Driving young girls wild, the teenage heartthrobs’ popularity was growing, but level-headed, the young men moved onto the next phase and went to New York University, Dylan studying video game design and Zack humanities and archaeology.
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“I needed to take a break and step outside myself, I needed a dose of reality, and I needed to see myself in a more objective point of view. And now I think I can enjoy [acting], which is a really fundamental part about being an actor,” Cole said, explaining that the long-running Disney series had him feeling like a machine. “I’m not saying that we didn’t enjoy that time, but it was work. It’s a career and a business, and it got me to college, which is one of the most fantastic gifts I could’ve been given. But I’m glad to be [acting] on my own accord now.”
Both graduating in 2015, Cole returned to television, again acting without his brother.
Their distinct personalities are guiding them on separate journeys, and as individual men, they are no longer sharing one role.
Since 2017, Cole has been playing the lead of Jughead Jones in Riverdale, a supernatural drama TV series based on the characters from the Archie comic books.
He is currently dating French-Canadian model Ari Fournier, whom he met more than two years ago.
