"Growing Up On-and Offscreen" Newsday TV PLUS (January 23-29, 2000)

Growing Up On-and Offscreen 

By Steve Parks

Newsday TV PLUS 

In “Mr. Roberts,” set in the ‘70s and written by Terrence McNally, Tony-winning author of “Kiss of the Spiderwoman,” “Master Class,” “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Ragtime,” Jonathan Taylor Thomas’ character is struggling to come to terms with the likelihood that he is gay. He turns to his French teacher for advice. But Mr. Roberts — who insists on being call Mr. Ro-BEAR—is reluctant to come out to himself because he is in line to become principal of the school. It’s a very different role for the young actor who grew up on network sitcom TV. “I started on ‘Home Improvement’ when I was 9-years-old,” said Thomas, “and I worked on the show for eight years. So that’s a large chunk of my acting experience so far.

“It was a great launching pad, but,” he added, “my goal lately has been to challenge myself and broaden as an actor by playing some characters, like Toby, who are not only very different from myself, but different from those I’ve played in the past.”

Though Toby is the first overtly gay role for Thomas, he said he did not try to play him with the character’s homosexuality in mind. “I think what the project is all about is right there in the title — ‘Common Ground.’ We were trying to stress the fact that gays aren’t so different from the rest of us. And what differences we do have are trivial against the big picture.

“What I tried to play with Toby is the isolation he felt,” says Thomas, “and how scary that can be for any of us. I think we’ve all felt isolated in some way. That’s applicable to any sort of minority or any kind of discrimination — whether you wear glasses or you’re short. Whatever”

In tying together the three playlets at the end, each of the central characters shows up at Amos and Andy’s wedding.

“It’s fairly upbeat,” says Thomas. “The other two incidents in the film are kind of traumatic. And I think there was some intention here to end on a more optimistic note because we really have come a long way.”

For Thomas, the most gratifying moment came at the conclusion of the shooting for “Mr. Roberts,” when he got to meet the author. “When someone hands you a script by Terrence McNally, you have these really high expectations,” said Thomas. “And it was so great to have those expectations met.”

"STAMPEDE!" The Los Angeles Times (July 13, 1997)

STAMPEDE!

By Judy Brennan

The Los Angeles Times

Published July 13, 1997 12 AM PT

Oh, the perils of being a teen heartthrob.

After a recent New York premiere of “Wild America,” a film targeted primarily to preteens and young teens, Devon Sawa got a taste of what it’s like to be an idol.

He stood waiting on the curb for his limo, girlfriend Alessia Lancia in tow, figuring his co-star Jonathan Taylor Thomas would distract the squealing masses and that he would be safe. He figured wrong. About 200 kids--mostly girls between the ages of 8 and 16--bounded forth, pulling at his clothes, touching and grabbing his hair, his arms, his shoulders and begging for an autograph when a taxi finally came to the rescue. Hey Elvis, Paul, John, Ringo and George: Devon feels your pain.

You laugh. But this shy 17-year-old native of Vancouver has been the cover boy of just about every teen magazine, from Big Bopper and Tiger Beat to SuperTeen and 16, when what he really wants to do is express his acting craft.

“Wild America” had the misfortune of opening over the Fourth of July weekend opposite the phenomenally successful “Men in Black,” which captured much of “Wild America’s” audience. “Wild America” took in only $2.8 million that weekend, but those involved with the picture still expect that kids will discover it and tell their friends. “Sure ‘Men in Black’ is going to be huge,” says Gary Barber, Morgan Creek’s vice chairman and executive producer on “Wild America.” “But word-of-mouth will drive this movie. It’s a true story driven by great characters with heart, and it will appeal to a varied audience.”

“This is a project picture for us,” says Barry Reardon, Warner Bros.’ distribution chief. “We’ve got 12,000 T-shirts, 8,000 hats, 10,000 CD soundtracks, 5,000 [disposable] cameras, 100,000 buttons and 500,000 tattoos. It’s the girls that will be grabbing for these. These young guys are hot as a pistol.”

Aside from seizing the opportunity of casting the studs-of- the-moment for the preteen set to play the lead roles, the picture is filled with wild animals and their cuddly babies to indulge the American public’s craze for critters.

Set in a rural Arkansas town in the ‘60s, it is based on the true story of the three Stouffer brothers, Marty (Scott Bairstow), Mark (Sawa) and Marshall (Thomas). (The real Mark Stouffer, who appears in a cameo shot with his real brothers, is a producer on the film, directed by William Dear.)

Told through the eyes of Marshall, who must endure his older brothers’ pranks throughout, the film depicts the trio’s journey to capture on film what’s left of American wildlife.

“I’m banking on my gut instincts on this one,” says Robinson, who describes the film as a ‘90s “Stand by Me” with a dash of “Indiana Jones” adventure thrown in. “I can’t talk about [the recent family-oriented disappointment] ‘Buddy’ or the other movies. I just know how that crowd in New York reacted to these boys. The girls were trying to rip Devon’s clothes off. There were 200 kids out there, screaming and squealing. It was like Beatlemania in ’62 or Elvis. I’m betting on those fans. Those are the ones that are forgotten this summer. We just decided to give them something they wanted to see.”

