Josh Peck Says He ‘Aged Out’ of Nickelodeon as a Former Child Star
Fans of Nickelodeon are most likely familiar with former child star Josh Peck, who rose to fame as Josh Nichols in the sitcom Drake & Josh. Being a child star is never easy, and Peck says he is lucky to have “survived the curse of child stardom.”
The now 36-year-old actor has come a long way since his early days. According to E! Online, he is now a husband and father of two. Peck has accumulated quite a few acting credits since his younger years, taking on roles in shows such as How I Met Your Father, Fuller House, and iCarly. However, it appears that he hasn’t forgotten just how he got his start. In an interview, the actor says he “aged out” of Nickelodeon as a former child star.
Peck’s career as a child star on Nickelodeon
Peck knew from an early age that he wanted to break into the world of acting, and even though it took extreme focus and persistence, he didn’t let anything stand in his way. The website The GW Hatchet reports that it was after several Nickelodeon auditions that Peck finally landed a role in the 2000 movie Snow Day, which led to him being cast in The Amanda Show and, finally, Drake & Josh.
According to People, the actor has no regrets about being in the spotlight from such a young age and gives his mom a lot of credit. Says Peck, “My mom doesn’t play. Even now, if I say something remotely fresh, she’ll still call me on it.”
The star enjoyed what he was doing, saying, “I was just totally in love with coming to work every day.”
He saw a lot of other child stars fade into the background as the years passed, and expressed his gratitude for being able to continue his career as he got older. Says Peck, “This takes an incredible amount of work and focus and dedication. You have to weather the times when you’re not working. There’s a lot of rejection. I understood that early on. I never let any of that deter me from my main focus — my passion.”
Peck says that he ‘aged out’ of Nickelodeon as a former child star
It is obvious that Peck looks back at his early days with fondness. But he recently opened up regarding his feelings about being a former child star.
While talking to teen star Hilary Duff, he spoke about how Nickelodeon had a sort of “setup.” What exactly did Peck say? He told Duff, “Nickelodeon sort of had a setup where they were like, ‘Once you’re 18, and the show’s done, we’re probably done because you’ve probably just aged out of the demo.'”
Will there be a ‘Drake & Josh’ reboot?
In fact, he did address the possibility of this happening. According to E! Online, Peck isn’t exactly on board with the idea, saying, “Not really, no. I never think about it in that way.”
He just doesn’t think it will work or ever even happen, for that matter, although it was in the works at one point. The actor even wrote a script for a reboot of the show. However, it never came to fruition.
Peck added that other reboots, such as Fuller House, may work because they were “important characters from the original who then were able to make it their own in the reboot. So I think if you’re going to do it, I think you have to do it like that.”
