While his acting career has since been reduced to guest appearances on TV series and various independent films, Frankie Muniz was once one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood. We take you back to when he was at the height of the career.
On this day in 2003, Muniz was doing press for his action film Agent Cody Banks, in which he played the titular character, co-starring alongside Hilary Duff and Angie Harmon.
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The film was the third starring role for the then-17-year-old Muniz, who had risen to fame on the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle.
Among the many topics that he's asked about in the interview is the subject of dating, a usually enthusiastic topic for an adolescent, especially a famous one. However, Muniz reveals that he's not as smooth with the ladies as one might expect of an actor.
"I'm not good at talking to girls in the sense of me going up to a girl and starting a conversation," Muniz reveals," but if I get introduced to a girl or a girl comes up to me, I can carry conversation fine. ... I would never be able to go up to a girl and be like, 'Hey... What's up?' ... I'd be exactly like Cody (his character) was: I wouldn't know what to say."
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Although one might assume that fame would guarantee a legion of girls for him to date, the teenage actor assesses his fame as more of a hindrance to facilitating relationships than a catalyst.
"The few times I have...introduced myself to someone, they're like, 'You're from "Malcolm in the Middle"!' and 'Oh, let me take a picture with you!' Then it's like, 'Well, that kind of ruined it,'" he divulges.
Nevertheless, Muniz, who is currently more involved in music as the drummer of indie rock band Kingsfoil than acting, maintains that recognition from strangers is generally rewarding--when he's not trying to court a girl, that is.
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"I get recognized a lot, but that's not tough to me," he replies when prompted on getting recognized. "It's kind of odd, but it's fun. It's a good feeling when someone comes up to you and [says]...'I like your show' or 'I can't wait to see your new movie.' That just makes me happy that people are actually watching and people enjoy what I do."
Muniz went on to star in Malcolm in the Middle for three more years and eventually starred in a Cody Banks sequel a year later.
As for the future of his love life, Muniz was married in 2011.
