When the host of the original The lion king stars gathered in July to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the iconic Disney film, co-star Jonathan Taylor Thomas was nowhere to be found.
Actor — who rose to fame in the 1990s with his voice in film and TV series home improvement, among other major projects — last photographed publicly in 2021 while walking his dogs.
After he started filming the series in 1990 at the age of 9 the bradys, Thomas was suddenly everywhere, giving voice to young Simba lion king, acting in family films Man of the house and Tom and Huck and landing the role of middle child Taylor Randy Home improvement 1991, a role he would play in nearly 200 episodes. He was also on the cover of almost every teen magazine, from Bop to Tiger Beat.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas 1994.
Ron Galella, Ltd/Ron Galella Collection/Getty
But by the early 2000s, he retired and left Home improvement early and finishes his acting roles.
“I’ve been going non-stop since I was 8,” he told PEOPLE in 2013. “I wanted to go to school, travel and get some rest.”
He attended Harvard, Columbia and the University of St. Andrew in Scotland, and enjoyed his time as a student.
“Sitting in a big library among books and students, that was great,” Thomas said. “It was a new experience for me.”
Returning to Los Angeles, he focused on directing, writing screenplays and taking advantage of his free time. “I watch a lot of movies, I go hiking, I stay up at plays and in the theater,” he said then, adding that he “doesn’t regret” leaving.
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He returned to the small screen several times between 2013 and 2015 on the former Home improvement Tim Allen series, Last Man Standing, reunited with his ’90s TV dad and mom, Patricia Richardson.
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Jonathan Taylor Thomas in 2013 GT/Star Max/FilmMagic Jonathan Taylor Thomas compared himself to Simba in a 1994 Sweet interview about his The lion king Role
In an interview from 2024 at Back to the best podcast, Richardson said she’s still in touch with Thomas, but reiterated that “he’s not really interested in acting. He wants to direct and write.”
Born on September 8, 1981 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Thomas was not yet 5 years old when he moved to Sacramento with mom Claudine Weiss, dad Stephen Weiss (who divorced Claudine in 1991) and older brother Joel.
After modeling, Thomas landed a commercial for a Burger King in LA when he was 8 and thought the prospect of a career in show business was “pretty cool,” he told PEOPLE in 1994. “So I asked my mom and I signed up to act, I just thought the whole idea of being on TV, being recognized and having a good time was interesting.”
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The cast of ‘Home Improvement’ in 1992.
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
The cast Home improvement: Where are they now?
In that 1994 interview, Claudine told PEOPLE that her son’s charisma was evident from early childhood, “even when he was 18 months old. He seemed older than his age and was really outgoing,” she recalled. “Everybody kept saying, ‘Wow! Why don’t you put him on TV.’ ”
But by the time he left from Home improvement and graduated from college, he seemed resigned to putting that chapter behind him.
“I’ve never taken fame too seriously,” he told PEOPLE in a 2013 chat. “It was a great period in my life, but it doesn’t define me. When I think back to that time, I look at him with a wink. I focus on the good times I had, not on being on a lot of magazine covers.”
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