Cole Mitchell Sprouse was born in Arezzo, Italy, to American parents, Matthew Sprouse and Melanie Wright.[2][3][4] He was born 15 minutes after his twin brother Dylan Sprouse[5] and was named after jazz singer and pianist Nat King Cole.[6][7] When the twins were four months old, the family moved back to their parents' native Long Beach, California.[2]
Cole and his brother, Dylan, began acting at the age of eight months following a suggestion from their grandmother, Jonine Booth Wright, who was a drama teacher and actress.[9] Much of Sprouse's early career was shared with his brother—some of their earliest roles were shared roles as one baby or child in commercials, television shows, and films.[10][11] Due to child labor laws in California restricting the amount of time children can be filmed in a day, casting twins in a single role allows more time for one character to be filmed.[12] Some notable roles he shared with his brother include the characters of Patrick Kelly in the sitcom Grace Under Fire from 1993 to 1998, Julian in the 1999 film, Big Daddy, and young Pistachio Disguisey in 2002's The Master of Disguise.[11][13][14] In 2001, Cole began appearing in episodes of NBC's television sitcom Friends, as Ross Geller's son, Ben; this role was his first role in which he did not appear with his brother.[13][15] As he and his brother grew older, they began taking on more roles as separate characters but often still worked on the same projects. Their first role as separate characters in the same production was as kids in a MADtv sketch.[16] Sprouse portrayed Cody Martin in the 2005 Disney Channel original series, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody alongside his brother; he reprised the role in the show's 2008 spinoff, The Suite Life on Deck and its related film.[11][17]
2016–present: Post-university return to acting
On February 9, 2016, Sprouse was cast as Jughead Jones in The CW's teen drama series Riverdale, based on the characters of Archie Comics.[18] The series premiered on January 26, 2017. In 2019, Sprouse starred in Five Feet Apart, a romantic drama which was released in March; he plays a cystic fibrosis patient who falls in love with a girl with the same disease.[19] It was his second lead role in a major theatrical film, 20 years after his first, Big Daddy. Sprouse produced and starred in the eight-episode podcast Borrasca in 2020.[20][21][22] The series received a second seven-episode season that was published from September to November 2022.[23][24][25] In 2021, he was cast in Moonshot alongside Lana Condor.[26]
Personal life
Sprouse is a fan of comics and worked at the Los Angeles comic store Meltdown.[27]
Sprouse has opened up about the dysfunctional relationship he and his brother have with their mother, claiming that the justice system had to intervene in their adolescence and give their father full custody due to her lacking the mental stability to be a parent.[28] He has said that the entertainment industry appealed to his mother's drug addiction and narcissistic behavior, and "in very many ways encourages the worst qualities of you as a person... It's one of those things that encouraged a kind of selfishness directly opposed to the very fundamental idea of motherhood."[29][30]
Sprouse began attending New York University in 2011, after deferring one year.[31] Initially interested in studying film and television production, he decided to enroll instead in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, pursuing the humanities and in particular archaeology.[32] He graduated alongside his brother in May 2015.[33] Sprouse worked briefly in the field of archaeology, participating in excavations and performing lab work. He specialized in geographical information systems and satellite imaging.[34][35] During his studies he performed summer digs in both Europe and Asia. While engaged in his undergraduate work, he unearthed a mask of Dionysus on a dig in Bulgaria.[36]
^ ab"Little Sprouses". People (Special Collector's Edition: Dylan and Cole: Zack & Cody): 14. May 2009. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
^Sprouse, Cole (November 6, 2012). Let's see if this audio file works (Audio file). Coleture Concept. Event occurs at 02:16. Archived from the original(Audio file requires Flash) on November 17, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012. And I think the final thing that really contributed to my change—the biggest—was that... my brother and I were put into acting when we were eight months old by our mother because we needed money.
^"CL Pamphlet". California Department of Industrial Relations. State of California. May 2000. Archived from the original on November 20, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
^ ab"TV Flashback". Life Story:Dylan and Cole Scrapbook: 20–23. 2007.
^Sprouse, Dylan; Sprouse, Cole (August 24, 2010). "The Sprouse Brothers Unveil Their Milk Mustache Ad" (Interview). Interviewed by MomGenerations. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2017. Next fall; we deferred one year.
^ abSprouse, Cole (November 9, 2011). "Big Guns". Cole Sprouse Photography. Archived from the original on May 15, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
^Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse (actors) (2007). That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana (DVD). Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Event occurs at 02:34 (in the That's So Raven episode). ISBN0-7888-7608-2. Archived from the original on October 14, 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
^"Guest Starring: Cole Sprouse as Himself, Dylan Sprouse as Himself" (April 22, 2008). "I Drink Your Milkshake". According to Jim. Season 7. Episode 13. 20:16 minutes in. ABC.
^"Special Guest Stars: Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse" (October 11, 2010). "Weasels on Deck". I'm in the Band. Season 1. Episode 17. 04:06 minutes in. Disney XD.
^"Special Guests: Cole Sprouse & Dylan Sprouse" (January 16, 2012). "Cole & Dylan Sprouse". So Random!. Season 1. Episode 21. 03:04 minutes in. Disney Channel.
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