Natasha Tsakiris

Have you ever noticed that a lot Disney stars end up with record deals even though they can’t sing? Or how they try to grow up too fast by taking on “mature roles”? Or how, no matter how hard they try, they can’t seem to run away from good ’ole Mickey Mouse?

This is the “Disney Curse”. It’s the fate that befalls many actors and actresses under the Disney Empire. It’s the often too familiar “where are they now” scenario. One minute they’re so high you can’t touch them, the next they’ve quit acting, been arrested for a DUI and trying to rise to fame again with a stint on “Dancing With the Stars”. This fate seems to apply to all those who sign their name on a Disney contract.

Although Disney is a great launch pad for a child star in the acting sphere, catapulting their career to super stardom, like in the case of Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, for example, some, unfortunately, eventually become one of the following: a fallen, forgotten star, a typecast actor or a triple threat (even though they can’t sing or act or dance). With Disney it’s a marketing game. Their “stars” are milked for all they’re worth and in the end it’s not always for the best. Only some have been lucky to avoid the wrath of Disney. Like Ryan Gosling and fellow Mouseketeer Keri Russell. Look at their successful careers. Would you have known they got their start on Disney’s “The Mickey Mouse Club”?

So is it best to quit while you’re ahead? Maybe. If you’re serious about being an actor, move on from Disney and broaden your horizons because it’s hard to break the curse.

The fallen and the forgotten:

This category consists of the good kids turn bad, and the tween/teen celebrities whose career as an actor is short-lived.

The “fallen” are the actors who tried to grow up too fast and shed the squeaky clean Disney image to immerge as an artist, and have fans who weren’t under thirteen. From Britney to Lindsay (remember how cute she was in Parent Trap), who’ve literally done it all (jail, gone crazy, DUI’s, etc), to the new class of Disney stars who are experimenting like Vanessa, who sends racy, naked pictures of herself to her boyfriend, and Miley who pole dances at the Teen Choice Awards. This is an example of just some of the stars that want to branch off and not be tied down by the Disney label. They’re tired of being nice all the time and acting as a role model to teenyboppers everywhere. When you’re on contract with Disney, it’s a little hard to do your own thing and be your own person because you’re under so much pressure to be a certain way. Unfortunately, these types of actors made poor personal and career choices, not only gaining a bad rep with fans, paparazzi and fellow actors, but they are also destroying their career.

The “forgotten” are the ones whose career as an actor went out as quickly as a flame. These actors started off big or doing moderately well, earning starring roles of beloved Disney shows. Suddenly the series that made them popular is done and so is their career. Let’s be honest, how many of these child actors will continue being actors into their thirties, or even twenties? For their sake, I hope they have a back-up plan. I see the show’s my sister watches like The Suite Life on Deck and Good Luck Charlie, and although some of them are actually funny (personal favourite would be Wizards of Waverly Place hands down), these actors careers won’t last much longer. They’re great actors for now but I can’t imagine them even 5 years from now. I remember being a huge fan of Lizzie McGuire when I was twelve like my sister and wanting to be and meet Hilary Duff. Looking forward now, what have any of those actors from that show done? Duff obviously got the furthest, starring in a few films that made it onto the silver screen like Raise Your Voice, but now she’s 22, married and…that’s all I can think of. See my point.

Look at Lindsay Lohan. She never had a chance from the get go. She was immediately typecast

The Typecast:

Now I’m not saying that good actors haven’t come out of Disney. On the contrary, they’ve produced some talented young actors over the last few years like Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan (pre her good girl gone bad days) and Zac Efron. Although talented they may be, these actors, and others, are stuck playing the same roles. Same character, different movie. During her entire time with Disney, from 1998-2005, Lindsay Lohan was the one they’d turn to when re-creating a Disney classic. Lindsay became typecast as the “remake” girl doing films such as The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday and Herbie: Fully Loaded.

Zac Efron is also meeting a similar fate. Best known for his role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical trilogy, audiences, fans, journalist and more can’t seem to forget his singing and dancing in this popular franchise. Zac has been branded. He keeps trying to break out into more mature and serious roles, starring most recently in the drama Charlie St. Cloud, but it’s no use. He’s been typecast as the “basketball hunk” or “the musicals guy” and Zac knows it too-that’s probably why he declined the role for the remake of Footloose. Zac is a victim of the “Disney curse”, but luckily, he’s on the road that leads out of there.

The Triple Threat:

Now, don’t hate me JoBros fans, I love them as much as the next person, but seriously, the boys can’t act. They should just stick towhat they know best and what launched their career in the first place…singing. Like I said, Disney is a bit of a marketing machine, which is great for these artists in the beginning, because not only do they get a huge fan base but they get a ton of cash too. So what’s the problem? Disney, for the last decade, has been trying to turn these celebs into something their not. Be it a singer, an actor, a dancer or just about anything. Gone are the days of focusing on a sole art. No, now, we need to hand them a record label just because, heck, they’re with Disney! They need to be a triple threat. I feel bad for singers who actually can sing wonderfully, but are being overshadowed in sales and fan base by these kid actors who are asked to record a song for a Tinker Bell movie or something. Seriously, how many more actors are going to become singers or vice versa?

Now I’m not saying that all Disney stars are cursed, but it’s likely, that eventually, many of their stars will fit into one of these categories.