Those audiences want to see more of Sawa playing roles like Mark, says Hedy End, editorial director of SuperTeen and superstars teen magazines. In fact, competitor 16 magazine describes his role as the “the hotheaded, girl-crazy and majorly sexy” one. How sexy? Says 16: “Call the bod squad: He’s shirtless in many, many scenes--as opposed to [Thomas] who’s shirt-challenged never in this movie.”

Notes End: “Devon first became popular as the real life ‘Casper’ at the end of that movie. Jonathan zoomed to top of the list over the last couple of years, because of ‘Home Improvement.’ When we heard these two were doing a movie together, we were thrilled. These kids [the magazine’s readership] have grown up with Jonathan, who is seen as blond, blue-eyed and adorable. But Devon is blond, blue-eyed, a little bit older and a little more dangerous but in a nonthreatening way.”

So what does Sawa think about his fame, especially with the younger set?

“It’s great, ego-boosting and overwhelming. It all came so quickly but it’s impossible for me to go to a mall in the Valley,” says Sawa, who divides his time between Los Angeles and his Canadian hometown. “You think it’s safe and then some girl will see you and I’ll hear her say to a friend, ‘Hey, isn’t that him.’ And I’ll try to quietly leave.”

Once they realize it is Sawa, they flock around and “it starts,” he continues. “My girlfriend doesn’t really know what to think about it. When that happened at the premiere in New York . . . well, she wasn’t crazy about it. I’m still trying to get over that experience.”

Sawa, like his co-stars, wants to be taken seriously as a young actor. He started in the business at age 12, primarily in local theater in Vancouver. His first break in the movies was a role in “Little Gi- ants” that led to his part in “Casper.”

While being a heartthrob has its positives, he hopes his fans will follow him as he grows into more dramatic roles. “My fans made me.But sometimes there’s some weird stories about me, my favorite color, the kind of girls I like, all of that stuff that’s just not true and I never said it. All I ask is that my fans don’t believe everything they read,” Sawa cautions.

The young star says his next film is a small role in “A Cool, Dry Place” opposite “Swingers” star Vince Vaughn. He plays the troubled younger brother of Vaughn’s girlfriend. “I took the part just to be in a film with Vince. I loved ‘Swingers’ and the script. But it’s very different from ‘Wild America,’ ” he says.

“I loved ‘Wild America’ because I got to do a lot of action stuff and ‘Stand by Me’ is one of my favorite films. It reminded me of that. I’m a little like my character Mark in that, yeah, OK, I like girls a lot and I was always the class clown. But I liked the way this character grew and changed in the film.”

And what about the third star of “Wild America”?

Character transformation is what drew Bairstow to the role of Marty. Now starring opposite Kevin Costner in the upcoming “The Postman,” Bairstow, 27, is a bit reluctant to be pegged as a heartthrob to the younger crowd. Married with a 2-year-old son named Casey, he starred in TV’s “Lonesome Dove” and turned up on an “X-Files” episode. Bairstow believes he hasn’t “broken through” yet but expects the latest film could help.

“You know, I’m like Jonathan and Devon. I’m thankful for fans whatever their ages,” he says. “But Devon and Jonathan . . . they’re the heartthrobs. They’re the ones the girls will come to see.”

(Photography via 16 Magazine)

"JUMPING FOR JTT" The Washington Post (May 25, 1997)

JUMPING FOR JTT

By Marilyn W. Thompson

The Washington Post

Published May 25, 1997

We are waiting near the corner of 68th and Broadway -- waiting and waiting for JTT.

JTT, as America's foremost juvenile heartthrob is known to his fans, is Jonathan Taylor Thomas, teen star of television's "Home Improvement," and on this sleepy Saturday, he is 30 minutes late for an early morning "fan event" in the packed lobby of Manhattan's Sony Imax Theatre. My son Cory, 8, and his best friend are among the throng of kids snaking through the theater entrance, some patiently holding their mothers' hands, others clutching color pinups of the 15-year-old sensation from glossy teen magazines.

Andrew, my 6-year-old, and I are stationed outside for JTT's belated grand entrance. Andrew wants a hot dog for breakfast but none can be had on this final morning of the Hollywood for Children film festival, a week-long charitable event that has brought together dozens of child stars to raise money for the Audrey Hepburn Foundation. Within this young galaxy of talent, none compares with the headline attraction, the absolutely sizzling JTT.

Already rated one of Hollywood's hottest young stars, Thomas stars in a new action-packed movie, "Wild America," that premiered to raves before the friendly crowd at the festival's grand finale. JTT had beamed from the VIP seats as girls jockeyed for autographs. This morning, even the street vendor has abandoned his hot dog cart -- leaving Andrew and others waiting -- while he scrambled to get JTT's signature on his daughter's slightly mauled copy of Teen Beat magazine.

Not that JTT exactly relishes the attention, particularly from magazines with names like Bop and 16 that sell thousands of extra copies a month just by plastering his mug all over every issue. In a snit, his mother has evicted all press from this event, and the juvenile paparazzi have sulked onto the sidewalk. A theater flack frets that JTTs mom will cancel EVERYTHING because of an unfortunate "scene" the night before. JTT showed up -- late, of course -- for a party in his honor at the Explorers' Club, and overeager kids swarmed him.

