As played by Tahj Mowry, Teddy from Full House was one of the most adorable kids on 90s TV.
But what does Mowry look like now and what has he been up to? Here's what you need to
know.
Mowry began playing Michelle Tanner's BFF Teddy on Full House when he was just 5 years
old. And in fact, his budding acting career was one of the reasons that his parents relocated
their family to Los Angeles. Besides balancing a career and kindergarten, Mowry lived a pretty
normal childhood. When he wasn't working, his parents enrolled him in school rather
than homeschooling him. Because of this, he had no clue until later in life that his job
was making him a serious salary.
Mowry spent four years working on Full House before shooting his final episode in 1995,
in which Teddy's family moves away. It was a sad ending for such a young actor to have
to play, but as he admitted on Today in 2019, he was actually "hyped" for that moment.
"You know, I had to get a touch on the serious side of Teddy."
Little did he know at the time, but his acting career would only grow from there.
After his time playing Teddy, Mowry went on to land some more parts on other major TV
shows. In 1996, he appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. Also in 1996, he appeared
in the Central Perk coffee shop on an episode of Friends. Even though he didn't have a large
role, he was thrilled to be a part of something so big.
When fans run into Mowry, they of course often mention their love of Full House, but he's
also gotten plenty of notice for his Friends guest spot over the years. In the episode,
his character listens to Phoebe sing a song whose true meaning went over his head when
he was younger.
"I also remember how funny that scene was watching back as an adult, because, like,
I didn't get any of what Phoebe's song was about."
While Mowry was growing up on screen, so too were his famous older sisters, twins Tia and
Tamera. While he was playing Teddy, his sisters were starring in their own show, appropriately
titled Sister, Sister, which ran on ABC and then The WB from 1994 to 1999. He's happy
that they were able to maintain a strong bond during this time. He told AfterBuzz TV in
2013,
"Having the right people around you is really important. And I realize not everyone has
that close-knit family vibe that, you know, my family has."
Tahj made a few guest appearances on Sister, Sister, and that wasn't the only time the
siblings worked together. In 2000, they all starred in a TV movie called Seventeen Again,
in which Tahj and Tia played siblings, while Tamera played their grandmother who's suddenly
transformed into a teenager. Tahj still wishes he and his sisters could work together like
that more often. While talking with AfterBuzzTV, he noted that you don't have to try too hard
to find chemistry when you're working with people you've grown up with. Hopefully the
Mowry clan can find another project for them all to star in together again sometime soon.
After Tahj Mowry had roles in Full House, Sister, Sister, and other shows under his
belt, he knew that he deserved a starring project of his own. So when he was just 9
years old, he went into the offices of Warner Bros. and pitched an idea. As he told MTV
News in 2017,
"I was like, 'Yo, what's up? It's me. Gimme a show. Let's do this!'"
And that's how Smart Guy was born. The series, which ran for three seasons on The WB from
1997 to 1999, centers around Mowry as kid genius T.J. Henderson. He skips six grades
and must learn to adjust to high school as a 10-year-old. Not only did the show teach
Mowry what it meant to have a starring role, but it also may have accelerated his education
as well.
"I learned a lot. I got to use a lot of big words that I still don't know what they mean!"
Though Smart Guy originally aired on the WB, the Disney Channel began showing reruns of
the series after it ended, thereby introducing Mowry to the network's younger audience. In
2001, he became an even bigger Disney star when he received roles in two Disney Channel
original movies, Hounded and The Poof Point. Making these movies, he admitted, was his
favorite experience with the network, as he got to work alongside other actors his age.
He told Mingle Media TV in 2016,
"Back then, they did one every month, I think it was, and now they don't do 12 in a year."
Those were the good old days.
Even though Mowry's career was consistently humming along, he slowly decided that he needed
to take a step back from the spotlight, so that he could take a break to live life and
be a normal high school kid. Thankfully, finishing up his time on the Disney Channel allowed
him the flexibility to live life as an average teenager. He did voice-over work on Kim Possible
for the four years that he wasn't really acting on screen, which didn't take up too much time,
thus allowing him to go to school while he was still doing some work.
Mowry is clearly grateful that his parents forced him to attend school in person while
he was acting. He believes that it helped to make his transition from child star to
adult actor a lot smoother than it is for most other kids who grew up in the spotlight.
During an appearance on his sister Tia's YouTube channel in 2018, he noted that he can turn
off the glitz and glamour of Hollywood when he needs to.
"That's just how we were, how we were raised."
In a 2015 interview with MusicXclusives TV, Mowry noted that sometimes the best thing
to do is step away and thus allow people to miss you and want more of you. But this stepping
away wasn't meant to last forever, as his fans did indeed do want more of him. So when
his friend Jeremy Fall asked him to work on a web show, he jumped at the opportunity.
