15 Facts We Definitely Didn't Know About The Sprouse Twins' Childhood

These days, everyone has heard of Cole Sprouse since he plays the handsome and brooding character Jughead on the popular show Riverdale. He brings the popular comic book character to life in a really great way and it's tough to imagine another actor in that role, sitting in the diner and writing his story. He's also an avid photographer and rumored to be dating his co-star Lili Reinhart and fans think that they're the cutest couple ever. He's also got an equally cute twin named Dylan, and as it turns out, Cole and Dylan Sprouse were child stars on the Disney show The Suite Life Of Zach and Cody.

If any of us saw that show, we probably really enjoyed it and have been following the twins' careers ever since. If we never saw it and only know of Cole because of the popular teen drama based on the Archie comics, then we might not have even known that he had a twin brother. We're probably all curious about the twins' childhood and how they got into the acting business, so we rounded up some fun facts about them. Here are 15 facts you definitely didn't know about the Sprouse twins' childhood!

15 They Weren't Born In America

Although Cole and Dylan grew up in California, that's not where they were born. In fact, they weren't born in the States at all. So where were they born? That would be the town of Arezzo, Italy. Arezzo is known for its beautiful art and history, like a lot of European places, and it's southeast of Florence. It has a lot of churches and festivals and seems like it would be a cool place to visit.

How come they were born there? Their parents were teaching English in Italy (in Tuscany, aka one of the most beautiful places ever). When they were babies (only four months old), the family moved to California, and that's where they stayed. Would we ever have guessed that they were born in Italy?! Probably not. It's definitely a fun fact and something that most people might not know about them.

14 They Pretended To Be Each Other On Their High School Graduation Day

When we think of twins, we probably picture them playing pranks on each other… and on other people. We always hear stories about twins dressing up like each other and pretending to be the other one, and of course that's a common storyline in a movie or on a TV show that features identical twins. It's always hilarious and also pretty adorable.

On their high school graduation day, Cole and Dylan pretended to be each other, according to stories on Marieclaire.com and TeenVogue.com. We wonder if it was one of those spur of the moment things or if they decided ahead of time. As Dylan told Teen Vogue, "In fact, if you look up my graduating photo you'll see. We just decided, you know, there's no reason not to. No one's going to notice."

13 It Was Their Choice To Stop Starring On Their Disney Show

There is so much talk about former child stars who really had a rough transition to more mature roles. Some child stars definitely struggled a lot, whether during their childhood or later on, but in the case of Cole and Dylan Sprouse, that doesn't seem to be what happened.

It was the twins' decision to stop starring on the Disney show that made them famous, The Suite Life Of Zach and Cody. They starred on the show for three seasons from March 2005 until September 2008. There was a spin-off version, The Suite Life on Deck, which lasted from September 2008 until May 2011, so that was another three-season thing. Then they wanted to break away. According to a story on Nickiswift.com, Dylan and Cole wanted to do one more season and write and produce the show as well. The answer was no, so they decided to walk away.

12 They Don't Regret Starring On It, Though

It's a common story these days that former child stars didn't have the best experience starring on a TV show since that means giving up a normal childhood. You can't go to school and hang out with your friends all the time or go to birthday parties or just generally be a free-spirited kid. Your life is totally different from that and much more regimented.

Cole and Dylan don't seem to regret starring on their show, so that makes them very unique. After Joe Jonas said some negative things about his time on the show that made him and his brothers famous, Cole posted on his Tumblr account and seemed to be saying that he didn't agree. Joe had said that he was "robbed" of his creativity on the show and Cole said that wasn't true because he could have had a say.

11 While Growing Up They Played The Same Characters

Just like some other super famous twins, aka Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Cole and Dylan Sprouse played the same roles during their childhood. It makes sense to cast twins as the same character since that would mean that they each get their turn but can also take breaks. It seems like that would be a great way to have children act. The Olsen twins were definitely great as Michelle Tanner on Full House.

Cole and Dylan played the same person in Big Daddy (yup, that would be the movie starring Adam Sandler). They were also on a show called Grace Under Fire which was a comedy. If any of us are big fans, we should definitely look up their childhood acting credits and watch whatever we can, right?

10 They Acted To Make The Family Money

It makes sense that some child actors would contribute to their parents' income, especially if they were making a lot of money or if their family was struggling. It seems like Cole and Dylan initially started acting because they were going to make their family some cash.

As Cole said in an audio Tumblr post, "My brother [Dylan] and I were put into acting when we were 8 months old by our mother because we needed the money. I never made the decision to join the arts, or acting specifically. It was never my passion. To be honest, if she never thrust me into it, I probably never would have thought of it as a career choice for myself." It's interesting to hear that it wasn't his "passion" because he's so good on Riverdale, but it seems like maybe he changed his mind and enjoys it today.

9 They Paid For Their Family's House

Although the twins were born in Italy, they did move to California when they were babies so they definitely spent their childhood in California. It sounds like they were the ones that paid for the house that their family lived in at one point during their childhood. According to the Internet, the income that Cole and Dylan brought to their family from their childhood acting roles was able to pay for a house in California.

