A Disney child star decided to walk away from Hollywood to venture into a pretty surprising new career.
I want you to cast your mind back to your favorite Disney movies from the early 2000s.
Disney always seems to be releasing great movies, but I bet The Incredibles is one you remember pretty fondly.
With a star-studded cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Hunter, and Craig T. Nelson, The Incredibles rocketed to success.
Among these big names was a then little-known 10-year-old, Spencer Fox, who voiced the character of Dash.
For most boys in 2005, becoming the voice of a superfast hero would be a dream come true.
But what happens when you take part in one of the biggest Disney movies of all time at such an early age?
Spencer sat down with the Metro to explain all.
Despite the frequent use of family connections in Hollywood, Spencer - now 31 - recalls a different story for himself.
“There was zero nepotism. No inroads. I was just signed to an agency. Pixar had an open casting call - it’s crazy that Pixar would hold one of those - and I guess it went well!”
After the film’s release, Spencer’s life transformed overnight, taking him to movie premieres and red-carpet events.
Reflecting on his experience, Spencer says: “I’m grateful it happened [at age 11] because I didn’t have anxiety or intrusive thoughts yet. Had I been 13 or 14, with hormones flowing through my body, that would have been a nightmare. I dodged a bullet.”
Even so, Spencer noticed changes in how people treated him. “People definitely interacted with me differently. It was part of my identity whether I liked it or not,” he recalls.
Following his role in The Incredibles, Spencer lent his voice to the Disney Channel series Kim Possible, playing the roles of Kim’s twin brothers, Jim and Tim. However, by age 14, he faced a tough choice.
“I was told that if I wanted to make it as an actor, a lot of things would have to change,” he recalls. “I’d have to double the number of auditions I went to and spend half my year in Los Angeles. I talked with my family and I could tell it was the wrong thing for me.”
Instead, Spencer turned to his love of music.
Three years later, he joined forces with singer Eva Hendricks, her brother Sam on drums, and bassist Dan Shure to form the band Charly Bliss.
“From the start, Charly Bliss was what I wanted to do,” he says. “Even before we started making music that sounded like us, we loved the way we interacted with each other.”
He continued: “Once we figured out how to be Charly Bliss, we knew to make it the emphasis in our lives. Everything snapped into place.”
Charly Bliss released their debut album, Guppy, in 2017, to significant acclaim.
Their catchy tunes resonated with audiences, earning them international tours and a fast-growing listener base on Spotify.
“I was worried that my identity in the band was just gonna be ‘Oh, the guy who did the Pixar thing,’ which sounded like Hell,” he admitted. “But the relationship between me being Dash and being the guitarist in Charly Bliss is in a good place.”