Dylan Sprouse and his twin brother, Cole, were child stars best known for The Suite
Life of Zack and Cody.
While Cole is back in the spotlight as Jughead in the hit series Riverdale, Dylan is still
mostly flying under the radar.
Here's how Dylan is living his best life away from the spotlight.
Pouring coffee in NYC
People can be unkind when a well-known actor is discovered working a non-actorly gig.
Dylan learned this the hard way when, in 2013, he was found whipping up lattes in the East
Village's Mudspot Café & Restaurant.
As the Daily Mail not-so-elegantly put it,
"Former Disney star forced to deny he's broke after being photographed working as a restaurant
host."
Vulture even reported that his presence at the coffee shop "startled" several customers.
Dylan explained,
"I think they were just confused.
[I] was just doing what I impulsively thought I needed to do.
And I knew I'd have a great time doing it."
His reasons for working at the shop were far from salacious.
In 2013, he told Access Online he was interested in learning more about the restaurant industry,
and that he also needed, quote, "some pocket cash on the side to pay off [his] video game
habits."
He went on to say,
"Popular media dictates that anything besides acting is a step down.
I personally love to stay busy and keep my work ethic up, and I thought this was a really
cool opportunity to do that."
Studying at NYU
In May 2015, Dylan and Cole Sprouse graduated with honors from NYU, as E! Online reported.
During his time at the university, Dylan primarily studied video-game design, creative writing,
and figurative painting, according to the New York Post.
On graduation day, Dylan shared since-deleted photos of him and Cole decked out in billowy
gowns and caps with gold tassels.
In the caption, he wrote,
"Smarter better faster stronger.
Finished NYU now onto the next."
Dylan's college experience was an unusual one.
He certainly didn't waltz through the hallways undetected.
In September 2015, Seventeen magazine published an article entitled: "What Happens When Your
Celeb Crush Lives in the Dorm Room Next to Yours."
The piece detailed a certain female student's experiences "shar[ing] a wall with Dylan Sprouse."
However, the contents don't exactly constitute a bombshell.
According to the student,
"[Dylan] hung out with his roommates a lot and liked to listen to music.
[He] didn't throw parties or have a parade of girls over."
Being selective
It's no wonder Dylan didn't come crawling back to Hollywood right after graduating college.
Both he and his brother, Cole, have been acting, quite literally, since they were in diapers.
"We were very annoying little children so it was hard to ignore us."
In fact, People reports they'd both starred in diaper commercials even before their first
birthdays.
The two brothers also took turns playing a 5-year-old orphan in Adam Sandler's 1999 hit
Big Daddy…
"I gotta go now!"
"Hey didn't you pee enough in bed already?"
And they both played the role of Patrick Kelly on ABC's Grace Under Fire for five seasons.
"You want to help me, what kind of job should I get?"
"You should get to work right away!"
According to E! Online, Dylan wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post from June 2016,
"The project that I do next needs to be good or the character needs to be something different
from what I've done before."
At the time, he claimed he was setting his sights on projects that were somehow more
"provocative" than, say, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
He added,
"It's actually the only thing I stress about.
What thing do I have to show people I'm doing next?
What legacy am I leaving?"
Being purposefully obtuse
If Sprouse hasn't been on your radar lately, that's partially by design.
He seems to innately gravitate towards left-field projects, perhaps because he's been wholly
submerged in the mainstream for the better part of his life.
"Oh I got something, a surprise."
"That's so rad."
Talking about his brother Cole's ongoing stint on The CW's Riverdale, Dylan told Vulture:
"I think Cole's in a place where he's very happy right now, whereas I would be happiest
doing more films with a lower budget."
In June 2018, Flaunt reported that Dylan was starring in the short film Carte Blanche alongside
Suki Waterhouse, which the magazine described as, quote, "a surrealist exploration of the
psychology of sudden fame."
In the 2017 film Dismissed, Dylan portrays a sociopathic student willing to do whatever
it takes to get that gold star.
"I know I want to go to Harvard, because there's no use in doing anything unless you can be
the very best at it."
Meanwhile, he also stars in the quirky rom-com Banana Split that premiered at the LA Film
Festival in September 2018.
As he told Vulture,
"I tend to enjoy roles that I very closely identify with: fringe people and complicated
characters, who might even be bad guys."
Kissing Camila
In August 2018, Sprouse revealed in a since-deleted Instagram post that he'd been working on "a
secret project" with pop star Camila Cabello, according to Teen Vogue.
It turned out to be an appearance in the music video for Cabello's single "Consequences,"
which was posted to YouTube in October 2018.
The lushly-produced video begins with Cabello taking a brisk stroll through Central Park
in fall, but there's a problem: she keeps getting interrupted by a very handsome ghost.
The specter taunts Cabello with memories of some bygone romance, and the whole thing is
quite effectively bittersweet.
In case you haven't guessed, the supernatural entity is played by Dylan, a fact that could
easily be lost on some of his old-school fans.
In a tweet that finds Cabello opening up about her artistic process, the singer makes sure
to include a shout-out to Dylan, saying, in part,
"My videos are pretty much what the inside of my brain looks like.
This is what it looked like in my brain while I was trying to move on.
Thank you @dylansprouse for being amazing and wanting to be in my video."
"That's so sweet."
Dating Barbara Palvin
On October 3rd, 2018, editors at Refinery29 gently informed their readers that "We Need
To Talk About Dylan Sprouse & Barbara Palvin."
It looked like Dylan was officially in a relationship with Palvin, a Hungarian model who was named
"Rookie of the Year" by Sports Illustrated back in 2016.
If you scour Barbara Palvin's Instagram account, you'll find plenty of provocative clues as
to how the super-cute relationship has been playing out.
Refinery29 even figured out that, quote, "Sprouse officially made the grid in August."
"Introduce yourself, baby."
"Oh, hi I'm Dylan, and, uh, this is-"
"He's well trained."
"Yes, ma'am."
Similarly, the pop-culture sleuths over at Cosmopolitan revealed that the couple was,
quote, "not holding back on the canoodling" while attending the Harper's Bazaar ICONS
party in September 2018.
"Now we're going to go home and get changed because we're going to play…"
"...pinball."
Opening a Brooklyn meadery
If you happen to find yourself in New York City, consider taking the L train to Williamsburg
to spend a few hours at All-Wise Meadery, the brewery co-founded by the one and only
Dylan Sprouse.
"In celebration of our first batch fermenting in All-Wise Meadery, we have made some brewers'
hats that we wear at the space ourselves."
To hear him say it, Dylan will be on the premises quite a bit, explaining to the New York Post
that he wanted All-Wise Meadery to be his primary source of income.
That way, he'd be able to focus on taking more left-of-center roles in projects that
are, quote, "more artistically in [his] ballpark."
He went on to share,
"The things that you do are your prayer.
Having my friends and loved ones drink and talk and be merry is spiritual, to me."
​Don't ask
Sprouse is tired of all the questions.
According to E! Online, he confessed in a now-deleted Instagram post from June 2016,
"It's a weird thing to be asked 'what are you doing now?'
Normally I wouldn't think twice."
Dylan admitted that he decided to speak up because he'd been asked this particular question
four times that day.
He said he wished he could satisfy fans' ghoulish curiosity with an honest answer, which would
be:
"[I've been] enjoying myself by relaxing, traveling, consuming media, and continuing
to learn."
For whatever reason, people never find that response quite delicious enough.
He went on to explain,
"The truth is that, unless I'm doing something bigger and better than what I've previously
done, people deem it regressive."
Is Dylan the only person who realizes The Suite Life of Zack and Cody isn't the toughest
act to follow?
"That's, that's a good one."