Remember Erik von Detten? Of course, you do. As a young heartthrob, he starred in a number of movies and TV shows, but he’s been off our radars for quite a while now. Let’s find out why Hollywood won’t cast Erik von Detten anymore.
Without a doubt, Erik von Detten’s first big break was his memorable role on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. This was back when he was only ten years old. He appeared in 55 episodes throughout the 1992 and 1993 seasons, and it was all some pretty dramatic stuff.
“Your Aunt Vivian had a very, very bad fall.” “Well, how did she fall? Where did it happen?” After that, he went on to become a bonafide Disney Channel star, appearing in loads of frothy fare like the 1998 TV movie Brink.
Theoretically, that’s nice work if you can get it…but perhaps all those Disney movies wound up working against him. In fact, he was still offering babysitting advice on social media as recently as 2016, strongly suggesting that everyone, “Stay up all night and watch Disney channel movies.”
It’s great that he’s so gung-ho about his work as a child star…but maybe he should’ve moved on to more mature roles when he still had the chance? Hollywood might not be calling Erik von Detten anymore…but family life certainly is.
On May 17th, 2019, Erik von Detten and his wife Angela reportedly welcomed their first child: a daughter named Claire Elizabeth von Detten. Sharing a photo of her newborn daughter, Angela wrote on Instagram: “Welcome to earth sweetie. Giving birth was the most magical experience of my life so far. I didn’t think it was possible to love so deep…seriously I love you more than life itself my baby Claire Bear.”
Here’s another fun fact: Angela certainly isn’t above getting mushy about her husband on Instagram. In February 2020, she wrote this delightfully sentimental post about him: “Erik won’t see this tribute post because he doesn’t use Ig but I just want to say I’m so grateful for him as my partner. Through the good & bad. Ugh he’s the best.
Even as we go through these experiences together I’m so thankful he’s there to support me.” Maybe he’s not pursuing as many acting roles because he’s too busy being a dad! You might have noticed that Erik von Detten doesn’t seem to have any verified social media accounts.
If you’ve ever stumbled upon a photo of him on Instagram, it was almost definitely on his wife Angela’s page. We love that he’s so down-to-Earth…but if you want to be a star, you pretty much need a robust social media presence these days.
Otherwise, it might look like you’re not too invested in your career…at least in the eyes of casting agents. Perhaps he should go ahead and sign up for his own Instagram account. Of course, this is assuming he even wants to star in more middling Hollywood films like The Princess Diaries.
“So I was watching you earlier and, um, you’re way tense, you know what I’m saying? You gotta use your hands and… ” In a 2018 interview with Romper, Erik Von Detten revealed that he now works as a sales manager at a commodities brokerage. But don’t worry: he still flexes those acting muscles once in a blue moon.
As he explained to Romper: “I really enjoy acting from time to time [when] I’ve had the opportunity to do it, the neighborhood play and whatnot.” Reflecting on his former life and career, von Detten described himself as “somewhat famous,” but made a point to say:
“I never reached super fame, if you will. I was always, kind of, under the radar to some extent, and I really enjoyed that actually because I think that if you become too famous, I guess you can’t really even have much of private life.”
At the end of the day, it sounds like he’s got a great attitude about the ever-fickle world of stardom. And whether or not Hollywood ever comes knocking again, we can always go back and enjoy his past triumphs, right? “After Brutus stabs Caesar, what three famous words does he utter?” “Stop! Stabbing! Me!”
For more such content, keep watching this space.