What Happened To Them?: The Cast of ‘Even Stevens’

Shia LaBeouf has gotten a lot of weird press these days. One cannot simply forget his odd art exhibit, which was seemingly a massive apology/publicity stunt regarding the fact that he’s plagiarized a lot of his recent work. It’s all a bit more shocking because the world was introduced to Shia in the form of Louis Stevens, the youngest of the Stevens clan on the hit Disney show Even Stevens.

The show, which aired for three seasons and called it quits in 2003, helped Shia launch his career. While it wrapped up with a made-for-TV movie, it’s kind of hard to forget about the Stevens family of five.

So – where’s the cast today?

Shia LaBeouf as Louis Stevens

The show focused largely around Louis and his sister Ren, which was a tense relationship based on Louis continuously being the most immature of his family.

Shia has maintained a pretty decent career since leaving his Disney family. His next biggest role was in 2007, when he played Sam Witwicky in Transformers, and also voiced Sam for the video game that focused around the film. He reprised his role for the following Transformers films while also picking up parts in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and 2008’s Eagle Eye. In 2012 he played Ben Shepard in The Company You Keep, and took on the title role in 2013’s Charlie Countryman. He’s currently starring in the controversial Lars von Trier film Nymphomaniac: Volume I But despite landing impressive roles, he wants to make sure everyone knows that he’s no longer famous.

James Franco took the time to speak about the star and his bizarre behavior in the New York Times. “This behavior could be a sign of many things, from a nervous breakdown to mere youthful recklessness,” said Franco. “For Mr. LaBeouf’s sake I hope it is nothing serious. Indeed I hope — and, yes, I know that this idea has pretentious or just plain ridiculous overtones — that his actions are intended as a piece of performance art, one in which a young man in a very public profession tries to reclaim his public persona.”

Christy Carlson Romano as “Ren” Stevens

Christy made sure that showbiz didn’t prevent her from getting an education – she attended Barnard College, majoring in human rights and film studies, right after Even Stevens ended. While she had to take a break in order to play Belle on the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast (and set the record as being the youngest actress to take the part!) she mentioned in a 2011 interview with Columbia Spectator how important it was for her to continue her studies.

“I have all the street cred but none of the book smarts,” she said. “I’m swapping the two for a while, and learning about film and the industry as an art form. A lot of people in Hollywood think you don’t need to go to school for film, but I believe you do.

Until 2007, Christy voiced Kim Possible in the popular Disney series. After appearing in a few TV movies, she appeared in the 2010 film Suicide Dolls, and had a part in the action movie Loosies, which was released in 2011. She’s dropped the “Carlson” (which is her Mom’s maiden name) for recent projects and is simply going by “Christy Romano”.

Nick Spano as Donnie Stevens

Every sitcom family has to have the lovable airhead, right? What Donnie lacked in intelligence, he made up for with popularity and looks.

Nick has appeared in a few episodes of shows like Monk, Angel, and Cold Case – but the real winner here? A TV Movie called Pizza My Heart.

Of course I had to look up more information on Pizza My Heart. And of course it has to deal with rivalry pizzerias in New Jersey.  Thanks a lot for making me both hungry and homesick, Nick!

When he’s not taking on small roles, he’s working as an acting teacher for the John Robert Powers acting agency.

A.J. Trauth as Alan Twitty

Twitty! Who can’t love a character named Twitty? Especially since he probably kept Louis out of a juvenile detention center on more than a few occasions.

A.J. has appeared in a few shows since Even Stevens, including episodes of Bones and Numb3rs. He also tried to transition to the big screen by appeared in the movie Happy Endings with Lisa Kudrow and Tom Arnold.

His real love is music, as he’s the lead singer of the band Mavin, who released their debut EP in 2003. His other love is his fiancee, actress Leah Pipes. The two became engaged earlier this year.

Tom Virtue as Steve Stevens

Because in the world of fiction, of course someone would be so cruel to give this name to their son. Thankfully Steve didn’t pass down the joke of a name to his own sons, Louis and Donnie.

Tom has made appearances on pretty much every television show known to man since ending his role as Disney Lawyer Dad – including (let me take a deep gasp of air here) Malcolm In The Middle, Reba, Six Feet Under, Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development, Everwood, The King of Queens, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Criminal Minds, and Drake & Josh. He also had a pretty impressive story arc over on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, where he played Reverend Stone. And that doesn’t mean that he’s distanced himself from big screen projects – he was in Kicking & Screaming with Will Ferrell back in 2005.

In 2011, he had a small role in Transformers: Dark Side Of The Moon, which was a nice little reunion with his television son Shia.

 Donna Pescow as Eileen Stevens

Eileen was a pretty powerful female character back in the day, which is admirable. Not too many sitcoms made for a younger audience had the mother written in as a state senator.

If you’re a fan of Arrested Development, you should know that Donna has something in common with Tobias – she also took drama classes with Carl Weathers back in the day.

Donna, however, is mostly taking a break from acting these days. She made an appearance on the set of The Sopranos, playing Donna Parisi in an episode that aired in 2007. In 2010 she appeared in an episode of Cold Case, and in 2012 she played Maria Sanella in an episode of Body of Proof. Her last credit was in 2013, in a TV movie called Holiday Road Trip. 

Margo Harshman as Tawny Dean

Tawny proved to us that one day, our best guy friends might just become our boyfriends. Tawny and Louis became a couple after an accidental kiss, but realized it was serious near the end of season three. That is, as serious as a junior high school relationship could get.

Margo moved onto the series Run of the House right after filming Even Stevens, but unfortunately, the show was cancelled after just one season. She appeared in a few episodes of popular TV shows (remember Jungle Tanya from the Modern Family episode that introduced Fizbo? That was Margo!) before playing Screwsie on the show Bent in 2012. From there, she appeared in a few somewhat recent episodes of The Big Bang Theory, playing Alex Jensen. If you’re a fan of NCIS, you’ve probably seen her this year as Delilah Fielding.

You can find Margo on twitter here. Sadly, she’s not following Shia. Probably because he’s not famous anymore. And he’s sorry.

 Fred Meyers as Tom Gribalski

It seems mean to say that Tom was Louis’s stereotypical nerd friend, but – well, he was.

Fred appeared as Matthew in the 2004 Hilary Duff film Raise Your Voice, and did two films the following year. After small, one episode appearances on Boston Legal and That’s So Raven, he retired from acting in 2007.

What are some of your favorite moments from Even Stevens?

Image Credits: , LaBeouf, Romano, Spano, Trauth, Virtue, Pescow, Harshman, Meyers