Jake Thomas Unveils the Truth Behind His ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Character’s Signature Spiky Hair (Exclusive)

Jake Thomas is best known for playing Matt McGuire on Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire, but the gravity-defying spiky hair that he rocked on show — while Hilary Duff starred opposite him as the show’s titular character — was equally memorable.

The actor spoke with PEOPLE exclusively about his signature hairstyle on the Disney Channel program, ahead of the release of the video game, MindsEye, in which he voices character Marco Silva. The game arrived on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on June 10. 

When discussing Lizzie McGuire, the actor took a moment to reflect on his hair during the show, explaining that he was given the choice for his hair to be spiky.

“I think I did hold responsibility in it becoming the iconic spiky-haired look. When we filmed the pilot way back when, this was 1999, I don’t think I had ever done a spiky-hair kind of look,” Thomas recalled. “My hair was just always down with no product, anything like that. And I think it’s just a product of the times.”

He added that seeing people in the entertainment industry rocking spiky hair — popularized by stars like Travis Barker, Jake Gyllenhaal, *NSYNC’s Joey Fatone and more — toward the end of the 1990s inspired his decision.

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“All the cool people I saw just had these cool — because we were approaching the 2000s — the spiky hair, all the cool people had the spiky hair,” he explained. “So when I sat down at the hair and makeup chair, they’re like, ‘Alright, so what do you want to do?’ I was like, ‘I want to do spikes.'”

He continued, “They were like, ‘Sure, let’s do it.’ And then I think season 2, a good amount of the hair and makeup budget was going to tubs of hair gel just to spike my hair every day.”

By the show’s conclusion, Thomas was ready to move on from the spiky hair. “As soon as the show ended, I rejected that identity and I was like, ‘No, no, no, we’re going back to the swoop,'” the star, now 35, said. “And then I was doing the swoop for a while and then now in my later years, I’ve embraced the hair updo now.”

It isn’t too surprising that Thomas wanted to retire the spiky hair. He said the “sharp” look required “a tub of hair gel that they would scoop out and spread in their hair spray.” When it came time for his showers at the end of the day, Thomas “was definitely washing out a lot of gel every night.”

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Lizzie McGuire aired a total of 65 episodes across four seasons on Disney Channel. The teen comedy series also starred Lalaine, Adam Lamberg, Hallie Todd and Robert Carradine.

The series spawned The Lizzie McGuire Movie in 2003, with the show concluding a year later in 2004. Lizzie McGuire is available to stream on Disney+.