Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl?

Writer and director Robert Rodriguez might be best known for his adult-oriented action films like "Desperado," "Machete," and "Sin City," but he is also the man behind a number of successful kids' movies — including the "Spy Kids" series and, of course, "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D." This children's adventure film blends reality with fantasy as a boy's imaginary superhero friends whisk him off on a mission to save the world.

Unlike the vast majority of children's entertainment, Rodriguez's children's movies are made with the input of actual children. Rodriguez tells the Irish Times that he takes storytelling input from his own children when writing his kids' movies, and it shows in the wildly imaginative and sometimes bizarre moments in "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl." By kids for kids is a label that could apply to the movie, but with the steady hand of a filmmaking parent facilitating that child-like imagination. While there were a couple of big names in the cast, many of the performers were unknown child actors at the time. Let's check in on what the cast of "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" have been up to since the release of the film in 2005.

Out of all of the children in the cast of "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl," only one of the young actors went on to become a big movie star. Taylor Lautner played the titular role of Sharkboy early on in his career. It was just three years later when Lautner landed his career-defining role as Jacob in "Twilight." Love it or loathe it, the "Twilight" series rocketed its core cast to superstardom. The inescapable Edward vs. Jacob debate that raged online and in marketing campaigns put a bright spotlight on both Lautner and his "Twilight" co-star Robert Pattinson.

In the years since, Lautner has had a couple of action-star vehicles in the form of "Abduction" and "Tracers," both of which were met with tepid receptions. Lautner has also had supporting roles in films like "Valentine's Day" and "The Ridiculous 6." In the medium of television, Lautner had recurring roles on the series "Cuckoo," where he played the part of Dale for three seasons, and "Scream Queens," where he played the role of Dr. Cassidy Cascade throughout the show's second season. It has been a couple of years since Lautner last performance, though he does have a role in the upcoming film "Home Team" slated for release in 2022.

Filling out the other titular role as Lavagirl was Tayor Dooley. "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" was Dooley's very first film performance. In the 16 years since, Dooley hasn't landed many other roles. She appeared in a couple of seldom-seen indie films including "Whitepaddy" and "Hell Mountain" as well as appearing on a Season 5 episode of "House." Most recently, Dooley reprised her role as Lavagirl in "We Can Be Heroes" from director Robert Rodriguez. The film is not a direct sequel, though it does share the same cinematic world as "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl." The character of Sharkboy also returned briefly but was not played by Taylor Lautner this time around.

In her IMDb biography, written by Taylor Dooley herself, she suggests that a "big growth spurt at age 13" was what led to her acting career slowing down as a young performer. Dooley stepped away from acting to pursue a college education, where she majored in psychology. Though we haven't seen much of her on screen over the last several years, acting is still on Dooley's radar. She wrote in her bio, "My passion for acting is like a fire burning inside of me, and I am ready to really get back out there again and start pursuing my career. I really feel like this is my time and I couldn't be more excited for the future." Dooley has roles in two upcoming films, "Grimmerson Manor," which is currently in pre-production, and the indie film "Devotion."

Though his name didn't make the title, the protagonist of "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" is Max, as played by Cayden Boyd. Max is an ordinary boy thrust into extraordinary circumstances by his imaginary friends Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Boyd hasn't had many major starring roles in recent years but he has continued acting regularly with a number of film and television roles.

Shortly after "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl," Cayden Boyd made his way into the "X-Men" franchise as young version of Warren Worthington III, AKA The Angel, in the extended flashback sequence in "X-Men: The Last Stand." In television, Boyd has popped up on individual episodes of the shows "NCIS," "The Mick," "The Resident," and "Good Girls." He has also played recurring characters on the series "Heathers" and "Awkward." Boyd will appear in Channing Tatum's upcoming directorial debut, "Dog."

Jacob Davich is one of several cast members who played multiple parts shared across the film's real world and fantasy world. In the real world, he plays Linus, Max's school bully. The fantasy world sees him going by the name Minus and filling out a similarly antagonistic role, now with the addition of evil super powers. Davich was 14 years old at the time of filming "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl," and had earlier appeared in just two projects: the alien abduction mini-series "Taken" and the Martin Scorsese film "The Aviator," where he played the nine-year-old version of Howard Hughes.

