We sit down with Natanya Ross, known to a generation as Robyn Russo, the dark, sharp, unforgettable heart of The Secret World of Alex Mack.

Natanya's story starts earlier than almost anyone's, on stage as a baby and on Broadway before she ever set foot in Hollywood. We get into the call that changed her life & pulled her family west, the audition that was only supposed to last three episodes and turned into one of Nickelodeon's most beloved characters, and what it was like to grow up on camera, as the show became part of a generation's childhood.

We get into all of it, the family she was raised in, a momager who managed a remarkable career and the money that came with it, and the harder chapters that followed once the show ended and the anchor it gave her was gone. Natanya is open in a way few people ever are about the years she lost, the people she lost along the way, and the long road back. What she built on the other side of it, a life in recovery and mental health advocacy, is the part she's proudest of, and the part that almost never gets told.

There are lighter moments too, shut-down amusement parks for wrap parties, the cast that's still family decades later, a 90s love story with another familiar face, and a few set secrets she's never shared. We talk about owning your past instead of hiding from it, why the loudest stories about child actors are so often the wrong ones, and what it really means to still be here.

It's funny, it's honest, and it's a reminder of exactly why this podcast exists, because the real stories behind the kids you grew up watching are always more interesting, and more human, than anything that made it on screen.

🎥 What happens in this episode?

00:00 – Cold open: "We're so back"

00:31 – Welcome, and the Robyn Russo reaction

03:51 – From Asbury Park to Broadway to the call that moved her west

07:01 – Becoming Robyn: three episodes that turned into an icon

13:43 – The cast that became family

14:29 – Growing up edgy in young Hollywood

18:32 – The momager, the Coogan account, and a complicated home

24:00 – Acting as the first escape

32:13 – The end of Alex Mack and getting herself back on the show

37:01 – Life after the show and holding on

40:15 – The eight mile audition and losing everything

45:29 – The hardest years, and the moment things turned

46:57 – Treatment, purpose, and a career in recovery

49:21 – "Nothing cooler than being kind"

55:00 – A 90s love story

57:26 – "We're Still Here, Babe" and rewriting the narrative

1:00:21 – The documentaries, the safe set, and the real story

1:05:31 – Would you do it all again?

1:06:00 – Set secrets and one last Polaroid

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We sit down with Marty York, known to a generation as Yeah-Yeah from the 1993 classic The Sandlot.

Marty takes us back to how it all started, the audition that changed direction at the last minute, and what it was really like being part of a movie that became a phenomenon long after the cameras stopped rolling. We get into the highs, the harder chapters, the money, the reinvention, and the long road that led him back to telling his own story on his own terms.

It's funny, it's honest, and it's a reminder of why this podcast exists, because the real stories behind the kids you grew up watching are always more interesting than anything that made it on screen.

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We welcome our first guest and it's someone we go way back with. Blake McIver Ewing, known to most as Waldo from The Little Rascals, sits down with us to talk about a career that started before most kids learn to ride a bike.

Blake's story begins with Star Search, where he talked his way onto the main stage at six years old and won. From there, it was Full House, The Little Rascals, a groundbreaking run in Ragtime, and a path through Hollywood that most people never hear the full version of.

We get into all of it, the audition grind, what it was really like in that final callback room with Spielberg, and how being under contract to Full House almost kept him out of the movie entirely. Blake opens up about the moment he walked away from acting (turning down what turned out to be High School Musical), the years he spent figuring out who he was outside of the industry, and what eventually brought him back to performing, on his own terms.

There are stories about go-go dancing on vocal rest, getting recognized while folding gym towels, and a full-circle reunion with his Ragtime castmate decades later in upstate New York. We talk about rejection, taxes, the Coogan law, what it's like when your on-screen dad becomes a controversial figure, and why theater, especially the immersive kind, might be the future of live performance.

It's funny, it's honest, and it's a conversation that reminds you why this podcast exists: because the real stories behind the kids you grew up watching are way more interesting than anything that made it on screen.

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Before the guests start coming on, we figured the best place to begin… was with us.

Jordan Warkol & Blake Collins sit down and chat with each other about a friendship that’s lasted more than 30 years—starting with the moment that changed everything: getting the call that led to The Little Rascals.

We go back to what it was actually like being kids thrown into Hollywood—what we understood at the time, what we didn’t, and how different it all looks now with a few decades of perspective. From auditions and life on set, to what happened after the cameras stopped rolling, we unpack the real experience of growing up as child actors.

Along the way, we share stories we’ve never told publicly, moments we forgot we remembered, and the kinds of behind-the-scenes experiences that only make sense looking back. There’s a mix of nostalgia, honesty, and a lot of laughs—because some of it was surreal, and some of it was just being kids.

This episode sets the tone for everything this podcast is about: real conversations with former child actors about what it was like then—and how it shapes who we are now.

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You remember them from The Little Rascals…But what happened after the cameras stopped?

Now, Jordan Warkol & Blake Collins are reconnecting with fellow child actors to talk about what growing up in Hollywood was really like, and what life looks like now.

The Not So Little Rascals isn’t a “what went wrong?” podcast — no clickbait, no forced trauma.

Just real conversations about identity, family, burnout, reinvention… and growing up a little too early.

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