Now, security guards shrug their shoulders, impatiently checking their watches. It is 10:15 a.m. -- JTT's anticipated departure time from the "fan event" -- and his long black limo has yet to show up. His time will be brief, the guards explain, since JTT is to appear at a children's celebrity fashion show at 11.

Finally, a limo approaches. Squeals erupt from the theater lobby, where a poster advertises a chance to "Win a Date" with JTT or one of his "Wild America" co-stars. Cameras snap. "Jonathan, Jonathan . . . this way, Jonathan," the exiled press corps demands.

The gloriously tanned teenager, just back from a jungle adventure with his mom in Costa Rica, climbs slowly out of the limo, tugs at his thick open-necked sweater, brushes fingers through shaggy sun-bleached hair. Then he turns to face the cameras while his forbidding mother and beefy bodyguards wait in the background.

But the face is not that of the adorable Randy on "Home Improvement," not the warm, inviting kid who created young Simba's voice in the Disney hit "The Lion King." Not even the face of huggable JTT, pint-size magazine pinup.

The face that stares back is sour and filled with attitude, like a 15-year-old just ordered to take out the garbage. Even an admiring wave from little Andrew does nothing to charm him.

And all of it leaves me wondering -- what would possess a 44-year-old mother of reasonable intelligence to plunk down $20 per kid for this ugly celebrity spectacle? And who does this JTT think he is, anyway?

JTT mania started in our Takoma Park home in February when I noticed a brief mention of the upcoming second annual Hollywood for Children festival in my American Express billing. Cory is a film maniac who reads movie listings obsessively and has committed to memory the ratings and running times of almost every recent feature film. This April festival -- which was to include several premieres and screenings structured around themes like Children in War and Shakespeare -- seemed custom-designed for kids like Cory. And the proceeds were to help needy children.

I ended up buying tickets to two pricey events that promised unusual celebrity access -- a kids' fashion show, featuring favorite stars of television and movies in designer threads, and a session originally described as a "fan breakfast" with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, an unfamiliar name to me at the time. The kids gasped when I told them.

"Jonathan Taylor Thomas? You mean, the star of Man of the House' (97 minutes), Adventures of Pinocchio' (96 minutes) and Tom and Huck' (97 minutes)?" Cory gasped.

Within days, our weekend trip to New York was set, with the girl next door, Lily, 11, enthusiastically joining us. Cory and Lily began elaborate planning on two fronts -- what to wear that would be "cool enough" to hang out with child celebrities and what to ask JTT should they get a chance to pose a question.

Cory, in a lifetime first, actually asked for new shoes, insisted on a mall trip to buy them and settled on a pair of plain white Adidas. "Mom, do you think Jonathan will like them?" he wondered. "Oh yes, I'm sure," I said.

Finding the right question for JTT proved a trickier business. Cory and Lily sat for hours under an umbrella on our lawn, poring over the "Jonathan Taylor Thomas Handbook" borrowed from the school library. From that and other fan materials, they learned the basics -- JTT's eating habits (vegetarian); his pastimes (killing time on the "Home Improvement" set with co-star Zachery Ty Bryan); name of his sibling (Joel, who likes to play basketball).

Compiled on several sheets of note paper, their "Questions for JTT" ranged from simple unknowns (What is your favorite sport?) to more complex queries (What was your favorite movie to make? And why?).

Suddenly I had a brainstorm. Why risk getting in a single question at a crowded fan breakfast? Why not try to schedule an actual interview?

The festival's organizers were more than accommodating, even when I asked if Cory, Lily and Andrew could ask the questions. Kid stars are receptive to interviews by kid reporters, they said. (Especially if their mother happens to work for The Washington Post.)

They scheduled a Friday noon session in the regal Louis XIV meeting room at the Plaza Hotel and warned us not to be late since Jonathan had a crowded schedule. When I announced this development, the interview team grew faint.

"The Plaza?" gushed Cory. "That's the setting for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York' (running time 120 minutes in the U.S. but cut to 116 minutes in the United Kingdom)!"

There was a flurry of practice sessions. And then we were off on Amtrak, three kids and a Swedish au pair, lugging tape recorders, cameras, notepads and six bags jampacked with the coolest clothing Takoma Park could offer.

Tension was thick in the Louis XIV room as we waited that Friday morning for JTT, who was 15 minutes late and unaccounted for at the Plaza registration desk, causing considerable squirming in the posh red velvet chairs around the interview table. Under elegant chandeliers, Cory and Lily were nervously sipping water from crystal glasses and studying their questions; Andrew was turning somersaults in a room big enough for a senior prom.

Finally, two teenagers strolled in -- Shay Astar, a confident 15-year-old breaking into the big time on TV's "3rd Rock From the Sun," and Devon Sawa, 17, a cool Canadian who had a brief flasher scene in Cory's favorite coming-of-age film, "Now and Then." Devon, who has his own devoted teen fan club, is JTT's lesser-billed co-star in "Wild America."

