He never set out to become a star. In fact, his acting career began almost by accident — mostly because the idea of doing less school sounded like a great deal.
Yet over the next decade, he worked nonstop, built a loyal fan base, and became one of the most recognizable young faces of the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Still, despite the momentum, he always knew there was something in life he valued far more than staying famous.
Born in San Diego
This ’90s heartthrob broke into acting before he even turned 10, quickly booking roles across TV and film. By the time most kids his age were worried about homework, he was already starring in major projects and appearing regularly on screens across the country.
Photos from the early ’90s show him as a young newcomer playing Nicholas Alamain on Days of Our Lives, a role he landed in 1992. The young actor was heavily involved in some of the show’s main storylines, despite only being 10 years old.
His spell on the iconic series marked the start of a two-year run on the soap, and his official entry into Hollywood.
Born on October 3, 1982, in San Diego, he never set out to become an actor. In fact, he was a quiet, independent kid who spent most of his free time watching action movies and reenacting the scenes alone in his room. Tinseltown wasn’t on his radar, it was his older sister was the one chasing auditions.
But during one of those outings, talent agents spotted him instead, setting off a career he hadn’t even imagined. As he recalled, ”Agents thought I was a cute kid.”
Soon, he was signed and working professionally before hitting double digits.
Had a tutor on set
His father was cautious about the idea of him becoming an actor, but in the end, both parents urged him to explore it.
“When my mother proposed it to me, if I wanted to do it, one of the key selling points was the fact that I wouldn’t have to go to school — and I just detested school. I found out I would go from seven hours a day down to just three hours with my own tutor and I was like, ‘I’m sold’,” he once said.
The child had a tutor on set, but his school day was cut in half. To him, that alone made the job worth it. But the lifestyle didn’t hurt either: limo rides, hotel stays, and all the extras that came with being a working child actor.
His mother, however, kept strict boundaries. She let him attend premieres but stayed vigilant about keeping him grounded. Because of that, he avoided many of the pitfalls that consumed other young stars and built a strong foundation that allowed him to thrive through the late ’90s.
”There are situations when drugs are offered at parties or whatever and I always had the moral compass to know that’s just a one-way street. So, probably just a combination of upbringing and moral compass. So yeah, I survived,” he said.
A fixture in family TV
From 1995 to 2001, he became a fixture in family TV, starring in Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain, appearing in CBS dramas, and taking on lead roles in a steady stream of made-for-TV movies.
He worked with names like Beau Bridges and Robert Hays and eventually voiced one of the most iconic troublemakers in animation — Sid from Toy Story (1995).
That role led to even more voice work, including Tarzan, The Legend of Tarzan, and Disney’s Recess films. Then, in 1998, came one of the defining characters of his career: Andy “Brink” Brinker in Disney Channel’s Brink! — a movie that remains a beloved classic for an entire generation of millennial skaters and fans.
Through the late ’90s and early 2000s, he continued to rack up credits across network TV, Disney Channel, and beyond. In 1999, he starred in ABC’s Odd Man Out and later returned to the small screen in ABC’s Dinotopia and the sitcom Complete Savages.
But his biggest mainstream breakthrough came in 2001 with The Princess Diaries, where he played Josh Bryant, the blond heartthrob who briefly dates Anne Hathaway’s character before getting publicly embarrassed.
Off-screen, fans were always curious whether he stayed in touch with the cast, especially Anne Hathaway and Mandy Moore. But he clarified that wasn’t the case. The only former co-star he regularly kept up with was Patrick Levis from Brink! and So Weird.
”When Princess Diaries was released, it was a lot of exposure. There were time periods where I might’ve been recognized very consistently, but it never was to the point where there was a stampede of fans or anything like that happening,” he shared.
But even he admitted the role shaped how people saw him. While many assumed it made dating easier, he later joked it often did the opposite:
”Girls would definitely want to wait a few extra dates just to make sure I wasn’t really that guy. It did not work out in my favor.”
Took a job at a commodities brokerage
By the mid-2000s, after years of steady work, the number of roles available to him began to shrink. Streaming didn’t exist yet, and opportunities for actors in his category were limited. As auditions became more sparse, he started rethinking long-term stability, especially because he knew he eventually wanted a big family.
At 25, he made a major shift: he took a job at a commodities brokerage. It wasn’t glamorous, but it offered consistency, something Hollywood couldn’t guarantee. Over the next decade, he built a career outside the industry and quietly stepped away from acting.
During this time, he also met Angela, the woman who would become his wife. A colleague introduced them without sharing last names, so they couldn’t Google each other ahead of time, and when Angela saw him at the restaurant, she immediately recognized him and laughed: “Oh my gosh, no way. That’s you.”
Angela, a licensed real estate agent fluent in Mandarin with roots in Taiwan, often jokes that his past fame boosts her business. As he put it, “It helps business—and she gets a kick out of it.”
A father of three
By 2024, he and Angela were parents to three young children, ages 1, 3, and 5, and living a life far removed from Hollywood. He often described himself as “knee-deep in diaper duty and crying kiddos.” He also shared that he couldn’t wait to teach his kids how to rollerblade, a perfect nod to his iconic Brink! past.
And now it’s finally time to reveal who we’ve been talking about — it’s none other than Erik von Detten!
Though Erik had mostly stepped away from acting, he occasionally took on low-pressure work: a role in a local Santa Monica holiday play, a cameo in a Netflix pilot, and eventually his first on-screen appearance in more than ten years — the 2024 TV movie My Acting Coach Nightmare.
Earlier that year, he surprised fans with a rare Instagram video, joking:
”This is my once-every-five-years Instagram post.”
The comments section exploded:
“How have you not aged at all?”
“90’s Heartthrob 😍”
“Still 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥”
Even after more than a decade away from the spotlight, his fan base clearly never left. Looking back on his career, he once said,
“My hat’s off to actors who are able to maintain a steady career for 30 years.”
He added that talent alone isn’t always enough in such a competitive industry.
For him, stepping back was never about quitting — it was about choosing a life he could depend on and building the future he wanted.
At 42, the ’90s heartthrob who once dominated screens has traded studio sets for school drop-offs and family life, and fans couldn’t be happier to see him thriving.
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