Nickelodeon star candidly lifts the lid on how growing up on screen has impacted his own parenting skills
Danny Tamberelli, 42, got his big break on Nickelodeon shows in the 1990s Now, his main role is as a dad to Alfie, four, and daughter Penelope, one He recently opened up to Business Insider about the realities of parenthood
A Nickelodeon child star who has gone from All That to all grown up - complete with a wife and two kids - has confessed how experiences from his acting days are shaping his present-day life choices.
Danny Tamberelli, 42, got his big break co-starring as one of the title characters on Nickelodeon sitcom The Adventures of Pete & Pete, which aired between 1991 and 1996, before voicing Arnold in The Magic School Bus and appearing in The Mighty Ducks.
By the late 1990s, he landed a spot on the much-loved sketch comedy show All That, alongside the likes of Kenan Thompson and Amanda Bynes.
Now, as he explained to Business Insider, his main role is that of dad, to both son Alfie, four, and daughter Penelope, one.
At the same time, he and literary agent wife Katelyn Detweiler have co-authored two books - 2023's The First Date Prophecy, loosely based on their own courtship, and The Road Trip Rewind, out this month, about a screenwriter and actor who get transported back to 1999.
Danny Tamberelli, 42, rose to fame in kids shows and movies in the 1990s - but now is main role is as a husband and dad to Alfie, four, and daughter Penelope, one
In the late 1990s, Danny landed a spot in the cast of beloved sketch-comedy series All That
While Alfie shows barely any interest in watching his dad's old shows and films, Danny is recognized at his son's elementary school, with a teacher even pulling him aside to tell him that the class would soon be watching The Magic School Bus.
In public, Alfie has also seen strangers ask his dad for photos, and, when Danny made an appearance at last year's 90s Con, couldn't figure out why people were standing in line to meet his old man.
'He was like, "I don't even like taking pictures with you,"' said Danny of his son's input.
'I want to teach my children about fame through communication,' Danny elaborated to the outlet.
'I care when someone cares. There's a level of empathy that goes along with it.'
While he's well aware of Quiet on Set - the docu-series that dove into the seedy, exploitative side of Nickelodeon's behind-the-scenes workings during the same era he was a rising child star at the studio - Danny didn't offer any comment on it.
Rather, he emphasized how his own mom was particularly protective and supportive when it came to his time working on set.
'She was there to make sure everything was running smoothly,' Danny explained. 'I would voice any issues to her, she would voice them to production.'
Danny's break out role was as one of the title characters in The Adventures of Pete & Pete, which aired in the early 1990s
He continued to gush of his mom's parenting abilities, adding that she was the 'kind of parent that could be there all the time but also gave me a lot of space to find myself and be creative.'
'I'll hope I can be like that,' he told Business Insider.
'Just being present and aware of your child's life is really important, coming from an industry where sometimes that doesn't always happen.'
His dad also pushed for him to get a relatively more normal job, working at a bagel shop, even as his acting career took off.
Danny recalled that sometimes he'd see himself on All That on the TV while working behind the bagel counter.
'At the time, I was feeling a little weird about doing that, but in hindsight, it did ground me,' he reflected, further recalling he was in the midst of auditioning for 'tens of thousands' of roles.
'I didn't have to worry about other things child actors do when they put all their eggs in one basket,' which, he observed, 'can be traumatic and problematic' if things don't go well.
'I'm very fortunate and lucky, that's not the case.'