Cole Sprouse and his twin brother Dylan achieved fame as Disney stars before they both disappeared
from the public eye to attend college and live normal lives.
But that all changed when Cole landed the role of Jughead on Riverdale.
Here are some of the things only the biggest fans know about Cole Sprouse.
When Sprouse was just 8 years old, he landed the role of Ross Gellar's son, Ben, on the
hit NBC sitcom, Friends.
This was the first role Sprouse did not share with his twin brother.
While on the series, Sprouse interacted with actress Jennifer Aniston, who famously played
Rachel Green on Friends, and he fell in love.
Sprouse told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show in November 2018 that he was so overwhelmed
by his crush that he forgot all of his lines in their scene together.
"One of the cameramen, you guys know who you are, just goes, 'That little boy's got a crush!'
Broke me."
"Of course."
After wrapping a hugely successful Disney series and graduating from college, Sprouse
was content to pursue an entirely different career outside of acting.
He had picked up a love for photography, and was also considering enrolling in grad school
to embark on a life in academia.
However, a call from his manager would change everything.
He told the LA Times in March 2019,
But Sprouse did book something: the CW drama series Riverdale.
Soon, Sprouse realized that it wasn't acting that he had a problem with, it was the publicity
and celebrity that comes with fame.
In the same interview he explained that he had rediscovered his love for the arts, saying,
While Sprouse was attending NYU, he became fascinated with photography.
The actor, who had previously always been in front of the camera, became infatuated
with traveling and staying behind the camera to capture life's beautiful moments.
"I try to create as many opportunities for myself to do photography as an attempt to
placate some side of myself that needs to grow."
Soon, he would begin capturing his beautiful Riverdale co-stars, working with magazines
like The Wall Street Journal; and photographing supermodels like Kendall Jenner.
Sprouse told Teen Vogue in March 2017,
He went on to tell the mag that if he wasn't acting, he would be a photographer full time.
When Sprouse was living his life as a tween Disney heartthrob with his brother Dylan,
he began to grapple with the fame.
Being recognized everywhere he went was all the young star had ever known, which is why
he had set off for college to study archaeology at NYU after his Disney career came to a close.
The actor shied away from celebrity until he landed a job on Riverdale, and surprisingly,
in a world where social media rules all, he's okay with fame now.
Sprouse told People in March 2019,
He went on to discuss how the nature of celebrity has changed a lot since his early acting days,
pre-social media, and that while some people enjoy building a personal connection with
their fans through a curated Instagram profile, he's just not that kind of person.
Sprouse also notes that he's okay with fans recognizing him in public now, saying,
Fans of Cole and Dylan Sprouse haven't seen the twins appear alongside each other on screen
since the end of Suite Life on Deck in May 2011.
While many have expressed their desire to see Dylan show up on an episode of Riverdale,
Cole is adamantly against the idea.
In October 2017, Cole made it very clear to Glamour what the chances of seeing an appearance
from his brother on Riverdale were, saying,
Sprouse's biggest problem with his twin brother appearing on the show was that it would be
too unrealistic, saying,
When Sprouse began acting opposite Lili Reinhart on Riverdale, there was an immediate connection
between the pair.
Their characters, Jughead and Betty, became lovers, and the real-life pair would also
become closer offscreen.
In a March 2019 interview with the LA Times, Sprouse said,
While the couple has struggled with keeping their relationship private from rabid fans
obsessed with their love life, they've occasionally opened up about each other in interviews and
on social media.
Sprouse, who is also a photographer, shares photos of Reinhart, who seems to have become
a muse for the young actor.
Along with posing for Sprouse's photography, Reinhart also supported her love at the movie
premiere for his film, Five Feet Apart, in March 2019.
She gushed about the film and Sprouse in an Instagram post, writing, in part,
The normally private Sprouse opened up about his relationship with co-star Reinhart in
a March 2019 interview with Glamour, and detailed a romantic date so perfect, you might think
it was a scene written for Riverdale.
When asked about the most romantic gesture he ever did for someone, the actor described
taking his girlfriend on a road-trip date through Canada, and then surprising her with
an adventurous ride on a hot-air balloon.
Sprouse stated,
In October 2018, Reinhart told TeenVogue that she loves going on adventures with Sprouse,
explaining,
Being famous means being in the public eye, whether you like it or not.
Along with starring on a series with a cult-like fan following and having to fend off constant
inquiries into his love life, Sprouse often has to put up with random people trying to
take his picture in public.
And the actor had a hilarious response: he photographs them back.
Sprouse quickly became a respected photographer in the industry, so it's not surprising that
he has a good eye for catching fans and paparazzi who are secretly trying to take his picture
while he's out to lunch or traveling.
He created a second Instagram called [Camera Duels] which, as of June 2019, boasts over
5 million followers.
The account's bio states:
The account, which Sprouse originally started as therapeutic fun, turned into something
he didn't expect.
As fans caught on to his posts, they purposely began trying to get caught attempting to take
his photo so they could be featured on his Instagram, as he explained on The Tonight
Show with Jimmy Fallon in January 2018.
"Completely backfired for me."
"So now they actually do hold it and they're like, 'Um, don't catch me!
Don't catch me!'"
"They're like, 'Can you see me?'"
Sprouse's 2019 teen drama, Five Feet Apart, is a film about two teens with cystic fibrosis
who fall in love, despite the deadly consequences that can come with being together.
While promoting the film in March 2019, Sprouse spoke with People about how he prepared for
the role of a teen living with a critical disease, and how he tapped into his romantic
side, something that wasn't difficult for him to do.
He explained,
The actor went on to express his love for manga, stating,
Along with his appreciation for the romance genre, Sprouse and the rest of the team behind
Five Feet Apart wanted to make sure that the movie was an accurate portrayal of cystic
fibrosis, and that it represented hope for individuals living with the disease.
In order to fully understand what it was like to live with cystic fibrosis for his role
in Five Feet Apart, Sprouse knew he could only gain insight from the individuals who
were actually living with the disease.
Over the course of production, he became close with a cystic fibrosis patient and activist
named Claire Wineland, who sadly passed away shortly after they finished filming.
In a March 2019 interview with VICE, Sprouse talked about working with Claire, grappling
with her mortality, and how her death deeply affected him and everyone who was part of
the film.
He explained,
If you've been following Sprouse's entire career, then you already know he lived his
childhood as a blonde.
Flash forward, though, and the actor sports a full head of black hair as the beanie-wearing
Jughead Jones on Riverdale.
So fans of the hit CW series were shocked when their South Side king dyed his hair in
April 2019.
As Cosmopolitan reported, the actor shared an image on his Instagram stories showing
off his new hairdo, and fans were losing their minds.
The sandy-blonde hairstyle brought back flashbacks to the actor's earlier days on the Suite Life
of Zack and Cody, and some fans couldn't tell if he was trying to play a joke on them by
switching places with his blonde twin brother, Dylan.
Fans are crossing their fingers and toes, hoping that the change in hair color doesn't
mean Sprouse is hanging up his Jughead leather jacket and leaving Riverdale.
While it's not clear exactly why he dyed his hair, he told Popbuzz in March 2019 that he
was filming a secret project while the show is on hiatus, so it wouldn't be surprising
if the dye-job was for the new role.
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