Erik von Detten has revealed why he traded Hollywood for a finance career and a quieter family life.
The former child star, 43, best known as the voice of Sid in Pixar’s *Toy Story* and as Anne Hathaway’s love interest in *The Princess Diaries*, spoke with E! News in 2021 about stepping away from acting in his early 20s. He explained that the pre-streaming landscape offered slim pickings for working actors and that his desire for a large family made the industry’s unpredictability untenable.
“One of the key selling points was the fact that I wouldn’t have to go to school,” von Detten admitted of his childhood entry into acting, adding that he swapped seven-hour school days for just three hours with a tutor.
By his late teens, roles in *Escape to Witch Mountain*, Disney Channel’s *Brink!* and *The Princess Diaries* had made him a bona fide teen idol. He turned 18 partway through shooting the Garry Marshall film and celebrated with a beach party in Malibu that the whole cast attended.
“You’re either in the very top half a percent doing very well or, well… it’s just very competitive,” he said of the acting world at the time.
He added that wanting a big family made the fickle nature of Hollywood hard to justify. “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 Hathaway continuing to thrive, but said that feeling is offset by the benefits of a quieter life away from constant public attention.
“Absolutely. There is definitely a tinge of that, but, at the same time, it’s met with other benefits such as being able to lead a life in public,” he continued. “I mean, when you have that level of notoriety your life just takes on a whole new course.”
Von Detten is married to real estate agent Angela von Detten, with whom he shares three children: daughter Claire Elizabeth, born in 2019, and sons Thomas Henry, born in March 2021, and Nicholas, born in 2022. He revealed his wife’s career has had an unexpected crossover with his old one, joking that fans recognizing him on her social media “helps business.”
The pair reportedly met through a mutual friend who deliberately withheld their surnames so neither could Google the other beforehand. Von Detten said his wife’s reaction upon first seeing him was, “Oh my gosh, no way. That’s *you.*”
In the viral moment that cemented his heartthrob status, von Detten played Josh Bryant in 2001’s *The Princess Diaries*, the arrogant high school jock who nearly kisses Mia Thermopolis before she discovers she’s royalty. The role made him a poster boy for early-aughts teen cinema, though he later joked that girls would “want to wait a few extra dates just to make sure I wasn’t really *that* guy.” He remains in touch with *Brink!* co-star Patrick Levis but joked he is “not the best person at staying in touch” with the *Princess Diaries* cast.
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 Lifetime movie *My Acting Coach Nightmare*.
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.”
Von Detten’s next public appearance is expected to be tied to promotional activities for any future entertainment projects he may take on.