Featured Image Credit: YouTube/@MisterinaTechno / Fox
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity
Anish Vij
It's hard to come up with another famous child actor who has managed to step away from the spotlight as smoothly as Erik Per Sullivan.
We don't know for sure if the kid - who played Dewey in Malcolm in the Middle - consciously made the effort to be so low key, but you have to respect it because it feels like no-one has heard from him in a long time.
What we can show you though is one of the only known videos of Sullivan as an older dude, as he appears to send a video message out to one of his fans. Take a look below:
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Despite being a fan favourite, we haven't really heard much from Sullivan - now 31 - after the show's finale in 2006.
The last time we saw him on our screens was in 2010 as he featured in a film called Twelve.
He did, apparently, create an Instagram account in 2020, but it's now private and unverified.
Co-star Frankie Muniz gave his honest verdict about Sullivan in an interview last year with YouTube channel Malcolm France.
"To be honest, I don't know what he's up to," he explained. "I hate to say that because I've talked to him a few times since the show ended.
"I've talked to his parents a lot. When I was in the band, we went and played in the city where he lives and his parents came to the show but unfortunately he couldn't make it.
"So I got to talk to them, and he's been all over doing a lot of different things.
"But one thing I know, some actors or some people just got to do it when they were a kid and then they wanted to experience other things and kind of live a more normal life out of the spotlight.
"I think that's what he wanted to do so good for him."
We all know how difficult it is for famous child actors to remain sane in their early years, so it's completely understandable if Sullivan perhaps wanted a 'normal' type of life.
At the same time, it's always nice to hear from your favourite actors once in a while, but the closest thing we can find is a bizarre video of Sullivan, which would have been filmed some years after the series as he looked considerably older.
In the clip it's hard to fully make out what he's saying but we tried our best to transcribe it.
"Hey [ - ] my name's Erik Per Sullivan and I just thought I'd say hi spontaneously because your uncle did not encourage us at all, he's a good guy," the actor says.
"Yeah I heard you liked the show and I'm just sending greetings from where ever we are... pause the time."
Yep, we don't have a clue who he's shouting out either, but it's interesting to see an older version of the Dewey actor, despite not really knowing what he's saying.