Davich hasn't had many roles in the years since. He appeared on individual episodes of the shows "Shameless," "The Unit," and "All Night." In smaller, unnamed parts, he also popped up in the film "Mr. Woodcock" and the shows "Without a Trace" and "Whitney." After his early brushes with acting, Davich's priorities shifted. He stepped away from acting in favor of a career in music.

One of the most recognizable faces on the cast of "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" was David Arquette, who played the part of Max's Dad. Arquette had previously worked with writer/director Robert Rodriguez on the made-for-TV movie "Roadracers." One of Arquette's most popular roles from before "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" was as Officer Dewey in the "Scream" series, a part he continues to reprise.

Arquette has had several other notable roles over the years. "Pushing Daises," "Pee-Wee's Big Holiday," and "Bone Tomahawk" all offered small but memorable roles for Arquette. He has also had a couple of noteworthy voice acting roles such as voicing Skully on the kids' show "Jake and the Never Land Pirates," and lending his voice to the Disney XD animated show "Tron: Uprising." Outside of traditional acting, Arquette has been deeply involved in the world of professional wrestling for many years. He even controversially held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. A documentary was made about Arquette's involvement with wrestling, titled "You Cannot Kill David Arquette."

Kristin Davis filled the role of Max's other parent. Long before "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl," Davis had established herself as a major television actor with large roles on "General Hospital" and "Melrose Place." Davis's largest role was undoubtedly in "Sex and the City" as Charlotte York. The HBO series came to a close the year before "Sharkboy and Lavagirl." Davis went on to reprise the Charlotte York character in both "Sex and the City" films in 2008 and 2010 respectively. She will be playing the Charlotte once again in the upcoming "Sex and the City" revival on HBO Max titled "And Just Like That..."

But "Sex and the City" is far from the only series Kristin Davis has been a part of. Davis has a lead role on the "Bad Teachers" TV series as Ginny Taylor-Clapp and provided the voice of Miss Spider on the kids' show "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends" on the Nick Jr. channel. Davis has acted in the comedy films "Couples Retreat" and "The Shaggy Dog" as well as the adventure film "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island." Davis has also shown a penchant for Christmas films. She appeared in "Deck the Halls," "A Heavenly Christmas," "Holiday in the Wild," and "The Knight Before Christmas."

Sasha Pieterse is another performer who plays two parts in the film. In the real world, she plays Marissa, one of the students in Max's class, while in the fantasy world, she takes on the much more impressive role of the Ice Princess. Pieterse was just nine years old at the time "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" was released, but she began acting even earlier at the age of six on the show "Family Affair." Pieterse has continued acting regularly over the years.

Her first major role after "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" was on the TV series "Heroes," where she played Amanda Strazulla. She first played the character in the accompanying web-series "Heroes: Slow Burn" before reprising the character on the mainline TV show. Pieterse has had a couple of film roles, such as playing Japonica Fenway in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice," but her largest roles to date have been in the world of television. The role most people will know Pieterse from is undoubtedly as Alison on "Pretty Little Liars." Pieterse went on to reprise her role on the spin-off series "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists" as well.

Filling the blink-and-you'll-miss-it role of Sharkboy's Dad was Rico Torres, who is not an actor by trade. In fact, the only screen role he had prior to "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl" was in another Robert Rodriguez film. In "Sin City," which was released the same year, Torres played the small part of Cop #2. In all of the years since, Torres has not appeared on camera in any other productions. 

Although he hasn't done any other acting, Rico Torres remains involved in the entertainment industry to this day. His main avenue of work finds him on the behind-the-scenes team of many major motion pictures. He works most frequently as a still photographer and occasionally as a behind-the-scenes videographer as well. He has shot stills for projects ranging from the horror film "Hostel" to the boxing film "Hands of Stone" and everything in between. He continues to work with Robert Rodriguez and has served as his stills photographer for almost all of his projects. Most recently, he shot stills for Rodriguez's "Alita: Battle Angel" and "We Can Be Heroes."

