Disney child star compares child stardom to 'work in coal mines'

For Dylan Sprouse, growing up on set may have not been the suite life after all.

The actor, 34, made his screen debut when he was just an infant in 1993, with him and his twin brother Cole Sprouse trading appearances on the sitcom Grace Under Fire.

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But it would be 2005, when they were 12 years old, when they became America's new favorite set of twins when they began starring as Zack and Cody Martin in Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

They continued with the show's spin-off, The Suite Life on Deck, until 2011, and Dylan continues to act. But on a new episode of his podcast, Wildmen with Brendan Columbus (the son of filmmaker Chris Columbus), he compared his work as a child star to "child labor."

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The duo spoke with actor Mark Indelicato, who similarly broke into the mainstream when he was 12 years old on the show Ugly Betty, playing Justin Suarez, with Dylan mentioning that they'd both worked together on an episode of Suite Life, a special High School Musical themed episode.

When Brendan asked Dylan at the very top of the episode: "Did you sing and dance?" he quipped in response: "I did. I sung and danced. I'm a Disney kid. I have to sing and dance," although clarified: "I can sing, although I don't like to do it unless it's kind of funny."

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Noting that Mark was just as much of a child actor as he was, Dylan added: "We're beating around the bush, it's child labor. When you work a career at that age, some kids used to work in coal mines and guard the minecart door when they were 15; we just sing and dance. It's still child labor."

Dylan explained he was most interested in diving into how Mark translated his fame as a child star into consistent work as an adult, most notably on the Emmy-winning comedy Hacks, citing his own "[expletive] mental hurdles" with working in Hollywood now.

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While Dylan and Cole both continue to act, with the latter finding fame most notably playing Jughead Jones in CW's Riverdale, they haven't actually acted together in over a decade. After The Suite Life on Deck ended in 2011, they appeared in a Danimals commercial the following year with Bella Thorne, which was their last time together on screen.

Although, that's not something they're opposed to. "The thing is, there's just not many opportunities for like, good twin roles that aren't taken by a single actor trying their hand at playing two people," Dylan told E! News. "So I feel like we did do something together, we would have to make it, which is definitely not off the table."

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It turns out that they've actually discussed working on things together at different points, but they "want to make sure it's really good," with the Beautiful Disaster star adding: "I think there's that expectation now that it's been so many years, so if we do do something together, we want to make it really tight."