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From Drake Bell To Bryan Hearne: What The Quiet On Set Child Actors Are Doing These Days
The child stars of famous Nickelodeon shows recently made headlines by revealing stories of racial charges, sexual abuse and toxic environment on sets. Find out where they are now!
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV is a four-part series recently released on Investigation Discovery. It exposes the toxic environment behind Nicklodoen kids' TV shows from the past.
Ever since its shocking expose, the series has been in the headlines for one reason or another. The actors who starred in those shows as kids had traumatic and life-altering consequences. Find out where they are now!
Drake Bell
The singer-actor first rose to fame when he starred in The Amanda Show, featuring Amanda Bynes. Credit to the successful run of the comedy sketch and Bells’ acting, he got his own Nickelodeon show with Josh Peck called Drake And Josh. The show was a success and completed four seasons from 2004 to 2007.
After leaving the kids' channel, Bell hardly took on any significant acting projects but continued releasing music. However, his legal troubles were major roadblocks in his life. He was arrested for driving under the influence and received two years of probation for child endangerment.
In the infamous expose documentary, Bell admitted that his undealt trauma played a part in him leading a reckless life. He revealed that the dialect coach Brian Peck sexually abused him on the sets of Drake and Josh.
The alleged offender was arrested on two charges: lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 by a person 10 years older and oral copulation of a person under 16 in 2003. The Amanda Show alum, who had brushed the trauma under the carpet, faced it during the Quiet On Sets filming and revealed that it changed his life since.
Katrina Johnson
The actress memorably appeared in All That between 1994 and 1997 and was part of iconic skits, like Lemonade Scammer, Explaining Girl, Dorothy and Didi, among others. In the documentary, she confessed feeling “edged out” by Amanda Bynes, who played the younger version of her.
Talking about her beef with Bynes, she revealed on a podcast that she was jealous of her. “When I was a kid, I was the baby of the show. That was my role. I was doing kinda well, and the network offered me my own show,” Johnson said.
“I would help write sketches and new characters for that new show. Then I sort of aged out of the show (All That), so to speak,” she added. So when Bynes replaced her on the show, she had a “one-sided beef” with her for a long time.
Since the Nickelodeon show, Johnson has left the industry. But according to IMDB, she has two projects, Black Creek and Shane On You, in the works.
Alexa Nikolas
The Zoey 101 star has been openly criticising the wrongdoers of the Nickelodeon shows on social media. Dan Schneider was the creator of Zoey 101, whom she accused of creating a “toxic environment” and handpicking miniskirts for her to wear that would almost expose her backside. “I was told [I had to wear the shorts] so that nobody sees my butt. It’s humiliating for a child to be told, ‘We just want to make sure that your butt doesn’t show!” she said
The former actress has co-created Eat Predators organization, which works to end the “pervasive cover-up of sexual abuse and predatory behavior within the music and entertainment industry.” Recently, she also slammed Schneider’s public apology.
“You are awful! To be quite honest with you, awful. You’re embarrassed? Not embarrassed enough! Not embarrassed enough to go reach out to the people you actually harmed,” she said in a self-posted video.
Bryan Hearne
The All That alum spoke about racial charges and mistreatment on the sets during his Quiet On Set sitdown chat. He recalled being referred to as “charcoal” which nearly brought him to tears. “Someone said the skin tone should be charcoal. I started to get teary-eyed. That was a moment when I felt, ‘I could go get my mom about this.’ But also, I know my mom, and I know she would’ve rose hell,” he said.
Hearne also recalled the “uncomfortable” game show that ended in him covered in peanut butter and being licked by dogs. After leaving the kids show, he made short appearances on Law & Order, Lie to Me, and Everybody Hates Chris, and his last film was in 2015 titled Retrospect.
Giovonnie Samuels
Another All That cast member, Giovonnie Samuels, who was close to Bryan Hearne, faced a similar mistreatment on sets. She called herself a “token Black girl” and felt that the creator had close relationships with the white cast mates.
After leaving All That, she appeared on other beloved kids' TV shows like Disney’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and You’re the Worst and Raven’s Home.
Kyle Sullivan
Sullivan also appeared on All That, portraying characters like Harry Bladder, Buzz of “Sugar & Coffee,” Elliott and Little Boy, and others. In Quiet On Sets, he recalled feeling “uncomfortable” shooting certain scenes on the “dysfunctional” sets.
“It was gross, it was weird. The show was full of these uncomfortable sketches. I think Dan got a kick out of walking the line with that.” The former actor completely quit acting and pursued academics instead. After getting a Psychology degree from Colombia University. He became a partner in a capital company, Rainfall Ventures
Leon Frierson
Leon Frierson appeared on All That and played different characters for multiple sketch comedies. In the documentary, he opened up about feeling pressured on the set “It was in our best interest to go with the flow,” he said.
Recalling the time, he was uncomfortable portraying the character “nose boy” with a large prosthetic nose and shoulders resembling genitalia. But he had to show up regardless!
“Frankly, it was just uncomfortable,” Frierson said. “But I always did my best to be a trooper, never complained. We knew being close to Dan could mean an extra level of success. It was important to be on his good side, and he made it known who was on his good side,” he added.
He is currently the producer of Child Star Central, which is a program dedicated to the lives of child stars. “The central place to find your favorite Child Stars and see what they are up to now,” the Instagram description read.
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