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"Our family is very tight. Just like any family, we have our ups and downs, but the love is always going to be there."

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An icon to the millennial and "xennial" aged sets, Tahj Mowry needs no introduction for almost anyone between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. If you were watching daytime sitcoms or the Disney channel from the mid-90's to the mid-00's, you can probably name three or four characters he's played off the top of your head.

The younger brother of the Mowry sisters, Tia and Tamera, famously of Sister, Sister (1994-97), Tahj was first introduced to many viewers as Cousin Tahj on the popular tween sitcom. Tahj's characters are known for being charming, funny and relatable, and a little annoying at times, if that's what will get the audience laughing. Although Mowry comes from an entertainment family, with his and his sisters' careers being managed by their mother, Darlene Renee Flowers, he has always stayed grounded, maintaining a down-to-earth outlook on life, owing in part to his parents making sure to enroll him and his sisters in public school, where Tahj played varsity football for Westlake High School, rather than relying entirely on on-set tutors or enrolling them in exclusive private institutions. "Growing up, I was always in normal public school which is very important in my eyes."

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A Promising Start

Tahj Mowry was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Darlene Flowers and Timothy John Mowry on May 17, 1986. Both parents had served as US Army Sergeants after having met in high school while growing up in Miami, Florida. The family would eventually relocate to California where Tahj would get his first break with a bit part on an episode of Who's The Boss? (1990). From there Tahj would become a Disney regular, featuring in singalong videos like Rappin' N' Rhymin' (1991), before getting his first major role as Teddy in fourteen episodes of Full House (1991-95).

For those keeping score, this would mean that, despite his being the youngest of four siblings, Tahj's career was actually launched a year before his sisters Tia and Tamera would debut in Dangerous Women (1991) and Flesh'n'Blood (1991) respectively.

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Tahj featured in a number of small parts on television throughout the 1990s, including a recurring part on the sitcom NBC Out All Night (1992-93), a one-episode appearance in the TGIF sitcom Where I Live (1993), and a featured role as the voice of young Sonic in a two part episode of the Sonic the Hedgehog (1994) animated series. He would contribute voices to other animated series like Aladdin (1994-95) where he played the child King Mamoud Tanti in three episodes, and What-a-Mess (1994). He also featured on high-profile live action series like Star Trek: Voyager (1996) and Friends (1996).

So of course, you could say that Tahj generally stayed busy throughout the early and mid-nineties, but it wouldn't be until 1997 that he finally had a leading role to call his own, playing child genius TJ Henderson, the titular character of the WB sitcom Smart Guy (1997-99). The series would follow the prodigal Henderson as he tried to it in as a child prodigy who had been promoted to high school at a young age. Running for fifty-one episodes, Smart Guy would showcase Tahj Mowry as a versatile and engaging young actor who could carry the series' humor as well as its more serious moments. While Tahj Mowry had already become a familiar face to TV viewers throughout the nineties, it would be Smart Guy that confirmed the young actor as a defining child star of his era.

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Of course, you wouldn't have guessed that from the show's relatively under-performing ratings on first airing on The WB. Although the show did command a modest cult following, it wouldn't be until the Disney Channel began rerunning the series that it would truly find its footing and launch Tahj to star status.

Speaking on his experience working on various sitcoms throughout the 1990s, Tahj would comment "That's why I love doing television because it's something that fans and viewers can sit down each week and get to know your character and get to know the show and get to know what's going on and fall in love with you all over again, like they did in previous shows."

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Into Adulthood

By 2002, the sixteen year old Tahj Mowry was getting a bit old for the quirky child roles that had defined the early part of his career, and focused for a time on voice acting. As Wade Load, Tahj would be a mainstay of the Kim Possible (2002-07) series, featuring on 86 of 87 episodes as Kim's ten year old computer genius sidekick. Tahj featured with voice acting legends John DiMaggio and and Nancy Cartwright, among others, and more than held his own with the older performers.

From 2006 to 2012, Tahj mostly featured in small, one-off roles on shows like Desperate Housewives (2007) and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2006). He would finally seize his first major adult role as Tucker Dobbs on the series Baby Daddy (2012-17). Here, Tahj would feature as the show's second lead, best friend and roommate to Jean-Luc Bilodeau's Ben Wheeler. The series follows the two as they raise Ben's child, abandoned on their doorstep, and struggle to adjust to adult life. Playing a part-time parent on Baby Daddy wasn't far off from Tahj's real life experiences as an uncle. "There's something so great about being with your nephew and, when you're tired, just handing him off back to your sister."

While working on Baby Daddy, Tahj would also launch a career as a recording artist, releasing the six-song EP Future Funk (2015), including the single Flirt. "When it comes to acting, I've always had a passion for entertaining and for making people laugh. On the music side, I really want to come out as an artist because I want people to see who I really am... artistically, I tend to be drawn to the darker things. What the music will be able to do is show people that I am an adult now."

Although Tahj has yet to win a major award for his work in entertainment, he has been earning nominations almost since the very start of his career, being up for a Young Artist Award in 1992 for Full House, and an Image Award for Smart Guy in both 1999 and 2000.

Although Tahj's career has generally been quiet since the final episode of Baby Daddy, that may just be part of the plan. Or as Tahj would put it, "You can't say yes to every role, and you have to make people miss you. I don't want people to be sick of me."