Erik von Detten


Erik Thomas von Detten is a former American actor. He is known for his roles in Escape to Witch Mountain, Toy Story, Brink!, Meego, The Princess Diaries, Complete Savages, and So Weird.

Early life

Erik Thomas von Detten was born in San Diego, California. He is the son of Susan von Detten, a photographer, and Volker von Detten. His father is an immigrant from Munich, Germany, and his mother is of English and Russian Jewish descent. He has three sisters, Dolly, Britta, and Andrea, and a brother, Timothy. Erik's family moved to a 2-story house in El Segundo, California when he was a young child. In El Segundo, Erik 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 from 1992 until 1993, appearing in 55 episodes. Nicholas was revealed to be the secret son of Lawrence Alamain and Carly Manning, 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 at the time. Perhaps the most notable storyline during von Detten's time on the soap was Nicholas's accidental killing of his father's lover Lisanne Gardner, who had been attempting to blackmail Vivian Alamein over the secret of Nicholas's parentage.
In 1995, when he was 13, Von Detten provided the voice of the villainous toy-tormentor Sid Phillips in the hit movie Toy Story. He starred in the ABC family original movie 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!. Von Detten also appeared in a theatrical release as the jerk Josh Bryant in The Princess Diaries in 2001. In addition, he has made several television appearances in shows such as Dinotopia, the first celebrity edition of the ABC reality show The Mole, the third season's Celebrity Mole Hawaii, in which he was runner-up, as well as the Disney Channel's So Weird, 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 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, a precious metals asset management firm.

Personal life

Von Detten has been married to his wife Angela, since 2018; together they have a daughter.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games