Jonathan Taylor Thomas was at the height of his career when he stepped away from Hollywood, leaving young girls yearning for the teen heartthrob, then known as JTT.
The Home Improvement star – who turned 43 on September 8 – was last spotted in 2023 and fans who spent their younger years crushing on him, were shocked over his appearance.
Keep reading to learn what happened to the actor who famously voiced Simba in Disney’s 1994 film The Lion King!
After appearing as Greg Brady’s son on the short-lived 1990 TV series The Bradys, a spinoff of The Brady Bunch, Jonathan Taylor Thomas earned the role on Home Improvement, which starred comedian Tim Allen.
Only 10 when the show premiered in 1991, Thomas, who played the middle child, spent the next eight years grew up in front of an international audience, reaching a stratospheric level of fame as a teen heartthrob to millions of adoring young girls.
“You are a part of their life, and there is a lot that is owed them,” he told the New York Times of his rabid popularity. “But it’s difficult because you want to make everyone happy, but if you try to do that, you’re setting yourself up for failure.”
In 1994, the Pennsylvania-born Thomas, 12, voiced Simba in the hugely successful Disney animated film The Lion King, a film that made fans laugh, cry and sing.
“Simba’s like me,” says Thomas, who used his regular voice to play the little lion in the smash hit. “I just put my natural energy into it. Real curious, fun-loving, always getting into mischief.”
Switching his time between The Lion King and Randy Taylor on Home Improvement, Thomas shares that it was two years of being shuttled back on forth from one set to the next.
“I had to kind of go, ‘Oops! Time to be Randy’…’Oops! Time to be Simba,’” Thomas told People in 1994. “You have to prepare yourself to become this totally different person. I mean, we’re not lions, right?”
‘Full blown migraines’
In 1998, after leaving Home Improvement before its final season, Thomas started his retreat from the spotlight.
“I can’t tell you how many shows I’ve done with full-blown migraine headaches,” he says of his exhaustion. “I’d been going nonstop since I was 8 years old…I wanted to go to school, to travel and have a bit of a break.”
Jonathan Taylor Thomas during 1996 Nickelodeon Big Help at Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, United States. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
Over the next few years, he had guest appearances on several shows, including, Ally McBeal, Smallville and 8 Simple Rules and loaned his voice to animated characters on The Wild Thornberrys and The Simpsons.
‘Blatant lie’
Before stepping away, he challenged himself with some edgier roles as a bisexual hustler in the indie film Speedway Junky (1999) and as a persecuted gay teen in Showtime’s Common Ground (2000).
Those roles, combined with maintaining his privacy, sparked rumors about his sexuality, which he gently denied while speaking with Jay Leno.
“Pretty much in Hollywood you’re not anyone until it’s rumored that you’re gay, so I wasn’t that upset about it,” Thomas, then 17, told the host. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but they’re rumors and you should always be kind of careful with that internet stuff.”
When Leno directly asked if he’s gay, Thomas replied, “No, no, no, no, I’m not. I’m not.”
Later speaking with The Advocate, he again shot down the rumors, which he explains started on a website called CyberSleaze.
“It was just a blatant lie put on the internet and then it was like a feeding frenzy. And I’m sure it was validated by my recent roles,” Thomas said. “What startled me was how willingly people accepted it.”
‘No regrets’
Next, he crushed hearts when he stepped away from Hollywood to pursue his dreams of “going to school.”
After graduating New York’s Chaminade College Preparatory School in 2000, he went to Harvard University, where he studied philosophy and history. He later graduated from the Columbia University School of General Studies in 2010.
“To sit in a big library amongst books and students, that was pretty cool. It was a novel experience for me,” he says.
Admitting that he “never took the fame too seriously” he expresses his gratitude, saying that “It was a great period in my life…But it doesn’t define me.”
He continued, “When I think back on the time, I look at it with a wink. I focus on the good moments I had, not that I was on a lot of magazine covers.”
Taking advantage of his free time, Thomas says that he has “no regrets” about leaving Hollywood.
But he didn’t disappear entirely. Between 2013 to 2015, the former teen heartthrob reunited with Allen, his TV dad from Home Improvement, for four episodes of Last Man Standing. He also directed three episodes of the series.
Rare sighting
In 2023, two years after he was spotted walking his dogs, the star was seen out in public and the images created quite the buzz amongst fans.
The star, who kept his attire simple, was seen wearing a beige sweater that he paired with jeans and a black tuque.
Fans quickly jumped into the comments section, offering their thoughts on his rare sighting.
“JTT, my elementary school crush,” gushes one fan while a second adds, “Like many others my age, he was my childhood crush. I’m glad he avoided the Hollywood weirdness.”
A third offers, “He was a child star and a teen heartthrob, who knows what happened to him. Hollywood rarely treats children well.”
Another, reflecting on Thomas’ memorable hairstyle from Home Improvement, adds, “Of course he looks different now! Not many 42 yr old men walking around with bowl haircuts. He brought much joy to many with his early career.”
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