"We're substituting for Jonathan," the two casually announced. Faces around the table fell. When you're a kid who's spent hours dreaming up questions for JTT, it's hard to just throw out the list and improvise. But Shay and Devon sat patiently for almost an hour while the frazzled interviewers regrouped, answering questions about set tutors and favorite films and how to overcome stage fright.

Once Cory got up his courage, he grilled them on specifics. "How long is Wild America'?" Cory finally asked Devon.

"What do you mean?" Devon asked, puzzled. "How long did it take to film it?"

"No, how long is it?" Cory said. "What's its running time?"

Devon could not begin to answer. But some sort of peculiar bond was formed as Cory recited the running times of every feature film in which the young star has appeared. Cory even knew an approximate time for "Ernest Scared Stupid," Shay Astor's highly forgettable 95-minute feature film debut.

The kids reacted well, considering they had just been royally dissed by JTT, and only later did the real story come out. It turned out that JTT's mother, irritated over luggage lost at La Guardia, had canceled all interviews so Jonathan could rest and find properly cool clothing for the "Wild America" premiere that evening.

And of course, Devon and Shay and the young stars of "Matilda" and "Harriet the Spy" and dozens of other kid stars and would-be stars waited patiently. JTT was late for that event, too.

"What's with this kid?" I finally asked my young companions.

"Don't blame him," Cory snapped. "JTT is really nice. It's that bossy mother of his that's the problem."

The kids finally got their chance to meet JTT at the Saturday morning "fan event," which turned out to be nothing even close to a "breakfast." It was free to all except the few poor souls like me who had shelled out $20 per ticket through American Express.

While the press fumed and JTT's mother hovered protectively, JTT posed for individual photos with dozens of fans, beaming that familiar lovable smile that has been his secret to stardom.

He posed for so long that he was annoyingly late for the celebrity kids' fashion show (another $15 a child) near Times Square, finally appearing onstage in a classy Ralph Lauren sport coat to accept a donation for needy kids from a group of clothing manufacturers. A pre-teen beside me swooned, dropping into her girlfriends' arms. "Jonathan, I want to MAAAARRY YOU," she yelled. JTT held up the check and beamed as a thousand flashbulbs illuminated the room. He stayed only a few minutes, waved to his fans and exited to wild applause.

By the time we headed home, a weekend of exposure to children's Hollywood had convinced Cory and Lily that they only had more work to do from their Maryland home base.

"If we are going to be stars, we have to find an agent," they announced somberly. "Devon and Shay said it was the only way to break in." (A few weeks later, I discovered several unauthorized calls from the secluded basement telephone to strange numbers in Beverly Hills.)

The JTT mania continues. The kids have plugged into a JTT Web site on the Internet, pinned up his photo and only recently discovered other fascinating JTT facts from a 16 magazine piece on JTT's "Dating Do's and Don'ts."

Turns out that JTT has a pet peeve. Cory read it aloud. "True to his Virgo star sign, JTT gets a little impatient when others are tardy. Don't be late for this date!"

"Oh," Cory went on. "And he loves spending time with his mother, too."

"JONATHAN TAYLOR THOMAS: The boy who would be Pinocchio" South Coast Today (August 11, 1996)

JONATHAN TAYLOR THOMAS: The boy who would be Pinocchio

By Luaine Lee, Scripps Howard News Service

South Coast Today 

Published Aug. 11, 1996 | Updated Jan. 10, 2011

He's only 14 and has been acting for seven years, but Jonathan Taylor Thomas (the middle son on "Home Improvement") could teach craggy veterans a few things.

Usually interviews with child actors range from catatonic to hyperkinetic, with someone either talking FOR them or AT them.

Not Jonathan. He still sports the smooth, powdery skin of a boy, but to hear him talk you'd think his arteries were hardening.

His mother sits behind him, unobtrusively against the wall. She doesn't monitor what he's saying or fill in the blanks. Obviously, she thinks Jonathan can fend for himself.

With his latest movie, "Pinocchio," his next, "Wild America," completed, and ABC's "Home Improvement" due back for another season -- Jonathan could afford a swagger or two.

"Hollywood is as competitive as soccer," says the lad, who played team soccer for eight years.

"I try not to worry about that. I just try and have fun, like the game of soccer. Yes, the pressure does get to you, but the ultimate goal is to have fun and just enjoy it.

"If I wasn't having fun and didn't think this was an interesting thing to do, I wouldn't be doing it. I'd just say, 'Forget it. I'll be a regular kid.'"

Humble though he is, Jonathan is no "regular kid." Last year he was in an accelerated program for gifted students, but now he's studying exclusively with a tutor. His favorite subjects are history, science and geography.

He's the swoon-master for pre-pubescent girls, the Brad Pitt of the Z-Generation, and he manages to charm the adults who work with him, too.

Steve Barron, director of "Pinocchio," says that it took someone special to energize the part of the wooden puppet.

"We knew that however the puppet was going to behave, his whole spirit had to come from the vocal track because that's what we did first," says Mr. Barron.

"And we got that performance, his rhythms and spirit, and put that into the puppet. This kid is clever. He's a clever actor and a good performer. Anybody less than that would've weakened the puppet ... "

Jonathan (who will be 15 on Sept. 8) first got the idea of acting from a commercial on television.

