It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since we first met Jake Thomas, aka Matt McGuire — the scheming, sarcastic little brother on Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire — but here we are, still quoting his most iconic lines, sending memes of his diva moments, and clinging to every bit of nostalgia that series gave us.
“I mean, a quarter of a century later and here we are, we’re still talking about it—which is nuts,” Jake Thomas tells Celeb Secrets host Juliet Schroder in an exclusive interview. “I don’t think anybody could have predicted the legacy that it would have, even Disney. It just kind of caught on like lightning.”
Now 34, Thomas is gearing up to celebrate the show’s milestone anniversary while diving headfirst into a brand-new project—his first major video game role as Marco Silva in MindsEye, a groundbreaking open-world action-adventure now available on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.
But before we get into this next chapter, let’s take a moment to time travel.
JAKE THOMAS
Jake Thomas was only 10 when he landed the role of Matt, the ultimate kid brother with a knack for pranks, quick comebacks, and absolutely stealing every scene he was in.
“Every day I went to work on Lizzie McGuire was just an absolute joy. For me it was: what crazy stunt am I gonna do today?” he recalls. “That was every 10, 11-year-old’s dream.”
While his storylines often ran parallel to Hilary Duff’s, Thomas revealed a fun behind-the-scenes secret: “Hilary and I actually didn’t have that many scenes together. I was always the B-story, and she was the A-story, so they would trade us off to go to school. We were like two different little sitcoms in one.”
Still, Matt McGuire made his mark. One of Thomas’s favorite memories? Learning kung fu from the actual stunt performer who played Donatello in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. “When I was 10 or 11, I was like, ‘You are the biggest celebrity I’ve ever met in my life.’”
And, of course, the internet hasn’t let Matt McGuire’s legacy fade one bit. His meme-worthy moment lounging on the couch in diva sunglasses — “If there’s no [fill in the blank], I’m not going” — has taken on a life of its own. “I’ve seen so many variations of that one, I love it,” Jake laughs.
When asked how it feels knowing fans are still quoting Lizzie McGuire two decades later, Thomas says, “It’s crazy surreal. The franchise still has a chokehold on the millennial audience — and now Gen Z too, thanks to Disney+ during the pandemic.”
And while the planned Disney+ reboot never made it past the pilot, Thomas has a hilarious theory about where Matt would be in 2025: “He would absolutely be annoyingly successful. Probably on the forefront of crypto, rubbing Lizzie’s nose in it.”
What made Lizzie McGuire so special, Thomas believes, was the balance of humor and heart: “Each episode always had some type of lesson — about family, friends, growing up—and that stuff really stuck with kids. Those messages became values we still hold.”
After decades in the industry — with appearances in everything from A.I. Artificial Intelligence to Cory in the House — Jake is stepping into a whole new frontier with MindsEye, an immersive video game where he plays Marco Silva, an eccentric and power-hungry tech CEO.
For the last four and a half years, Thomas has been secretly working on the role, providing both voice and performance capture. “There’s no costumes, no lights — just us in suits with cameras strapped to our heads,” he says of the process. “It felt like an intense stage play rehearsal with no audience, just the purest form of acting.”
Bringing Marco to life meant tapping into a darker side. “He’s an angry boy,” Thomas jokes. “He needs everything to go his way, and when it doesn’t, things go off the rails. I just used a lot of frustration… and yelling. Lots of yelling.”
And yes, he drew inspiration from real-world tech moguls: “There are way too many egocentric tech moguls to pull from, unfortunately.”
The game—out now on next-gen consoles and PC—also boasts a star-studded cast including Alex Hernandez (Mafia III, The Peripheral), Dominic Burgess (Dahmer, Dr. Death), and Anjali Bhimani (Overwatch, Apex Legends). Even cooler? The Avatar facial capture team helped bring it all to life. “We were doing the cutting-edge,” Jake shares.
JAKE THOMAS
Between acting, directing, photography, and even content creation, Jake Thomas continues to evolve. He’s currently working on his third short film and dreams of collaborating with Quentin Tarantino.
“He’s from Knoxville like me—I feel like he’s got one more movie left in him!” he says.
He’s also fluent in Japanese, a skill he picked up during his teen years just because “it sounded really hard.” That’s kind of Jake’s whole vibe—never taking the easy route, always pushing boundaries.
His biggest piece of advice? “Don’t be afraid to try. Trying’s 99% of it.”
As for the next 25 years?
“I hope I’m still doing the same thing. Still working, still on set, still telling stories,” he says, recalling a moment with the late Ernest Borgnine. “He was 93, moving his own chair, never letting anyone call him Mr. Borgnine. That’s who I want to be.” FYI: for those who don’t know, Borgnine voiced the beloved superhero character Mermaid Man, a retired underwater crime-fighter who, along with his sidekick Barnacle Boy (voiced by Tim Conway) in SpongeBob SquarePants.
Same, Jake. Same.
For more on Jake Thomas, watch our full interview below.
