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Remember Jonathan Taylor Thomas? He Just Turned 35-Years-Old

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 18:10 PST, Sep 9, 2016

Jonathan Taylor Thomas basically owned the 1990s. From his recurring role on TV in Home Improvement to his live-action movies including I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Tom and Huck, and Man of the House, Jonathan Taylor Thomas (affectionately known as JTT) was the heartthrob of a generation of young people.

Perhaps Jonathan Taylor Thomas’s most enduring role was his voice work as young Simba in Disney’s The Lion King, as out of all of his professional projects, The Lion King is the one that is perhaps most likely to feature in any modern family’s DVD collection.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Jonathan Taylor Thomas turned 35-years-old on September 8, making those fans who idealized the young actor in their youth feel even older than they already did.

So what has the baby-faced heartthrob been up to in the past few years, and why did he so suddenly leave the world of show business behind? The good news is that Jonathan Taylor Thomas, unlike many other child stars of his generation, did not succumb to drugs, partying, and an otherwise wild existence.

In fact, quite the opposite happened. Bustle reports that, despite his almost unprecedented fame and the fact that he had successfully achieved what so many other child actors have failed to do – transitioning from adorable child star to legitimate young adult professional – Jonathan Taylor Thomas decided that show business was not going to be his priority in his adult years.

Instead, the Home Improvement actor decided that his education was of utmost importance to him, going on to study at an impressive list of schools including Columbia, Harvard, and St Andrews.

Yet, Jonathan Taylor Thomas hasn’t disappeared completely. He has appeared in a few episodes of Last Man Standing, which famously stars his former on-screen TV dad Tim Allen. Also, the actor has been staying busy with extensive behind-the-scenes work on the show.

Another Bustle article notes that Jonathan Taylor Thomas notably appeared in two episodes of Smallville, playing the role of a meta-human boasting a self-duplicating ability who attends Smallville High School. Much to the delight of fans, the character’s ability to duplicate himself meant that, at times, there was more than one version of Jonathan Taylor Thomas’s character on screen at any one time, and to top it off, he appears without a shirt in a few of the scenes.

Check out a clip here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbdduicnLnc

Apart from Last Man Standing and Smallville, Jonathan Taylor Thomas hasn’t given fans much else to talk about over the past few years. The only other thing to mention is that Tom Brady, the well-known NFL Patriots star, recently decided to try out a new hairstyle and perhaps inadvertently made himself look like Jonathan Taylor Thomas back in the 1990s.

According to Boston Magazine, Brady’s hair change did not escape unnoticed, and Jimmy Fallon even made mention of it on his Tonight Show. During his “pros and cons” segment, Fallon called Tom Brady’s JTT-esque hairstyle a “con,” joking that it belonged back in 1995.

Check out the clip here, and skip to 1:20 to see the reference to Tom Brady and Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPII0MA9mAc

Diehard fans of 90s TV and Jonathan Taylor Thomas in particular can only hope that the actor – who is as good-looking now as he ever was – will decide to show more of himself in upcoming television and movie projects in the future. There is little doubt that he has a fan base just waiting for his return.

Forgotten what Jonathan Taylor Thomas looked like in the latter part of his Home Improvement days? Check out the clip below.

[Photo by Getty Images]

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