"When I was 7 I saw an ad for modeling and print work, and it just looked like fun to me. It looked like something I might want to try. I was playing soccer at the same time and it was sort of the same thing -- just fun, just enjoying it. I ended up having a great time doing it and it escalated from there. It started changing and I was doing more things, to a certain point, which is where we are now."

Even so, it's not all Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory, even for him. There are difficult times.

"The hardest thing is the amount of time spent away from your family and friends. And you have to give up a lot -- not being able to do things you necessarily want to do. But the upside is you get to meet extraordinary people and do things that most people don't get to do. Experience is what it's all about -- what I'm gaining will help me later on in life."

The Pennsylvania-born youth has an 18-year-old brother, Joel, who is not an actor. He and Joel live with their mother, who has a master's degree in social work and helps manage Jonathan's career.

Three years ago, he explains, his parents were separated. Today he doesn't mention his father.

As for friends, that's not a problem, he says, in spite of the buzz he causes wherever he goes.

"I'm a pretty good judge of character. I can pretty well pick out someone I know is my friend for who I am and not just because I'm an actor or what I do. I have a few close friends I know well, and I've known them for a long time ... They like being with me and they don't care about that stuff. We don't talk about it when we're around each other. We don't care about it. We just play and have a good time," he shrugs.

All this may sound too perfect for a kid with streaky blond hair and an impish grin, but he admits that he does have one major shortcoming.

"I'm a neat freak," he laughs. "I like things in order and tidy." With his hands he arranges imaginary boxes in a row.

Like other kids, he's assigned daily chores. He feeds the dog and two cats, cleans his room, makes his bed. But he isn't paid a regular allowance.

"I don't really make a lot of purchases, don't go on extravagant spending sprees. If I'm going to buy something it's a CD or a fishing rod. It's not gonna be anything (big)."

Brightening, he chirps, "I get a learner's permit in a couple of months, I'll be turning 15. So a car may be in the works way down the line. But I have to learn how to drive first."

In spite of movies like "Tom and Huck," "Man of the House," "Pinocchio," and "Home Improvement" approaching its sixth season, none of that seems to have gone to his head.

The secret, he says, is maintaining outside interests. "Not having all your energy focused into acting, having two separate lives where you have your work life and your play life and keeping those two extremely separate, never blending them together because if they become one, then everything is focused into acting. That's when kids get into trouble," he says, resting his chin in his hand.

"You want to be able to leave and see your friends and travel and do things you like to do, have outside interests and concentrate on education. Because you've seen it a million times, people can be on the top one day and then the next, at the bottom. And that's just how it goes. But at least if that happens, I think I'm prepared and have something to fall back on."

Alamy Stock Photo

"Jonathan Taylor Thomas / ACTOR" Los Angeles Times (November 15, 1998)

JONATHAN TAYLOR THOMAS / ACTOR

By Steve Hochman

Los Angeles Times

November 15, 1998 12 AM PT

Jonathan Taylor Thomas left TV’s “Home Improvement” to focus on school, but his fans can catch his familiar, family-oriented comedy skills in the Disney movie “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” For a switch, though, the 17-year-old also took an unfamiliar casting as a tough street kid in “Speedway Junkie,” a gritty indie coming next year with Gus Van Sant as executive producer.

MOVIN’ ON: “It’s not easy to walk away from a place you’ve been for almost eight years of your life--and eight impressionable years. This is my junior year of high school, the big year colleges look at, and I’ve got three Advanced Placement classes. I have to be a student and can’t work 65 hours a week as well.”

GROWIN’ UP: “What I’m choosing to do as an actor is in flux. I have to be more selective, and at 17 I want to do more adult material. That’s where the good roles are. ‘Speedway Junkie’ gave me an opportunity to show people I can do other things, and was a real eye-opener for me.”

FORMER CHILD STAR: “I like Ron Howard as a person and like what he’s done--good choices he’s made in his life. I’ve followed what he’s done, and Jodie Foster as well. Would love to work with either of them.”

DREAM ROLE: “A year ago I really wanted to play Holden Caulfield from ‘A Catcher in the Rye.’ But I don’t think J.D. Salinger is likely to give up the rights to that.”

RATED R: “I wouldn’t recommend young kids to see ‘Speedway Junkie.’ It’s definitely an age-appropriate movie, dark and realistic and edgy. If young kids want to see me, go see the Christmas movie.”

VERSATILITY: “I don’t want to say I’ll only do one type of movie. If I can make the good, funny comedies, great, but I want to do drama as well. I like actors who can do both--Tom Hanks, Nicolas Cage, Robin Williams.”

TEEN POWER: “I see a lot of the teenage romantic comedies, the ‘90s teenage angst, trials and tribulations. Like ‘Can’t Hardly Wait.’ The studio people all of a sudden realized that teenagers go see movies. Every Friday night that’s what 13- to 18-year-olds do, at least where I’m from.”

AMBITION: “If I found the time I’d definitely sit down and write my own stuff. It’s just a matter of finding the time to put pen to paper. I’d like to write and direct and produce, ultimately.”

