Cole Sprouse's Real Name: Cole Mitchell Sprouse

Quick answer: Cole Sprouse's documented full name is given as Cole Mitchell Sprouse by Encyclopedia.com, which dates his birth to August 4, 1992, in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. Biography.com gives the same date and place under the name Cole Sprouse (Encyclopedia.com; Biography.com).

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as Cole Sprouse. Both sources identify Dylan Sprouse as his identical twin; Biography.com says Cole was born a quarter of an hour after Dylan. Accounts of their parents' work in Italy differ. Biography.com says Melanie Wright and Matthew Sprouse were English teachers there; Encyclopedia.com describes Matthew as working in the auto industry and Melanie as a video producer. Both note a grandmother who was an actress and acting teacher. Biography.com says the family moved to Southern California when the twins were four months old, that the boys began acting on her suggestion, and that they booked the first commercial they auditioned for.

Career highlights

The brothers shared the role of Patrick on Grace Under Fire (1993–98) and made their feature debut as Adam Sandler's son in Big Daddy (1999), Biography.com records; Encyclopedia.com also lists Big Daddy. They later starred as Zack and Cody on Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Biography.com says they left Disney around age 18 after a dispute about creative control. Cole studied archaeology, geographic information systems, and satellite imaging at New York University, graduating in May 2015, and later worked as an archaeological assistant in Brooklyn. Biography.com also lists The Astronaut's Wife among their early films and says that after college Cole was working in an artifact laboratory in Brooklyn when he read the Riverdale script. In 2016 he was cast as Jughead Jones on the CW series. The Biography.com profile, last updated in May 2020, also notes that as an adult he embraced photography as he made the choice to return to professional screen acting with a role on the CW series Riverdale. Encyclopedia.com records the joint professional billing Sprouse Bros. and lists The Suite Life of Zack and Cody among his credits.

Name notes for searchers

Encyclopedia.com gives Cole Mitchell Sprouse; Biography.com uses Cole Sprouse. He is known professionally as Cole Sprouse. Searchers looking for Cody on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, or for Jughead Jones on Riverdale, are usually aiming at the same person.