Thompson, the kid who once stole every scene in "Role Models" and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," is all grown up and looking almost unrecognizable.
A recent set of photos of the 29-year-old actor hit social media this week, and the comment sections promptly lost their collective minds.
The gap-toothed whirlwind who delivered the immortal line about boobies in 2008 is now a bearded, gym-toned adult — and yes, the internet had jokes.
For those who need a refresher, Thompson broke out as a pint-sized scene-stealer in the late 2000s, holding his own opposite Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott.
He followed that with a memorable run on "30 Rock" as Tracy Jordan's pint-sized doppelgänger, plus voice work in "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" that made him a fixture in animated comedy.
Then, as child stars often do, he slipped out of the spotlight's glare.
The glow-up conversation kicked off when clips and stills circulated showing a leaner, sharper Thompson — a far cry from the cherubic kid fans remember.
Posts racked up hundreds of thousands of likes, with reactions split between genuine awe and the usual "wait, that's him?" disbelief.
It's the classic Hollywood time warp: a star frozen in your memory at age 10 suddenly reappears as a full-grown man.
But the nostalgia isn't the real story here.
Thompson has been quietly putting in the work, and the industry is starting to notice again.
He's popped up in independent projects and has been grinding through the audition circuit like countless former child actors trying to write a second act.
Instead of leaning on the memes, he's been focused on the craft — the unglamorous part nobody posts about.
There's also something refreshingly unbothered about how he's handled the attention.
Rather than chasing viral moments, Thompson has kept his public footprint low-key and let the work speak.
In an era where every former Nickelodeon face is expected to mine their childhood for content, that restraint reads as confidence.
He's not asking to be your nostalgia fix — he's auditioning to be taken seriously.
And honestly, the timing couldn't be better.
Streaming platforms are hungry for actors with real comedic instincts, and Thompson has those in spades.
He also has something rarer: a built-in audience that genuinely wants to see him win.
The same people who quoted him at recess are now adults with disposable income and group chats.
That's not a liability — that's a launchpad.
Whether he lands a buzzy series regular role or keeps building slowly on the indie circuit, Thompson is proof that child stardom doesn't have to be a punchline or a cautionary tale.
Our take: it's easy to reduce a former child star to a before-and-after photo, but Thompson deserves better than that binary.
He's got the timing, the training, and the hunger — the missing ingredient was always the right role.
Final Thoughts
Hollywood should stop marveling at how he grew up and start casting him like it.