WALT DISNEY

"Teen keeps level-head, eyes ahead" Lawrence Journal World (July 10, 1997)

Teen keeps level head, eyes ahead

Jonathan Taylor-Thomas is interested more in making a quality movie than making the cover of a teen magazine.

By Michael H. Price

Knight-Ridder Newspapers 

They snaked around the block at Planet Hollywood — some 2,000 teenage and pre-teen girls, all intent on receiving an autograph and maybe a smile from Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Some brought cameras, and many dragged their parents along. Thomas, schoolboy star of “Home Improvement” and the movie “Wild America,” showed up right on time, but the crowd assured that he wouldn’t finish on time.

Not that things got unruly, however giggly. As if emulating the intelligent and restrained characters Thomas plays in the movies, his admirers kept calm and orderly. When he finally retreated to a conference room upstairs at the show-biz restaurant, Thomas was still receiving requests from outside for just one last autograph. Not even Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger has drawn more enthusiastic crowds at Dallas’ Planet Hollywood. “I can’t figure it, myself,” Thomas said after his appearance. “I never set out to get this kind of attention, but if it makes people happy — well.”

Thomas said he was grateful that the Planet Hollywood crowd remained sedate. “Kind of intimidating, y’know, to see ‘em all lined up around the block like,” Thomas said. “But at least they’ve been calm about it here. I’ve had ‘em gather around where were trying to shoot a scene, and it’s kind of distracting. “And I’m grateful for their enthusiasm, too, but I’m in this business to act — not to be famous.”

That’s why Thomas chose not to do another movie right after “Wild America.”

“When you don’t have a movie to promote, you don’t have to be on these P.A. (personal appearance) tours, and you don’t have to have your picture plastered over the fan magazines as often,” he said. ‘I need time to myself, too.”

Beating the odds

Thomas possesses that rare and classic kid-star combination of wise-beyond-the-years eyes; a nuanced, mature speaking voice; and the bearing of an adult stranded in a child’s body.

Macaulay Culkin had it, and Robert Blake in his early days, and Shirley Temple. But they outgrew the quality rapidly and had to struggle to keep acting once that precious air was gone. Thomas, at 15, still has it; he said he intends to beat the odds and keep working in film for the long term. “I understand that the system has to address the fans, and at my age, my pictures’ publicists are going to concentrate on getting me written up in the teen-age-girl magazines. I’m more interested in film magazines than fan magazines,” he said. “But you’ve got to put up a front for the fans, I guess — just don’t try to make everybody happy, like trying to answer every fan letter personally. That’s a sure formula for failure.”

“Wild America” is Thomas’ fifth big-screen picture in only three years, and his first star vehicle. In “Wild America,” the 5-foot-3 actor plays 12-year-old Marshall Stouffer, youngest member of a team of brothers who (in real life) became prominent wildlife photographers. The movie tells of the summer of 1967, when Marshall stowed away on his big brothers’ moviemaking expedition and proved himself the most resourceful member of the team. “It’s a story that I could believe in, right from the start, because I believe in the whole animal-rights thing, anyway,” said Thomas, a vegetarian. “The story is not some simple coming-of-age thing, but it’s about how these brothers learned first-hand how you’ve got to respect nature and do all you can to help preserve it.” 

The movie is an ensemble piece, with Scott Bairstow and Devon Sawa as the big brothers, but the action unfolds through Thomas’ eyes. “It required the kind of stretch I’ve been looking for, the opportunity to carry a picture,” he said.

Skills of an adult

His “Wild America” character builds upon the “Home Improvement” sitcom role that Thomas has played on television for six years: He’s the level-headed kid in comedian Tim Allen’s hectic household. 

His big-screen roles, gained first through his mother’s savvy management and ultimately through popular demand, have been similarly adult like:

• In Disney’s “The Lion King,” Thomas supplied the speaking voice of the cub Simba, who can hardly wait to grow up and be the king of the jungle.
• In “Man of the House,” Thomas plays the precious youngster who resents his mother’s romance with comedian Chevy Chase.
• In “Tom and Huck,” Thomas and Brad Renfro mug the camera mercilessly as Mark Twain’s trouble-prone Southern lads, Tom Sawyer as the brains of the team. “Jonathan has a maturity that many a full-grown actor might be envious of,” Tim Allen says. “And he has a determination to grow within the business, to be a fully rounded human being before he is any kind of movie star. He doesn’t seem to be interested in stardom as an end in itself.”

"Actor relates to roles, but not to girls" The Vindicator (March 24, 1995)

Actor relates to roles, but not to girls

The 13-year-old star of ‘Man of the House’ has a hard time accepting his status as a teen heartthrob. 

By Janet Weeks

Los Angeles Daily News

Jonathan Taylor Thomas is a smooth talker. The 13-year-old star of “Home Improvement” and the movie “Man of the House” loves to chat. And he’s very good at it. He has a big vocabulary, an easy way and an arsenal of well-thought-out answers.

Touchy subject? But there is one subject over which he tends to lose his cool: girls.

