Former Child Star Jake Thomas Drops a Shocking Secret About The Lizzie McGuire Movie

Published: June 12, 2025

By Jordan Greene, Society and Culture writer-reporter at PEOPLE

Jake Thomas, the actor who played Lizzie McGuire's mischievous little brother, Matt McGuire, has revealed a shocking secret about the 2003 movie: he's never actually been to Rome!

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Thomas confessed that the majority of the movie was actually filmed in Canada, not Rome. "Spoiler alert – we didn't film the majority of the movie in Rome," Thomas, now 35, "In fact, I never got to go. They filmed exteriors for the Rome sequences, I think maybe for a week or two. But everything else was shot in Vancouver, Canada, for about three months."

Despite not filming in Rome, Thomas has fond memories of the experience, which he shared with costars Hilary Duff, Adam Lamberg, Hallie Todd, and Robert Carradine. "I think some of the best memories were just hanging out with the cast between filming in Vancouver," the Los Angeles local recalls. "We absolutely loved the city. We were going out to dinner most nights, trying to spend the per diem. That was a lot of fun."

Thomas also reflected on his favorite episode of Lizzie McGuire, which he says is the "bra episode". "But because it was the bra episode, the writers had to make the B-storyline with Matt just as interesting. So for me, it became the Kung Fu episode," he adds. "Literally, we had David Carradine, the brother of Robert Carradine, who played my dad', teaching me Kung Fu in the episode. He was famous from the Kung Fu series. I think I got to do a stunt kick in the air, jump and break some boards with my hands. It was so much fun."

Thomas says he wouldn't trade his experience as a child actor for anything. "I mean, every day of playing Matt McGuire was like, 'What cool thing am I going to get to do today? What new funny gimmick are they going to let me try?' It was really a time when I just got to be a kid and have fun, and it just so happened there was a camera there, and that was a TV show."

Thomas adds that the Lizzie McGuire cast still keeps in touch from time to time. "I see some of the cast every once in a while. Hallie Todd, who played my mom, she'll text me every once in a while. I'll see Bobby Carradine, who played my dad, every once in a while. Sometimes I'll run into Hilary at the farmer's market, but we're all pretty chill."