Have you ever seen some movies that are still banging and getting the streams even after their release from years ago? One of those movies is the 1993 David Mickey directed the cult classic The Sandlot; a film that saw the emergence of some child actors like Patrick Renna and the centre of attraction of this article, Mike Vitar.
Vitar was regarded as a teen idol in his teenage years mainly because of his role in the classic Sandlot.
But what has come of Mike Vitar? Where is he now, many fans would wonder. In the 1990s, teenagers knew teens magazines like Teen Beat Big Bopper to be the go-to for images of your favourite teen actors, and Vitar regularly made the covers.
Pictures of people like Eddie Furlong, Devon Sawa, Jared Leto were used as wallpapers beside most teenagers’ bedsides. Mike Vitar was no exception with his handsome boyish face. These days, there is barely any feature of Vitar, which is a concern for most of his fans back in the day.
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Who is Mike Vitar?
In The Sandlot movie, Mike Vitar is best known as Benny “The Jet” Rodrigues. On December 21, 1978, he was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. There is not much information about his parents, but we know he has an older sibling, Paul Vitar, and an older sister, Elizabeth Vitar. He and his brother chose to go into acting because of their talents. If you saw the film Sandlot, his brother played the role of older Benny. Unfortunately, he died on January 29, 2008, in Los Angeles.
Mike graduated from St. Francis High School in 1997. He ventured into acting when he was only 12 years old. Before his high school graduation, Vitar made his film debut playing the role of Anthony Gambuzza in the TV series Brooklyn Bridge in 1991. He also starred in the movie Diplomatic Immunity, but as a child actor.
Mike Vitar’s Short Career
After his film debut, Vitar made several appearances as a child actor in many more movies. In 1993, he played the role of a boy in the film Sunset Grill. The same year, he got the position to play Benny in The Sandlot, a decision that saw his stocks rise. He became the darling of many watchers.
As a reward for his excellent performance, he won a Young Artist Award for Outstanding Youth Ensemble in a Motion Picture. With a pedigree already, producers sought his appearance in their movies. He would later appear as Luis Mendoza in D2: The Mighty Ducks. Vitar later starred as a teenager in NYPD Blue’s episode Girl Talk.
Is Mike Vitar Still Acting?
Vitar faded away from the scene after announcing his retirement from acting in 1997. He had just appeared in the first episodes of the Chicago Hope series, Mother, May I?
There is no filmography indicating that he featured in a film since then. However, we found out that Vitar became a firefighter for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Since he became a firefighter in 2002, he has not looked back.
Is Mike Vitar Married?
Vitar is happily married to the love of his life, the professional photographer, Kym Allen. Unfortunately, there is no detail on how they met, but we know they met before 2006 but married in that year. They have three children together; Eli, born March 12, 2007; Wesley, born April 30, 2009; and Norah Paige, born January 31, 2013.
Vitar Was Arrested For Assault
When news of Mike Vitar filtered into the media, his die-hard fans must have thought he was back to the scenes. But, unfortunately, he was back because he assaulted a young man. In November 2015, Vitar was arrested and convicted of assault of a man beside a Halloween party.
Reports from the prosecutors say that Vitar attacked one Samuel Chang alongside his fellow firefighters, Thomas Molnar and Eric Carpenter. Hospital reports say they beat him to the point that he got a brain injury.
The Los Angeles Fire Department had to place Mike under leave with pay as long as the case was battled in court. Mike was bailed with the sum of $60,000. Mike and his friend, Thomas, received three years probation and three months of community service.
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Where is Mike Vitar Now?
After the whole incident, Mike Vitar lives with his family in Los Angeles. He tries to avoid the limelight even though not many would remember that he was the darling of teenagers back in the day.
Conclusion
In what could have become a successful career, if only Mike decided not to quit acting. There was everything ready. But sometimes, success in a particular field takes more than having the talents, it also requires having a certain level of discipline and when to go all in.