Thomas is a teen-scene heartthrob. The mere mention of his name elicits squeals from the 13-and-under set. Every week, he is deluged with fan mail — a lot of it from girls with crushes on their blond, blue-eyed idol. Mention that, however, and Thomas gets a bit tongue-tied. “I never really expected that,” he said when asked about his pinup-boy status. “It’s not anything I ever planned for. I guess people are fascinated by people on TV.”

In fact, Thomas would much rather talk about fly fishing or acting or his plans than about being the object of affection. Girls, he says, just aren’t on his agenda. “I go to the movies with a group, but no one-on-one dating yet. That’s not something I really want to do now.”

Starting out: What he really wants to do is act — something he’s been doing since age 8 when he landed the part of Greg Brady’s son on “The Bradys,” a short-lived series based on the adult lives of grown-up “Brady Bunch” characters. It died after seven episodes. A month after the show’s last broadcast in 1990, Thomas was cast as Tim Allen’s middle son, Randy, on “Home Improvement.” The show landed at No. 9 on the top 10 list of shows after only its first week.

“I have a goof time,” said, Thomas, one foggy morning before the start of his 9 a.m. work day on the “Home Improvement” set. Typical boys his age, Thomas wore jeans, a striped T-shirt, and oversize green sweat shirt and chunky black shoes. “It’s a lot of work and a lot of long hours,” he said. But it is rewarding, he added. “Seeing people watch and respond — that’s why we make the show. For people to enjoy it, to sit down on Tuesday at 9 o’clock and laugh for 22 minutes.”

In the movies: “Man of the House” is Thomas’ first in-front-of-the-camera movie role (The gravelly-voiced teen provided the voice of Young Simba in “The Lion King.”) In the new film, he plays Ben Archer, the only child of a single parent (Farrah Fawcett). When his mother gets engaged to a federal prosecutor (Chevy Chase), jealous Ben tries to scare off the fiancé by forcing him to join the Indian Guides.

Thomas, who lives in the San Fernando Valley with his single-parent mother and 17-year-old brother, says he enjoyed playing Ben because he could relate to the character’s dilemma. “I come from a single-parent home and the character, Ben Archer, comes from a single-parent home,” he said. “We’re both very precocious and active and curious. He’s very intelligent. He’s rough on the outside but vulnerable inside.”

The real world: In real life, Thomas and his mother, Claudine, are quite close, he said. A former social worker, his mother stays with him on the “Home Improvement” set and waits nearby during press interviews. But because Thomas has an older brother, he has never felt obliged to be “the man of the house,” he said. Still, he understood the character’s motivations for trying to frighten away his mother’s suitor. “It’s not him being a bad kid. He’s protecting the most important thing in his life. Everything he does is out of fear and vulnerability.” 

"Thomas not your average teen idol" Ocala Star Banner (December 29, 1995)

Thomas not your average teen idol

By Barry Koltnow

Orange County Register

Tom Sawyer envied Huck Finn’s independence. Huck Finn envied Tom Sawyer’s sense of security. Jonathan Taylor Thomas doesn’t envy either one of them. “Tom and Huck were all about the grass looking greener on the other side of the fence,” the young actor said. “But I’ve never envied anybody else’s grass. My grass is green enough for me.”

His grass would be green enough for just about any actor. For the last five years, he has played the middle child on the hit television show “Home Improvement,” starred with Chevy Chase in the box-office smash “Man of the House,” was the voice of young Simba in Disney’s “The Lion King” and now is the name above the title in the new film “Tom and Huck.”

Maybe that’s not quite at the level of, say Jim Carey, Tom Hanks or even Tim Allen. Then again, they aren’t 14. Thomas, who plays Tom Sawyer opposite Brad Renfro’s Huck in the latest retelling of the Mark Twain classic about two boys growing up along the Mississippi River, comes across in person like a manchild without the usual accompanying precociousness. He speaks like an adult, acts like an adult even eats like an adult. Munching on a salad of mixed greens — including, yuck, radicchio — Thomas hits on a wide range of topics, from how he got into the business (modeling) to what he plans to do when he gets tired of acting (Writing, directing and producing, of course).

One gets the distinct feeling that this is not another child actor who will suffer an unwanted career burnout. “I don’t want to escalate too fast in my career because you can get really lost,” he said. “I like the pace it’s been going at: no big explosions and no disappearing acts. “My career could end suddenly, that can happen to any actor. But I think I’m better prepared than most child actors. I have been concentrating on my education so I have something to fall back on. You can’t put all your eggs into one basket flips over, you’ve got nothing. If my career goes kerplunk, I’ll be ready to do something else.”

You said things like that when you were 14, didn’t you?

Thomas, a native of Bethlehem, Pa., moved with his family to Sacramento when he was 5. He says he was intrigued by a young model in a TV commercial and asked his mother if he could give it a try. He was soon modeling for local clothing stores.

His agent sent him to Los Angeles when he was 8 to audition for television shows. Within three weeks he won a spot on the short-lived series, “The Bradys.” The following year, he returned to L.A. for more auditions and got the role of Randy on “Home Improvement.” “I really have grown up on that show, and I mean that literally,” he said. “The reruns are like watching really well-done home videos. We really were little guys when that show started, weren’t we?”

