Erik Thomas von Detten (born October 3, 1982) is an American singer and former actor. He is known for his roles in ''
Escape to Witch Mountain'', ''
Toy Story'', ''
Brink!'', ''
Meego'', ''
The Princess Diaries'', ''
Complete Savages'', and ''
So Weird''. He voiced Erwin Lawson through the full run of ''
Recess'' (1997-2001) and the series' four successive
direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...
films.
Early life
Erik Thomas von Detten was born in
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, the son of Susan von Detten (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...
Farber), a photographer, and Volker von Detten. He has three sisters, Dolly, Britta and Andrea, and a brother, Timothy. He has German, English, and Russian Jewish ancestry. His family moved to a two-story house in
El Segundo, California when he was a young child. In El Segundo, von Detten attended the local public elementary school, and was a member of the
Cub Scouts.
Career
One of von Detten's earliest roles was
Nicholas Alamain on the daytime soap opera ''
Days of Our Lives
''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. The soap, which aired on ...
'' from 1992 until 1993, appearing in 55 episodes.
Nicholas was revealed to be the secret son of
Lawrence Alamain (
Michael Sabatino) and
Carly Manning (
Crystal Chappell), two of the show's major characters. As a result, von Detten was heavily involved in some of the show's main storylines, despite only being 10 years old.
In 1995, when he was 13, von Detten provided the voice of the villainous and heartless toy-tormentor Sid Phillips in ''
Toy Story''. He starred in the film ''
Christmas Every Day'' in 1996, played Wally Cleaver in the 1997 film ''
Leave It to Beaver'', and in 1998, had the lead as the title character in the Disney Channel original movie ''
Brink!''. He followed this up on the television series ''
So Weird '', on which he played Clu Bell from 1999 to 2001. Von Detten also appeared in a theatrical release as Josh Bryant in ''
The Princess Diaries'' in 2001. In addition, he has made several television appearances in shows such as ''
Dinotopia'' (2002), the first celebrity edition of the
ABC reality show ''
The Mole'', the third season's ''
Celebrity Mole Hawaii'' (2003), and Fox's ''
Malcolm in the Middle''. Von Detten has also played the part of Chris Savage in the short-lived sitcom ''
Complete Savages''.
In 2007, he made his stage debut in the children's play ''
The Christmas Princess'' in Santa Monica. In 2009, he was featured in the music video "
Wanted" by pop singer
Jessie James. In 2010, he made a brief cameo appearance before he retired from acting in ''
Toy Story 3'' reprising his role as Sid Phillips, who is now a garbageman in his 20s.
As of 2018, von Detten worked for
Rosland Capital
Rosland Capital is a precious metals asset management firm that sells gold and other precious metals in physical form. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and is widely known for its television commercials starring actor Willi ...
, a precious metals asset management firm. He is now a sales manager at a commodities brokerage firm.
Personal life
Von Detten has been married to his wife, Angela, a Taiwanese-American real estate agent, since 2018. They have a daughter, Claire Elizabeth (b. 2019), and a son, Thomas Henry (b. 2021).
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Von Detten, Erik
1982 births
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Male actors from San Diego
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American male child actors
American male film actors
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American male television actors
Living people
Participants in American reality television series