It’s a ‘Suite Life’ When Cole and Dylan Sprouse Have Graced Our Televisions for More Than 20 Years!

New Beginnings

At just eight months old, the brothers played a single character named Patrick Kelly for five seasons on the ABC series Grace Under Fire. However, Cole didn’t seem to recall much of his time on the set.

“I remember being on set and growing up on that soundstage and running around and causing a little bit of mischief,” he told the New York Post in March 2017. “I haven’t watched it at all. I honestly could not tell you what that show is even about.”

Twinning and Winning

“Twins work really well in the industry because child labor laws dictate a baby, as an example, can only work, for like, an hour a day or so,” Cole said. “So, [with twins], the production doubles the amount of time they can work with a kid. So, having two identical twin boys, my mom was like, ‘All right, you golden ticket — let’s sell it!’”

Good Times

In 1999, the duo scored their first major film role as Julian in Big Daddy, where they starred opposite Adam Sandler. “I remember the boys,” Adam told Entertainment Tonight in June. “I remember Cole and Dylan being great little boys. When I see them now, I’m baffled at how they grew into handsome bastards.”

His Big Break

Cole’s next big break was playing Ben Geller, the son of Ross and his first wife, Carol, on Friends in 2001, but unfortunately, he did not share the part with Dylan. “I must have been maybe 7 or 8,” Cole revealed about when he started working on the sitcom. “I was only in seven episodes, but it’s funny now that people are recognizing me for that because my brother and I have been working since we were 8 months old. So, I’m sure the professional entertainment sleuths are eventually gonna find all these strange little cameos of my brother and I over time.”

Fond Memories

Even though the Riverdale star was so young on Friends, he has nothing but fond memories of his time on set. “It was challenging because I was a small kid who was working with these sort of megalithic actors at the time,” he said. “It was quite intimidating. But it was a really wonderful experience. They were all tremendously nice.”

Love Is in the Air

Cole even admitted that he had a crush on Jennifer Aniston back in the day. “I had a really, really hard time working with Jennifer because I was so in love with her,” he admitted. “I was infatuated. I was speechless — I’d get all bubbly and forget my lines and completely blank … It was so difficult.”

Moving on

Cole hasn’t seen much of the cast since then, though. “If I saw any of them, I’d say, ‘Hello.’ But it’s been a while, and I certainly don’t look the same, so it would be a hard sell,” he said. “And if I did look the same, that’d be a little disconcerting.”

Road to Stardom

In a now-deleted audio clip he posted on Tumblr, Cole explained that he never wanted to be an actor, and he only did it because their mother needed money.

“I never made the decision to join the arts or acting specifically,” he said. “And so, it was never really my passion. To be honest, if she never thrust me into it, I probably never would have thought of it as a career choice for myself.”

Disney Channel Leads

In 2005, all of their dreams came true when they landed the lead role as Zack and Cody Martin in the Disney channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. The show lasted for three seasons and even got a spin-off called Suite Life on Deck which lasted for another three seasons.

Cast Love

The show starred Ashley Tisdale and Brenda Song and was about identical teenage twins who live at the Tipton Hotel in Boston after their mom lands a job there. In 2015, Ashley posted a picture of herself with the guys, writing, “I love seeing these boys. My little brothers have grown into such smart, talented and genuinely great people.”

Onto the Next

However, the show didn’t last forever. The duo pitched an idea for another spin-off show which Disney didn’t like at first, according to a YouTube video Dylan shared in 2013. Later, Disney came back and pitched them a similar idea, but the company refused to give the twins producer credits. “Cole and I turned to each other, and we basically laughed in their faces and walked out,” he said. “And that was the last meeting we had with Disney.”

Robotic Vibes

In 2016, Cole said starring on Disney wasn’t always easy. “There was a feeling of machination; I felt like an automaton,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I needed to take a break and step outside myself … I needed a dose of reality, and I needed to see myself in a more objective point of view. And now I think I can enjoy [acting], which is a really fundamental part about being an actor.”

So Many Opportunities

Despite the challenges, Cole is happy with how things worked out. “I don’t regret anything about my younger career, mainly because we were children and didn’t have too much power, but also because it gave us the privilege to be where we are now,” he told Hunger magazine in 2017.

College Kids

Cole and Dylan then started their next chapter: college. They started as students at New York University in the fall of 2011.

New Path

“It’s no new narrative to say that when people get out of child stardom, they often times rebel in very serious ways,” he told Women’s Wear Daily in 2017 about his decision to take a break from acting. “I didn’t want to make that public spectacle. So, part of the reason I went to college was that I wanted to fade out peacefully, show everybody I had gone through something that was quite challenging and difficult but did so with grace and poise and got an education.”

Back to the Grind

In 2016, Cole returned to the small screen when he was cast as Jughead Jones in Riverdale on the CW. “Yeah, it’s fulfilling, and I think that’s the only currency I am looking for right now,” he told Elle in 2017. “As long as it stays fulfilling, I will continue doing it, but the second it stops being fulfilling, I’ll leave.”

Cheers!

Meanwhile, Dylan went a different route — he launched his own bar called All-Wise Meadery in Brooklyn where he sells alcohol he made himself. “I think that if you are an actor, or you are an entertainer, and you don’t invest money in something that is more stable that the commission job that is acting, then you are a fool,” he told Vanity Fair in August 2018. “I think it’s a very conscious effort to do something that’s not acting.”

Different Worlds

But don’t expect the twins to be reunited on TV any time soon. “I gotta be real, obviously Riverdale has been a huge success for him,” Dylan said. “I know I don’t want to be on television. It’s a hard job. Cole has a hard job, it’s not easy, and it’s nine to five, day in and day out.”

Off the Market

Dylan is currently dating Victoria’s Secret model Barbara Palvin, and it seems like they are so happy together. Dylan even supported his girlfriend after she was named a Victoria’s Secret angel. “I didn’t really believe it at first, but then, you know, I ran downstairs to tell my parents, they were happy,” she told Life & Style exclusively. “My mom cried. That made it a little more real. And then I called my boyfriend, Dylan, and he’s like, ‘I knew it. I told you!’”

Broken Hearts

Cole was dating his Riverdale costar Lili Reinhart, but the two have since split. Previously, he gushed about the blonde beauty. “I took my girlfriend on a date where we drove to this location deep into Canada, and I surprised her with a big hot-air balloon adventure which was quite a bit of fun,” he told Glamour in March 2020. “I like traveling quite a bit. I like road-tripping. Those grand experiences always end up yielding the greatest memories — and the greatest romances.”

Brotherly Love

It’s clear Dylan and Cole are closer than most — it seems like they’re really killing it all these years later! We can’t wait to watch them keep succeeding.

Sprouses to Be

In a June 2023 interview with V Magazine, cleverly titled “Sprouses to Be,” Dylan revealed that he and Barbara got engaged in September 2022. The confirmation comes after engagement rumors in March 2023 when Barbara was spotted with a ring on her finger.

“We didn’t necessarily feel the need to be fully transparent with the public about that aspect of our engagement,” Dylan explained in their joint interview.