That's definitely really cool and is a really big accomplishment when we think about it. We often hear about celebrities making it big and wanting to return the favor to their families for supporting their dreams of singing or acting and buying them a house or car (or both) once they had made it in Hollywood.

8 Cole Is Basically A Genius And Took AP Classes

If we read any interviews with Cole Sprouse, it's clear that he's very intelligent because he just has this poetic way of looking at the world. We know that education is important to him and his brother Dylan, and it has shown throughout his entire life.

Cole had a tutor when he was on set for The Suite Life of Zach and Cody and people say that he would study for hours at a time. He also took AP classes. Since that was the case, it definitely makes sense that he and his brother went to NYU and that they really wanted to go to college and learn. It sounds like they've each always been really into learning, and that's honestly so motivating and inspiring to hear. They're definitely good role models for younger fans.

7 They Were In An Episode Of 'That 70's Show'

Both Cole and Dylan starred in an episode of That 70's Show. It was an episode that aired in 2001 called "Eric's Depression."

If any of us were big fans of that show, maybe we remember that episode and we remember their appearance. Or maybe we don't, which would make sense because if we didn't know about them back then we wouldn't have been able to recognize them or get excited that the twins were acting on that show. Now that we know, we can totally go back and watch it, right? That sounds like a really fun idea. Based on this photo of them with Ashton Kutcher, it looks like they were super cute on the show, which of course is no big surprise.

6 They Had A Whole Brand

In 2005, Cole and Dylan had a brand that started called The Sprouse Bros. Brand. That meant a magazine aimed at pre-teen males called Sprouse Bros Code, a comic book series, and some other products.

This was a licensing agreement with Dualstar Entertainment. There were also branded clothing. Dylan has said that their audience was "the nerd group and the cool group" so they wanted their stuff to "appeal to everybody." Their agreement with Dualstar went on until 2008 when they decided to walk away. Their clothing line was still available online until the spring of 2012 so fans could still get stuff there. If the name Dualstar sounds familiar, that's because it's the Olsen twins' brand/company. It turns out that both sets of twins have a lot in common, right?

5 Getting An Education Was Important To Them

Not every celebrity goes to college, of course. Some take a break from their busy and successful acting career to attend a college for the four-year period. Others go part-time or just don't go at all. Some celebs have told stories about getting into a prestigious Ivy League or acting program somewhere and being all set to go and then getting the role that ended up changing their lives. That would definitely be a good reason not to go to school and it's understandable.

For Cole and Dylan, getting an education was super important to them. People have said that Cole would study for hours when he was on the set of his Disney show and that he also took AP classes. As he told Vanity Fair "Part of the reason I went to college was that I wanted to fade out peacefully, show everybody I had gone through something that was quite challenging and difficult but did so with grace and poise and got an education. By the end of it what I hadn't interpreted was the rise of social media, which kind of kept my brother and I alive in strange, underground subcircles."

4 Their Grandma Was On Board With Them Acting

According to the Internet, it seems like it was Cole and Dylan's grandma that thought that they would make awesome actors. If that's true, it sounds like she was definitely right. Sure, his parents were the ones that obviously made the decision in the end, especially since they started acting at only eight months old.

It's pretty interesting to think about how we would feel if we grew up acting and that was how we spent our childhood. What would it be like to know that we had been in front of a camera since the time that we were eight months old? It's tough to imagine since that's not the life that we know, but it seems like Cole and Dylan have dealt with everything well since they're always so polite and professional in interviews.

3 They Both Got Into NYU

Dylan and Cole both got into NYU and chose to go to the Gallatin School of Individualized Study. It sounds like being in college was the focus for both of them at the time. Cole has said in an interview, "The goal for me to go to college, and my brother as well was to fade out." It sounds like going to college was part of their transition away from being child stars and into the next phase of their lives, and it's really awesome and inspiring that they wanted to go to college.

NYU sounds like a pretty popular college choice for a lot of celebrities since so many famous people tend to go there, probably because New York is just such a cool, artistic, inspiring place to be anyway. What did Cole study? That would be archaeology.

2 Dylan Is Older Than Cole

Yup, Dylan is older than Cole… but not by much. So how much older is he? An hour? A few hours? Nope. Not by that much. He's older than his brother by fifteen minutes.

Did we think that Cole was older or did we guess that it was Dylan? It's pretty much impossible to guess these types of things, but we never know. We wonder if Dylan feels like the older brother and feels really protective of his brother and treats him like the little brother in the family? Or do we think that since they're twins they feel like they're on equal ground? It's definitely interesting to think about. The brothers definitely seem to be very close which is always nice to see, and they're always saying sweet things about each other in interviews.

1 Cole Acted On 'Friends' And Was Into Jennifer Aniston

Cole flew solo and was Ross's son Ben on Friends, which should totally make any big fan of that show (aka everyone) want to go back and watch the episodes that he was in. It's always fun to learn that an actor or actress that we love was actually in one of our favorite movies or TV shows when they were a kid or teenager.

Cole was not only Friends but he also had a big thing for Jennifer Aniston… which is honestly the cutest thing ever. We wonder if she was aware of the crush that he had?! We bet that she was so nice to him on set and was probably pretty flattered. Okay, now we really need to check out those episodes. We're sure that Cole was great.