Sid from Toy Story now has a completely alternative career after leaving Hollywood behind
Erik von Detten was one of the biggest teen idols of the late '90s and early 2000s - not to mention voicing the villainous character of Sid on Toy Story - but he vanished from screens not long after starring in The Princess Diaries. He's since opened up on exactly why he decided to step away.
The actor, best known for his role in Toy Story, playing Peter's skating pal in Brink! and starring alongside Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries, got his start almost by accident, tagging along to auditions with his older sister as a kid before landing a role on Days of Our Lives at just 10 years old.
In a 2021 interview with E! News about life out of the spotlight, he said one of the biggest draws at the time had nothing to do with fame.
"One of the key selling points was the fact that I wouldn't have to go to school," he admitted, adding that he swapped seven-hour school days for just three hours with a tutor.
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By his late teens, roles in Escape to Witch Mountain, Tarzan and Recess had turned him into a bona fide Disney star, but it was 2001's The Princess Diaries that cemented him as a full-blown heartthrob.
Von Detten still looks back on the film fondly, revealing he turned 18 partway through the shoot and celebrated with a beach party in Malibu that the whole cast attended.
Why did Erik von Detten quit acting?
The now 43-year-old explained at the time that the streaming boom hadn't happened yet when his career began slowing down in his early 20s, meaning far fewer roles were available overall.
"You're either in the very top half a percent doing very well or, well… it's just very competitive," he said.
He added that wanting a big family made the unpredictability of an acting career hard to justify, revealing an opportunity in finance came up just as his on-screen work started drying up.
"Luckily, simultaneously when things started to slow down in acting in my early 20s, another opportunity presented itself for me with a company that I started working with at age 25. And I've been with that company ever since," he said. "It's a sales position with a company working in finance. I've grown into a management position and it's worked out really well."
Von Detten admitted there's still 'a tinge' of regret when he sees former co-stars like Anne Hathaway continuing to thrive in Hollywood, but said that feeling is offset by the benefits of a quieter, more private life away from constant public attention.
Von Detten is married to real estate agent Angela von Detten, with who he shares three children.
He revealed his wife's career has had an unexpected crossover with his old one, joking that fans recognizing him on her social media which 'helps business'.
The pair reportedly met through a mutual friend who deliberately withheld their surnames so neither could Google the other beforehand.
Von Detten also confirmed he hasn't completely ruled out a comeback, saying he took a small cameo in a Netflix pilot and would consider more work if the right project came along, so long as it didn't involve an 'arduous audition process'. In 2024, he appeared in the movie My Acting Coach Nightmare, which aired on the Lifetime channel.
As for whether his own kids will grow up watching his old films, von Detten joked that it'll be 'mandatory watching' before bed, with one exception: a Hallmark movie in which he played a high school jock who gives another character an STD.
"I definitely cringe," he said, adding that aside from that one role, he's proud of the work he did as a child star.
Despite stepping out of the spotlight, von Detten said he wouldn't change how things turned out, insisting his life away from Hollywood has worked out 'really well'.
Thomas Bamford