Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly & PeopleCole Sprouse's life growing up wasn't exactly normal.
For more than six years, the young actor was spending his childhood in front of Disney Channel cameras on the hit series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody followed by The Suite Life on Deck.
While the actor admits that the opportunities were filled with pros, it also was nice to get away from the small screen when episodes wrapped in 2011.
"There was a feeling of machination; I felt like an automaton," he confessed this week to Entertainment Weekly when looking back on his past roles. "I needed to take a break and step outside myself…I needed a dose of reality and I needed to see myself in a more objective point of view."
As it turns out, the former child star decided to attend New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study with his brother Dylan Sprouse. They would later graduate in May 2015 at Yankee Stadium with honors.
While it's been several years since Cole took on a new acting role, he's ready to return to the small screen in The CW's Archie Comics adaptation titled Riverdale.
"Now I think I can enjoy [acting], which is a really fundamental part about being an actor," he explained.
Ultimately, the 23-year-old wants to make it clear that he did enjoy his time on the Disney Channel shows that made him an unforgettable star. But five years after The Suite Life on Deck's final episode, Cole has a new perspective.
"I'm not saying that we didn't enjoy that time, but it was work," Cole explained. "It's a career and a business, and it got me to college, which is one of the most fantastic gifts I could've been given. But I'm glad to be [acting] on my own accord now."