Rocket, Racer, and Rebel Rodriguez are all sons of director Robert Rodriguez. Rebel played Sharkboy at age 5, Racer played Sharkboy at age 7, and Rocket played Lug, one of the students in Max's classroom. These three brothers haven't done much in the film industry outside of their father's projects, but they have worked on a couple of other films. All three acted in "Shorts," another of Robert Rodriguez's kids' movies, and they all received credit for stunt work on "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams"

Rocket, the oldest of the three, served as the assistant editor on "Sock 'em Dead," a short film made by his father in 2015. He is also the assistant editor on an upcoming sci-fi film titled "Breaking the Loop." Rebel Rodriguez had a more prominent role in his father's half of the "Grindhouse" double-feature, "Planet Terror." He played Tony, the son of Dr. Block who accidentally shoots himself in the face. Rebel also received composer credit on three of his father's films: "Red 11," "We Can Be Heroes," and the VR short film "The Limit."

Racer Rodriguez, who is more commonly credited as "Racer Max," has worked on the most projects out of the three brothers. He has acted in two of his father's most recent projects; "We Can be Heroes" and "Alita: Battle Angel." In addition to performing stunts on "Spy Kids 2" alongside his brothers, he was also involved in stunts on "Red 11." Racer received a story-by credit for "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" and has continued to write with his father over the years. Alongside Robert Rodriguez, Racer co-wrote "Red 11" and the VR short film "The Limit." In the last couple of years, Racer has even tried his hand at producing. He received producer credit on "We Can be Heroes" and executive producer credit on the series "Rebel Without a Crew: The Robert Rodriguez Film School" named after his father's non-fiction book "Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player."

One of the biggest names in the cast, if not the biggest, was George Lopez. Giving both live-action and voice performances in multiple roles, Lopez pulled quadruple duty on "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl." He played Max's teacher Mr. Electricidad in the real world as well as Mr. Electric in the fantasy world. He also provided the voice of the ice guardian and the voice of robot-like entity Tabor.

George Lopez was already a big star at the time of "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" with a massively successful standup comedy career and his own sitcom. The series, "George Lopez," was between its fourth and fifth seasons when "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" was released. Following the movie, Lopez appeared in films like "Balls of Fury," "Swing Vote," "The Spy Next Door," and "Valentine's Day." He lent his voice to "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," and continued with vocal performances in "Marmaduke," "Rio," and "The Smurfs" amongst other animated projects. Lopez has headlined additional sitcoms since the days of the "George Lopez" show. He starred in the short-lived sitcom "Saint George" and the more recent "Lopez."

Director Robert Rodiguez had a brief cameo where he provided the vocalization for a shark. Rodriguez is no stranger to cameos, stretching all the way back to 1996. He can be seen on stage as one of the bandmembers in the bar in "From Dusk Till Dawn." Rodriguez is part of an actual band known as Chingon, formed in 2003 while making his film "Once Upon a Time in Mexico." Rodriguez often has a hand in scoring his own films and also contributed music to the soundtrack of "Kill Bill." As a director, Robert Rodriguez has made many films since "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl." The same year as this kids' film, Rodriguez also released the adult-oriented "Sin City," which he followed up with a sequel in 2014. Other kids' movies Rodriguez has directed since "Shakboy and Lavagirl" include "Shorts," "Spy Kids 4-D: All the Time in the World," and "We Can be Heroes."

Rodriguez's next adult-oriented film was "Planet Terror," which served as his half of the "Grindhouse" double feature made alongside Quentin Tarantino. A fake trailer from within "Grindhouse" blossomed into his next film, "Machete," which received a sequel in "Machete Kills." A third installment has been teased in the form of "Machete Kills in Space," though Rodriguez has said he never intended on actually making the third film (via MovieWeb). Rodriguez worked with his largest budget to date on "Alita: Battle Angel," then followed it up with his cheapest and most personal film since his debut by making "Red 11" for $7,000. In 2013, Robert Rodriguez launched the El Rey Network for television projects such as "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series," "Matador," and the talk-show-style series "The Director's Chair" — in which Rodriguez hosts and interviews fellow filmmakers.