"3 young stars end salary dispute" The Vindicator (July 30, 1993)

3 young stars end salary dispute

The ‘Taylor boys’ held out for two days for a higher salary.

By Ray Richmond

Los Angeles Daily News

The “sick-out” that held up production this week for the third season of the hit ABC comedy “Home Improvement” ended uneventfully Wednesday when all three of the show’s child stars — Zachery Ty Bryan, Taran Smith and Jonathan Taylor Thomas — returned to work after a salary dispute of two days.

As holdouts go, it wasn’t exactly a blockbuster. Representatives of the three reportedly were demanding that the boys have their salary doubled for each of the coming season’s allotment of 30 episodes. But once “Home Improvement” producers Touchstone Television and Wind Dancer Productions put out a casting call searching for replacements, the brief battle of wits ended.

Miraculous recovery: The agents for the boys all had called in to report that their clients were “ill” and unable to report for the beginning of work on “Home Improvement’s" third season. But by Wednesday, all of them evidently were feeling better. “There are no indications of health problems, Wind Dancer president Rick Leed told the Associated Press. “It’s the miracle of antibiotics, I guess.”

No specifics: Judy Savage, the agent for Taran, said that each of the three boys wound up with a “fair bump” in salary, though she declined to cite specifics. She did, however, note that a previously published report that the boys each make $8,000 per episode and were seeking a raise to $25,000 was “way off” and that “all three receive different amounts.” As for the new agreement, Ms. Savage added, “We’re not ecstatically happy, but at least it’s resolved.”

Not unusual: Ms. Savage also said that the request for more money was hardly out of the ordinary. “In the third year of a show, it’s generally the industry practice to renegotiate the child contracts and double what they received in the second season.” But Disney “wouldn’t budge,” stressed Ms. Savage, “until the kids got the flu. We were left with no other choice.”

"Star says he's a lot like his television character" Eugene Register Guard (September 5, 1994)

Star says he’s a lot like his television character

By Corrie Hoenig, David Monaco and Michael Riggio

Kidsday

We interviewed 12-year-old Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who plays Randy on ABC’s hit series, “Home Improvement.” You’ve also probably heard him this summer as the voice of Young Simba in the Disney film “The Lion King.”

Q: How do you handle the way people treat you?

A: As far as what? People are generally very nice. Giving autographs is part of the job.

Q: How many pets do you have?

A: I have a Lhasa Apso dog named Mac and two cats, Samantha and Simba.

Q: Do you like working with tools?

A: I like working with my hands. I like anything like hammers and saws that gets the job done.

Q: Do you ever wish you didn’t have to work so much?

A: Not really. But sometimes I am on the set and I wish I were with my friends at a movie.

Q: Are you like your character?

A: Oh yes. We are always thinking and scheming. I have a 16-year-old brother so I am always trying to think of ways to get him back for things he did to me. But I wouldn’t steal money for charity, and I couldn’t put my 16-year-old brother in a garbage can.

Q: Do you play sports?

A: I’ve played on a soccer team since I was 4 years old. I play basketball and I ski. But my favorite thing to do is fishing.

Q: Is it hard to memorize your lines?

A: Not really. Once you get into the rhythm of reading the script, you can interrupt it very easily. 

Q: Do you have a girlfriend?

A: No, do you?

Q: How did you get this part?

A: I was born in Bethlehem, Pa., but I moved to Northern California and began doing a lot of print work. Then I got the role of Kevin, Greg Brady’s son on “The Bradys.” That helped get me this part.

Q: Do you wear makeup?

A: No. If I have a scratch they will cover it up.

Q: How do you manage school?

A: Our TV schedule is that we shoot three weeks, and have one week off. When we are shooting, the public school sends the work to the set. We have a tutor there. When we are not shooting, I go to public school.

Q: What advice can you give to kids?

A: You can’t slack off in the acting business. You have to use all your energy in every role you try out for.

Q: Do you have a laugh track?

A: No, all the laughs are real. It is taped before a live audience. We have microphones that hang out over the audience and it picks up the laughter.

Q: Do you get a lot of fan mail?

A: I guess I get about 200 a week.

Q: Is Tim Allen really funny?

A: Yes. He’s been doing stand up comedy for 13 years.

Q: Did you think your series would be so successful?

A: They guaranteed us for seven episodes, which was good. We were just picked up for three years.

Q: You began this at age 9. Have they changed your character?

A: Yes. They are developing all of the characters now. I play the middle son, yet I am the oldest. I am still growing, but everyone grows at different stages. I think I will grow.

Q: Do you wear your own clothes?

A: No. They supply all the clothes, but if there is something we don’t like, we do have a say. I was allowed to tell them the clothes I like. In beginning we didn’t have that much to say.

Q: Do you do anything special to calm yourself before the show?

A: You can do this a million times and you are still going to be nervous. You can’t beat stage fright. I watch a TV show for example to mentally take that pressure away.

(If you want to write to Jonathan Taylor Thomas, send a letter to him in care of “Home Improvement,” 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA, 90067.)

Kidsday, which is staffed by student reporters, is a service of Newsday, a newspaper on Long Island, New York.