds as if JTT was lucky enough to have some great parents. Good for him for escaping Hollywood and successfully graduating from college. I'm sure he could have coasted along via syndication royalties, and he didn't. And now he wants to reenter the industry and do something completely different? So what? I say more power to him.
ReplyDeleteThe timing of this post is really random... today is JTT's birthday. I wonder if Enty knew that when he posted this. I only know that because it's my birthday too and we're the same age. Also, Zachery Ty Bryan used to date a friend of a friend back in the day. He seemed like a nice guy then.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was actually his birthday. Most the other bloggers had this up yesterday because of that. enty's actually a day late.
ReplyDeletenot that it really matters in the grand scheme of things.
How great does Patricia Richardson look? Actually they all look great. 10 points to JTT for not being an obnoxious ass trying to hang onto his child star fame (looking at you Frankie Muniz).
ReplyDeleteI loved Home Improvement.
JTT was also the voice of Simba in Disney's original Lion King movie! No idea if he voiced the sequels though.
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he stepped away not because of fame, but because he came out of the closet. he was only like 16 at the time and there was an uproar starting. He stepped away and it died down. It was extremely young ot come out.
ReplyDeleteI really hated this show. That is all.
ReplyDelete@brendalove - please cite your source on that. while i would never argue that he's straight, he has never come out. yes, he played a gay prostitute in an indy film and had an interview in the advocate, but has always insisted that he is not gay.
ReplyDelete@brendalove - sorry, but you're perpetuating the misconception which is possibly one of the reasons he walked away from hollywood. He was featured on the cover of Advocate magazine speaking about gay rights around the same time he acted in two films as gay characters. Then some idiots decided it meant he was gay and spread the rumors around hollywood to the point where people like you now claim something he addressed on Jay Leno. It's so easy to make a judgment from based on association. Why does someone have to be gay just because they aren't against it? I don't blame him for leaving the scene at all.
ReplyDeletejudgment based on*
ReplyDeleteProps @Cathy.
Also, I was about to complain about Wilson not being in the picture, but then I remembered he died :(
ReplyDeleteSwapping out a career as wank-fodder for a bunch of strangers for a degree from Columbia sounds like an upsell to me.
ReplyDeleteGood for him!
Actually JTT did do a little work here and there post-Home Improvement. He was in an ep of Veronica Mars!
ReplyDeleteTo RQ I say Hallelujah Brethren.
ReplyDeleteThat show, to quote an old co-worker, was terriful.
Interesting about JTT. I forgot he was the voice of Simba!
ReplyDeleteThat is really sad/depressing about TNS and ZTB (did all 3 kids seriously go by all three of their names?? ;))
That they did Lelaina- hahaha
ReplyDeleteI remember thinking how snooty sounding it was when Saved by the Bell (Im aging myself here) would show credits and Tiffany AMBER Theissen and Mark PAUL Gosslar would appear, eye roll.
And I just came on here to say that JTT looks weird to me- like not only has he emerged from being out of the spotlight for 13 yrs but he also is emerging from the basement after 13 yrs! uhhh, dude looks a little cray cray is all Im sayin'
And count me amoungst the not impressed with the show people. Even as a kid I didnt like how sexist it was, just to name one thing that was annoying. I mean, the TOOL GIRL??And here she is again in a mini titty-bearing dress. ugh
@Jasmine - Funny you should bring up Saved by the Bell b/c I was about to mention "when they hell are THEY having a reunion??" but I forgot either People/Kneepads or EW already did one (sans Screech). Also, i think that is actually a really terrible picture of JTT...I had your same reaction but I pulled up a few other more recent pics of him and they aren't nearly as bad.
ReplyDeleteThis show sucked! I never watched it and never cared. All these shows, Roseanne, Grace Under Fire, and this one came from stand-up acts. Margaret Cho had one too. A stand-up act can only go so far.
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