This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

Give me money for cigarettes.

I'll never leave your filthy bed.

I spend the night and one night we able to bring it, the kids are not all right, but

that's okay because no one here is Teen Beat.

Hello, and welcome to Teen Beat.

I am your host, Danielle Fischel, a former child actor who spent her formative teenage years

on a family sitcom where, for some unexplained reason, our middle school teacher followed us

all the way to college. But is that important to unpack right now? Absolutely not. And that's because

my current focus is talking to interesting people about their own upbringings

and the universal understanding that being a teenager is both awkward and embarrassing, no matter

who you are.

I gave you my childhood.

It's time we hear yours.

But this week, I am joined by a fellow 40-something who traded in their traditional teenage years

to punch a time card and mature in real time in front of millions of fans.

But somehow, for him, being the titular character on a hit TV show, in his case Malcolm

in the middle, is maybe the least interesting thing about him.

Don't get me wrong, he was nominated for an Emmy and two Golden Globes for the role,

and it led to movies like Big Fat Liar, Agent Cody Banks, and Deuces Wild,

leading CBS News to call him at the time one of Hollywood's most bankable teens,

...