Cute kid from The Santa Clause unrecognisable as he ditches bowl cut for bleach-blonde hair

The Santa Clause premiered in 1994 quickly becoming a heart-warming festive family favourite.

The family comedy follows the story of recently divorced father Scott Clavin, played by Tim Allen, as he unexpectedly becomes the new Santa but features a cast of beloved festive characters. Among them is his adorable son Charlie Calvin, who also captured the hearts of viewers as he travelled with his father to the magical North Pole.

But nearly three decades later, Charlie, played by Eric Lloyd is now all grown up and the actor looks unrecognisable from the cute brown-haired boy you likely remember him as. Eric was just two years old when he started his acting career starring in an episode of The Wonder Years.

READ MORE:The Holiday child star who found fame aged six now has normal job after acting ban

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At five years old he went on to star in the series Laurie Hill but he got his big break at just seven years old when he was cast in The Santa Clause. The film made more than $190million at the box office and its success quickly saw Eric become one of the biggest child stars in Hollywood.

And it seemed to catapult his acting career too as in 1996 he was cast as the lead in Dunston Checks In, a comedy that sees an orangutan staying at a hotel with his jewel thief owner befriending the son of the hotel manager. In 1997, Eric worked alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest stars including Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney and Uma Thurman as he played young Bruce Wayne in Batman and Robin.

The same year also saw him work with one of Hollywood’s biggest directors as he was cast in the Woody Allen film Deconstructing Harry. Eric went on to secure roles in a few TV movies as well as the TV series Jesse and in 2002 he returned to reprise his role as Charlie Calvin in The Santa Clause 2.

While not quite as successful as the first film, the sequel made an impressive $172.9million at the box office and in 2006 it was followed by The Santa Clause 3, which saw Eric return to the role for a third time. Since starring in The Santa Clause trilogy Eric has continued to act, with roles in a handful of projects including the TV series About Abbey and the TV movie Weedland.

But in the meantime, his teen years also saw him exploring his other passion, music and he even once built a music studio in a shipping container — which his friends called “The Crate”. Eric, who is based in LA, continues to work in the entertainment industry as an Actor, Musician, Film and Music Producer, Audio Engineer, Studio Builder and Designer.

In 2014 he opened Lloyd Production Studios, a production and post-production music and film space located in Glendale, California and regularly shares snippets of his work on his Instagram. He is also a vocalist and guitarist for Radiomason, who recently released a new single titled Your Glorious Self.

But these days Eric, who is now 37, is looking very different from the child star people recognise him as. He’s switched out his iconic brown bowl cut and now has a head of bleach-blonde hair that contrasts the dark beard he’s grown out.

While he may no longer look like the Charlie Calvin people remember, Eric actually returned to the role for a fourth time last year as he appeared in a Disney+ spinoff series of The Santa Clause titled The Santa Clauses. The series, which premiered its second season last month, sees Charlie all grown up with his own family.

Attending the premiere last year, Eric told reporters he was thrilled to be back in the role. “It’s amazing, it’s really awesome to be back it’s been great to see everyone again, to get to work with everybody again,” he said.

Speaking about what it was like returning to work with Tim Allen, he added: “It’s been like 30 years now that Tim and I have been working together on these films. It was like no time had passed and he looked great as always with the Santa stuff on.”

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk