Cole Sprouse said going back to blonde felt good after years spent shaping a darker screen image. In a September 2026 Young Hollywood sit-down, he tied that change to his path from Disney Channel child star to Jughead Jones.
Young Hollywood and 29 stories
29 stories since 2013 have tracked Sprouse’s milestones with Young Hollywood, turning this latest feature into another checkpoint in a long public archive. The interview lands with weight because it does more than revisit a familiar face; it connects his acting career, photography work, and style choices in one place.
“Yes. I'm a natural blonde. I know people forget because of my angsty, moody character on Riverdale,” Sprouse said. He added, “But I am a natural blonde. So it did feel nice to go back to blonde.”
Disney Channel to Riverdale
Sprouse grew up in the public eye as one half of Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody before later taking on Jughead Jones in The CW's Riverdale. That shift left him with a split public identity: the childhood TV face many viewers first knew, and the darker-haired character that defined his later years on The CW.
His Riverdale image matters here because it visually overrode the hair color he says is natural. The contrast is simple but useful: the role helped build the version of Sprouse that audiences recognize most quickly, while the interview re-centers the version he says existed underneath it.
Photography and style lines
Sprouse has also built a reputation as a working photographer, with editorial imagery that has appeared in major fashion titles. His public appearances tend to lean toward clean lines, textured wools, retro tailoring, and vintage-inspired leather jackets, with bold cuts, wide lapels, and high-waisted trousers showing up often enough to read as a system rather than a one-off.
He also leaned into futuristic and utilitarian gear during the promotional run for Moonshot alongside Lana Condor, which gives this interview a sharper frame: the style conversation is not separate from the work, but part of how he keeps control of his image across TV, photography, and public appearances. For readers following Sprouse now, the practical takeaway is the same one the interview makes plain — the blonde hair is not a reinvention, just a return to the version he started with.