The two released weekly episodes of their series, which was called Space 58. They worked
without a script as they detailed their daily lives from the couch and performed random
skits when they felt like being jokesters. It quickly became one of the most popular
shows on the platform UStream.
Though the pair only released episodes for about a year, there may just be more vlogging
in Mowry's future. He told Afterbuzz TV in 2013 that they had talked about possibly doing
more episodes and giving them more of a TV show-type feel in which they could bring in
people to interview. This sounds like great news, as we of course would love to see more
of Mowry in whatever medium he chooses to work in.
The 2010s were a very important decade for Mowry, as that was when he became an uncle
for the very first time. As of 2020, he has four nieces and nephews to spoil, and among
that crew his niece Ariah, for one, seems to think he's pretty special, as his sister
Tamera revealed on an episode of The Real.
"He's the only one in our family that Ariah doesn't give the side eye to."
"Yo!"
As Mowry doesn't yet have any of his own children, he loves that he's able to still surround
himself with kids while fully focusing on his career. As he told MusicXclusives TV,
"I always say, it's the best form of birth control because you can just give the baby
back."
But don't get it too twisted, as Mowry would love to have his own adorable little Teddys
running around someday, too. But probably not anytime soon, as he's already plenty busy
with his nieces and nephews.
It might be fair to speculate that Mowry's nieces and nephews may have given him some
major inspiration for one of his biggest TV roles. Soon after his first nephew was born,
he began playing Tucker on the sitcom Baby Daddy, which ran on ABC Family and Freeform
for six seasons from 2012 to 2017. As he had grown up working on sitcoms, it seemed like
the perfect opportunity for him to jump back into TV. He told Hollywood Life in 2012,
"It feels like I'm coming back home in a sense."
And, in fact, it truly was meant to be. Baby Daddy director Michael Lembeck also directed
Mowry on that episode of Friends he had appeared on way back when, which Mowry considered to
be a full circle moment. The actor is happy that he's able to balance being both a normal
family man and a famous entertainer. He told Ebony in 2012,
"I've been able to come and go [in the industry as I please] and it's been a blessing."
Though Mowry has revealed a lot about his personal life on his web series Space 58,
don't expect to see a reality show starring him and his famous family anytime soon, even
though it would surely be quite popular. He told AfterBuzz TV in 2013 that he doesn't
want to do a reality show, and he's not budging on that decision.
This is in sharp contrast to his sisters, who are used to divulging their personal lives
on camera. Tamera hosts the talk show The Real, Tia hosts the YouTube series Tia Mowry's
Quick Fix, and both twins starred in the reality show Tia & Tamera. But as for their little
brother, the answer is still no, even though, as he's admitted, they ask him pretty much
every day. As he told AfterBuzz TV,
"I don't find the appeal in, like, having four cameras around you while you're at lunch
with your sisters...I'd just rather, like, stuff my face, like, with no cameras around,
or have a conversation with no cameras around."
When Mowry was on a break from Baby Daddy, he found himself attending multiple concerts.
As he revealed to AfterBuzz TV, that's the main thing he loves to do when he's on hiatus.
It was then that he decided to let his voice truly be heard in a much different way. He
had always wanted to sing, but the timing had never been right to really pursue it.
But in 2015, it was finally time.
That year, Mowry released his first album, entitled Future Funk, to the world. Describing
it as a mix of Prince and Lenny Kravitz, he wanted people to hear a sound from him that
they hadn't heard before. He told Vibe in 2015,
"I want to make a blend of genres, and do something that no one has done before. For
me, it seems like everything on the radio is the same five songs. If you were in the
future at a jazz nightclub, my music is what you would hear playing."
When he appeared on The Wendy Williams Show that same year, he shared that music is such
a passion of his, and that he felt so blessed to be at a point in his life where he could
really show that to people.
"Do people like it or they...?"
"Yeah! People are loving it. It's very funky sound. I call it 'Future Funk.'"
At this point, it's obvious that Tahj Mowry can do just about anything. So, what's next
for this still-young star? He talked about his ambitions in 2012 with Ebony, revealing,
"In the future you’re going to see me doing more film. I want to show the more serious
side of me as an actor. I just want to be able to showcase my range. I love comedy and
I will always love comedy; it's my home, but I don't just do comedy and I want to start
doing roles that will surprise people. That's what acting is all about: challenging yourself
and doing things people wouldn't expect."
In the spirit of showcasing his range, he decided to take a break from sitcoms and channel
his serious inner "Teddy moving away from San Francisco" side by starring in the upcoming
movie Welcome Matt. He told Romper in 2019,
"I play somebody who went through a traumatic experience, so he has agoraphobia so he can't
leave his home."
Mowry has also mentioned the possibility of directing or writing his own movie, and he's
dropped hints of releasing another album, so who knows what his future holds? Whatever
he does, we'll be watching.
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