Another day, another former teencom star all grown up. Today we're profiling Jake Thomas, who played Matt McGuire, the scamming, pranking little brother of the titular character on the Disney teencom Lizzie McGuire (2001-2004, plus a 2003 movie).
Matt is shown here with his best friend Lanny (Christian Copelin, who has retired from acting and now works as a realtor).
I never actually watched, but the episode guide has him buddy-bonding with several other guys, including Oscar (Sebastian Jude) and Ethan (Clayton Trey Schneider), plus a "girly" interest in cheerleading that causes his father concern. He could be queer coded.
Afterwards Lizzy, Jake moved into drama with a painful episode of Without a Trace (2004): High schooler Eric Miller (Jake) vanishes during a bathroom break. The agents first assume that it's a kidnapping, but soon discover that he was lured into a humiliation trap. He's heterosexual, but queer viewers who were bullied in high school still found it a powerfully moving experience.
Then Jake returned to his home in Knoxville, Tennessee to finish high school. But he still had time for acting projects, like the movie Monster Night (2006), where he fights monsters and gets a girlfriend on Halloween; and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (2003-07), where he plays the Harry Potter parody Nigel Planter.
Gay representation: Dean Toadblatt, headmaster of Toadblatt's School of Sorcery, marries his boyfriend in a 2007 episode. Main characters Nergal and Irwin start dating in the series finale. No parent complained.
After graeduating from Farragut High School in 2007, Jake returned to Los Angeles to play the snobbish Stickler in Cory in the House (2007-2008). He and Cory (Kyle Massey), son of the White House chef, compete over It-Girl Meena, daughter of the Bahavian Ambassador. Stickler's dad is the head of the CIA, so he has access to a lot of super-spy equipment to make his wooing easier; but Meena still prefers Corey.
Although Stickler only appears in 11 of 33 episodes, he was a fan favorite. On April 1, 2022, Jake announced a Cory spin-off, Stickler and Newt in the House, pairing Stickler with newly-elected President Newt (Jason Dolley, left). It was an April Fool's Day prank, but many fans got excited, thinking that it was real.
Since it's imaginary, we can also imagine that Stickler and Newt are boyfriends. Maybe the grown-up Cory drops by to spend the night in the Lincoln Bedroom.
More Jake after the break